Chanel, Cartier, Bulgari and Hermès recently introduced watches that double as fine jewelry.
Sometimes a watch isn’t just a watch and a bracelet isn’t just a bracelet. At this year’s Watches and Wonders show in Geneva, brands including Cartier, Bulgari, Chanel and Hermès introduced timepieces just as decorative and precious as their fine jewelry.
Eternal Beauty
Bulgari’s Serpenti collection was first introduced in 1948 in the form of a bracelet watch. The serpentine-design watch featured a dial and bezel shaped like a snake’s head. The snake’s body was made of the brand’s iconic Tubogas bracelet, a flexible tube of gold, which wrapped tightly around the wrist. Soon after, the Serpenti design expanded to a line that includes bracelets, necklaces and rings. Elizabeth Taylor, who owned an extensive collection of Bulgari jewels, famously wore a Serpenti bracelet in 1963’s “Cleopatra.” Richard Burton is rumored to have said “the only Italian Elizabeth knows is Bulgari.”
The iconic Serpenti watch was reinvented this year as a diamond-studded hinged bangle. The Serpenti Aeterna (which means “eternal” in Latin) is more sleek than previous iterations. The watch’s look is clearly serpenti, but its smooth lines refine it to its purest form with “no eyes, no scales, no artifice,” according to the brand. The new watch was presented in 18K rose gold set with diamonds on its dial and bracelet, and a second version was crafted of diamond-encrusted white gold with green hour and minute hands.
The new Aeterna “is more than a timepiece or jewellery — it is the ultimate expression of Bvlgari’s avant-garde vision,” said Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bulgari’s product creation executive director. “I wanted to capture Serpenti’s DNA, distill it to its essence and project it into the future.”
A Link in Time
Perhaps most famous for its iconic scarves and handbags, Hermès’ vast offerings include clothing, leather goods, home decor, fine jewelry and watches. The luxury brand’s anchor chain link has been a design staple for nearly a century. “Ever since they first caught Robert Dumas’ eye in the 1930s on the quayside of a Normandy port, anchor chains have become an endless source of inspiration for the Maison, and continue to travel from one collection to the next,” according to the brand. (For context, Dumas was the great-grandson-in-law of the brand’s founder, Thierry Hermès, and the company’s president from the early 1950s to the late ’70s) This year, the brand’s Maillon link chain has traveled to its watch collection.
The new timepiece takes the anchor chain link a step further, appearing in a watch that is also a bracelet, featuring interconnected diamond-studded gold links and a nearly invisible time display. The watch’s polished gold dial follows the links’ design to a T, and its slim hour and minute hands practically melt from view. The watch is offered in a white gold and diamond version, as well as a rose gold timepiece set with diamonds and terra-cotta tourmalines.
Première Appearance
Chanel’s first-ever watch was introduced in 1987 and aptly named the Première. The watch’s case design mirrored the modified rectangular shape of the stopper of the brand’s famed Chanel No. 5 perfume. In a nod to Chanel’s iconic handbag straps, the Première’s strap featured its classic chain interwoven with leather. Since its introduction, the watch has seen several iterations, including gem-set bezels and wraparound straps. Now, a gold bangle version is joining the collection.
The Première Galon’s case shape remains true to the original, but now it is fitted on a solid gold cuff bracelet. The bracelet’s braid design (galon means “braid” in French) encircles the wrist, and is a nod to the braided trim that characterized many of Gabrielle Chanel’s skirt suits. The black-dial watch is available in rose gold without diamonds or with a diamond-set bezel and partially diamond-set bracelet. A fully diamond-set version with a pavé diamond dial is also available.
Hear Me Roar
Cartier is as world-renowned for its watches as it is for fine jewelry and has been crafting a figure of the panther into its collections since the 1920s. The Cartier panther motif was a favorite of the Duchess of Windsor, who famously owned a brooch featuring a white gold diamond- and sapphire-set panther perched atop a 152.35-carat sapphire cabochon.
The new Panthère bangle watch blends the brand’s masterful watchmaking and legendary jewelry craftsmanship. The watch “combines elements rooted in the Maison’s stylistic history,” according to the brand, with its three dimensional-panther “ready to pounce.” Opposite the panther is a small watch with a single diamond set on its dial at 12 o’clock. The 18K yellow gold watch’s bezel is set with diamonds, while the panther has tsavorite eyes, an onyx nose and black lacquer spots.
The watch’s relatively subtle design allows the panther to take center stage. The big cat is “a highly realistic sculptural work of art,” according to the brand, “a leaping body, slender muscles, ear and nose details, and, under the paws, painstakingly crafted pads.” No matter how strong the panther’s leap is, however, it won’t jump off of your wrist. The bangle’s hinged clasp ensures that the feline will remain firmly in place.
