I have said so before, I know, but when it comes to watches and writing about them, it’s still beauty before brains for me. A year or so on from my stint as a judge at the prestigious GPHG, (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève), where I learnt so much I still tend to drift off, into daydreams, during explanations of the intricacies of horological marvels.
Although I can say, with no small amount of pride, that I do now get that it’s all about absolute precision, balancing the vagaries of gravity, adjusting to time zones, tracking the moon phases, counting nano-seconds, measuring ocean depths, and so much more than I will ever understand. Watchmakers do it, it seems, just because they can. And, rather vapidly perhaps, I have come to love the look of the movements, the wonderfully-named complications, their lace-like finesse, the cogs, wheels, knobs and dials, balances, escapements, pulsating oscillating weights. I find poetic choreography in their industrial beauty.
So honouring yet glossing over the wizardry of today’s awe-inspiring timepieces, I find I’ve fallen even more in love with jewellery watches; surely one of the most elitist, esoteric, and thrillingly innovative creative corners of our jewellery world, the corner between haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie. More fantastical year on year, moving far beyond the usual description of a jewel that happens to tell the time, the high jewellery watch has become the very definition of haute-luxe, exquisitely eccentric, the ultimate jewel-possession, a true object of desire. Today’s jewellery watch is conceived and crafted in true couture spirit: wildly imaginative artistry made possible by breathtaking recherché artisanship, with ultra-luxe materials and more than a flourish of fantasy, the kind of escapist wonder that has always been the prerogative of well-heeled connoisseurs and collectors. It’s the stuff of Wunderkammer. Perhaps this divine creativity is spurred on by the unstoppable mechanical innovations of the fast-moving watch world, or on the other hand, perhaps it’s the watch world wanting to rival and even outdo high jewellery.
Maybe it’s the challenge of transforming the science of horological engineering into a lyrical work of art, or maybe it’s simply a way of nurturing beauty and fantasy as a distraction from the relentless passing of time. Perhaps, too, like the brooch which invites endless imaginative artistry, the watch case and dial do not have the usual constraints of the jewel that has to fit the body; instead ornamentation is limited to a specific space, and the watch has only fit on the wrist, with plenty of scope for adorning the arm, if required.
Whatever the reasons, to my mind, the jewellery watch still resonates with echoes of past grandeur and the elegant formality of cocktail parties and high society balls. A throwback to the ’50s Golden Age of Couture, or even earlier to the ’20s and ’30s, when social etiquette bred the need for the secret watch, allowing time to be glimpsed politely and surreptitiously. The watch masqueraded as a bracelet, the dial sheltering beneath a sliding bejewelled cover, or so minute (excuse the pun) it almost disappeared, as in Jaeger-LeCoultre’s famous 101 movement of 1929 that I adore. Or as in Van Cleef & Arpels’ Cadenas of 1935, modelled as a chunky padlock – supposedly the idea of the Duchess of Windsor – with a tiny dial set into the angled side of the lock, visible only to the wearer (one with good eyesight).
The Cadenas, so avant garde at the time, has become a design icon, another of my all time favourites, glamorous and timelessly modern. There’s an echo, too, of the 1970s, When Piaget’s milestone 21st century collection of spectacularly extrovert cuffs and sautoirs fused fashion, contemporary design and watchmaking, re-inventing the jewellery watch for a new age, making it modern, relevant and ravishing.
Today, in a cultural mood that seems headed towards ’70s style hedonism, escaping a world of chaos, time has never been so precious. Jewellery watches are pure theatre: shown to perfection in Dior’s luscious Grand Bal creations, with the oscillating weight ingeniously transferred from back to front, transformed into an enthralling kinetic decorative feature, suggesting the swish of a swirling 1950s Dior ballgown. The precision and hand-craftmanship to ensure the rotor is both exquisitely ornamented and the perfect weight to power the watch are mind-boggling – even I’m captivated by the technique. There’s old-school romance in Van Cleef & Arpels’ Poetic Complications, or modern retro-chie in the revamped Ludo Secret watch, and charming storytelling in Chanel timepieces that find new ways to celebrate Mademoiselle’s life and passions – the camellia, the bow, the accoutrements of the atelier – even reimagining her persona and style signatures as digital, pixellated characters. And Piaget, as ever, reignites the revolutionary audacity of the ’70s, its birthright, this year through the colour and texture of ornamental stones, the minerals and hardstones that became a defining feature of the 21st Century collection. Re-charging the creative dynamism that changed the course of watchmaking history, some 50 years ago, and could well be changing it again today.
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