September 29, 2019

PRECIOUS MOMENTS

by AHMED SEDDIQI & SONS

Nothing singles out the significance of a special life landmark like a diamond. Here, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons selects the watches and jewellery that will make those moments last forever.

The word diamond comes from a Greek word meaning unbreakable or invincible, which we can assume would originally have been chosen to reflect it being the hardest naturally occurring material found on Earth. Through the ages, that meaning has fuelled the emotive metaphor that suggests a diamond is forever, a symbol of everlasting love, commitment and beauty.

Here, Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons picks out some of the most enduring diamond-set watch and jewellery designs created not just to mark life’s precious moments but to lend them eternal significance.

Roger Dubuis Velvet

Roger Dubuis’s confident claims to the higher watchmaking ground get it noticed in the first place, and then quickly demand closer inspection. Doing so will quickly reveal that the bold aesthetic of a piece such as the 36mm Velvet, seen here in 18-carat rose gold and decorated with diamonds, all but hides exquisite levels of detail and finishing. Any one of this watch’s edges or movement parts would tell that story, but the detail that wraps it up is the Poinçon de Genève stamp on the dial. Anglicised as the ‘Geneva Seal’, this is an independent quality stamp few Swiss watch brands can or even take the time to qualify for that guarantees the exceptional quality of the case and movement.

F.P.Journe Octa Divine

A watch made by François-Paul Journe is rare in itself, but there are few rarer gems in watchmaking than one of the independent watchmaker’s pieces decorated with (approximately) 6.72 carats of diamonds. This model is powered by one of the most beautiful automatic chronometer movements currently on the market, which, in keeping with the company’s approach, is crafted by hand in Geneva from 18-carat rose gold. It provides the watch with a 120-hour power reserve, fuelling those elegant teardrop-shaped blued steel hands, as well as separate indications for a moon phase, a large date, a small seconds and that impressive five-day power reserve.

Christian van der Klaauw CDVK Real Moon Stella Nebula

One of Dutch watchmaker Christian Van der Klaauw’s claims to fame is that some of his watches host the world’s most accurate three-dimensional moon phase found in a mechanical watch. That might be an obscure record, but it’s hard won. Van der Klaauw made his name in astronomical clocks in the 1970s, before producing his first astronomical wristwatches in the 1990s. The company signature is now that every watch it makes features an astronomical complication. This CDVK Real Moon Stella Nebula is the first and only single ammolite fossil dial timepiece, transporting you back to a colorful prehistoric era.

Chopard Happy Sport Joaillerie

Chopard’s endlessly playful Happy Sport series continues to marry the cool-headed pragmatism of Swiss watchmaking with the coquettish whimsy of fine jewellery. The 36mm white gold Happy Sport Joaillerie takes that to another level, adding to its seven signature floating diamonds a diamond-set dial, bezel and case. Inside it is an automatic mechanical movement, but the magic is undeniably in the floating diamonds, each set in a free-spinning mount so it can dance provocatively across the dial as you move your arm. Only 25 of these will be made, while Chopard’s Happy Hearts Twist ring and Happy Hearts bangle, each with a single floating diamond of their own, make perfect companions.

Piaget Emperador

Black tie watches don’t come much more spectacular than Piaget’s diamond-encrusted rectangular Emperador, a watch that befits the grandeur of its name. The 32mm white-gold watch has a case set with 171 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling 2.1 carats, a dial set with 389 brilliant-cut diamonds for 1.1 carats, and a bracelet decorated with 569 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling an astonishing 18 carats. The whole watch twinkles like the light reflecting off rolling waves under a star-filled sky. Piaget might have buried a quartz movement inside such a visually diverting watch, but true to its mechanical watchmaking credentials, it has instead given it Calibre 530P, one of its own in-house slimline automatics. One other detail to note – at 12 o’clock, Piaget has added its coat of arms, a nod to a 1957 archive piece.

Rolex Lady-Datejust

Often little more than a cigarette paper separates one of the Swiss watchmaking giant’s designs from another, so ironclad is the fundamental Rolex aesthetic, but the configuration options it offers mean you can just as often fine tune them to your own tastes. Here, for example, we have an 18-carat yellow gold 28mm Lady-Datejust, an iconic piece given its individual air by a lilac-striped dial with 18-carat gold hour markers set with diamonds and a diamond-set bezel. Under that eye-catching exterior is one of Rolex’s new-generation movements, Calibre 2236, which is both highly precise and resistant to shocks and magnetic fields.

Please note that all figures relating to diamond carats are offered as approximations by the manufacturers.