Transcript
|Pearls of all colours, shapes and sizes are so popular this year that we’re even seeing them in watches. I went along to Fabergé, Chanel and Harry Winston to see how mother of pearl and, in fact, even little pearls are being incorporated into watch dials.
Fabergé chose a different way to present mother of pearl in a watch, and you can see it in these carved mother-of-pearl leaves that are both on the dial and around the diamond bracelet. The watch is called Summer in Provence and it evokes a sensation of a hot lazy summer’s day in the south of France. The clever use of materials and colour is very typical of Fabergé, and it reminds us of those famous Easter eggs with different layers of enamelling and coloured gemstones.
My second pick is Chanel’s Mademoiselle Privé jewellery watch, which offers a peek into Coco Chanel’s life and the materials she worked with. She loved pearls, we all know that, but it’s interesting that a couture house should choose embroidery as a way to embellish its dials. The beige silk has been carefully embroidered with silk threads and natural pearls to create a camellia flower.
My third choice is Harry Winston’s Midnight Stalactite watch, which recreates a winter scene of frozen diamond stalactites suspending over a shimmering mother-of-pearl dial. In fact, if you look at the watch upside down, the diamond stalactites glisten like skyscrapers against a shimmering sky.
With pearls so popular in jewellery, I suspect this is only just the beginning of what watchmakers are capable of doing with the beautiful pearl.
If you want to know all that’s happening in the world of jewellery and watches, visit my website www.thejewelleryeditor.com
