Baselworld watches: new ladies' watches where high jewellery meets high watchmaking

It is a treat to move beyond the academic world of cogs and wheels and bask in the light of ladies’ watches that are every bit as precious as jewels.

Hidden behind the sapphire bead tassels in Graff's one-of-a-kind jewel is a tiny secret watch with a pavé diamond face.

By Rebecca Doulton

Graff watches never fail to amaze and this secret tassel watch, rippling with more than 330 carats of blue sapphires and 40 carats of white diamonds, is something to write home about.

This unique piece of high jewellery is also a transformable jewel, allowing you to wear it as a single piece, as two individual brooches, or as a single brooch with a dangling tassel. Hidden among the sapphire-beaded tassel is the delicate pavé diamond watch face suspended from a platinum chain. Whichever way you choose to drape this beauty, the secret watch will always be sure to get you to your date on time.

View our gallery of secret watches here

Hermès watches unveils its Arceau Ecuyère Aventurine ladies' watch at Baselworld 2015 - a romantic ode to the night sky. This entrancing Arceau model features a dark blue, star-flecked night sky recreated in aventurine stone, sparkling with natural metallic inclusions. The dial is framed by a constellation of beautiful white diamonds on the bezel, lugs and even in the crown. The case, crafted from white gold and measuring 34mm, reflects the strong link between Hermès watches and the Maison's hallmark equestrian motifs, which show up in the asymmetric lugs that evoke the shape of stirrups. The hours, minutes and small seconds, framed in a diamond-studded disc at 6 o'clock, keep time thanks to an in-house Hermès automatic movement with a 50-hour power reserve.

Once again at Baselworld, Chanel watches invites us into the most personal spaces of Coco Chanel's Parisian home with its Coromandel inspired Mademoiselle Privé Décor. This year, two exquisite Chanel watches, one in white gold and another in Chanel's very own beige gold, replicate motifs from the luxurious black lacquered Chinese screens that graced the designer's home. Recreating the inky black lacquer with Grand Feu enamel, a floral motif and a bird animate the dials of these precious 37.5mm ladies' watches with a flurry of snow-set diamonds on the case.

For other new Chanel watches launching at Baselworld, click here

The bouquet of vivid gemstone Grappoli watches at de GRISOGONO welcomes a flamboyant ruby-set newcomer. Like a poppy bursting with gemstones, the colourful new de GRISOGONO watches are the result of expert gem-setters and stonecutters patiently cutting and setting each and every one of the dazzling 1,000 plus rubies by hand. The luscious Ruby Grappoli S06 model scintillates with random-set rubies, which vary in size to create a ruby red masterpiece that moves in time with its owner, thanks to the halo of briolette-cut rubies attached to the bezel. 

Read more about amazing secret watches

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