Wouldn’t you realize it: The yr Watches & Wonders manufacturers introduce probably the most excellent collection of ladies’s watches ever is the yr we are able to’t see or contact the brand new introductions. The next watches, which might have been launched in Geneva in April, collectively characterize the perfect ladies’s watches have to supply in the present day: state-of-the-art mechanical actions sized to suit ladies’s wrists; progressive gem-setting methods designed to reinforce sparkle; spectacular metiers execution; iconic items with neo-vintage particulars; and imaginative trendy design.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso One
The Reverso began out as a sports activities look ahead to polo gamers who needed to guard the glass on their watches within the days earlier than sapphire crystal. However Jaeger-LeCoultre has been making ladies’s variations at the very least since 1931 — a chunk from that period impressed the brand new Reverso One. The vivid pink of the entrance dial is the results of a number of layers of lacquer over a sunray guilloché sample, also called flinqué. The mix of the 2 finishes is extra shimmery than common lacquer and brighter than common guilloché. The matching red-wine-colored alligator strap makes it stand out much more. The stainless-steel case is a really wearable 40mm-long by 20mm-wide by 7.9mm-thick, and it’s given a reasonably excessive polish. The reverse case aspect is clean, and that’s deliberate — it may be personalised by the proprietor with an engraving of a big date, particular message, or a design of alternative. A row of 27 diamonds totaling zero.three carat line the gadroons on the prime and backside of the case. They’re grain set, which implies they’re surrounded by as little steel as doable in an effort to permit extra mild return. The motion is quartz. It’s priced at $5,350.
Hermès Cape Cod Martlée
Hermès borrows a trick from the jeweler’s bench right here, inflicting a hammered end on the case, a therapy that’s often completed on gold, which is softer, however right here is utilized to stainless-steel. The end highlights the Cape Cod’s distinctive square-within-a-rectangle anchor-chain form. The Martlée is called for the French phrase for the hammer-like instrument that’s used to make the indentations, which is far tougher to do with stainless-steel than it’s with gold. The pitted end creates an fascinating mild and shadow impact and provides each case a singular floor texture and patina. The dial is given the identical hammered therapy after which is completed with a layer of translucent lacquer in graded shades starting from anthracite to black. Just like the case, every dial is barely completely different. Even the chaîne d’ancre (anchor chain) half-links that connect the strap to the case are hammered. The Barenia calfskin strap may be both single- or double-wrap. The motion is quartz. Value on request.
Cartier Maillon de Cartier
Cartier headlined its Watches & Wonders releases this yr with a reboot of the Pasha, the favored ’80s sports activities watch that initially launched as a males’s watch however shortly grew to become the model’s bestselling ladies’s line. However by way of true novelty, the Maillon de Cartier is the true information from Cartier this yr. The main target of the watch is the 18k-gold bracelet (maillon is French for “hyperlink”), a twisted tackle the chain-link type, with offset hyperlinks aligned on the bias. The angular, layered building appears ideally matched to Cartier’s signature Roman numerals, and the watch works nicely as a chunk of chunky jewellery. “We needed to deconstruct the bracelet and transcend its design by a quantity method,” says Marie-Laure Céréde, Cartier’s timepieces creation director. Mission achieved. The Maillon de Cartier is available in pink, yellow, and white 18okay gold, with a diamond bezel possibility. The white gold piece is totally paved. The yellow gold variations include blue lacquer, tsavorite, or black lacquer dials and on the bevels of the bracelet hyperlinks. The hyperlink fronts and bezels are set with diamonds. It’s quartz. Costs begin at $25,100.
Piaget Limelight Gala
Piaget’s Limelight Gala assortment was initially launched in 1973 however nonetheless appears to be like recent in the present day. The distinctive design, with asymmetrical lugs that reach from all sides of the case, is unchanged and appears made for gem-setting. The gems are set utilizing the serti descendu or cut-down method, by which the gold is carved away to type claws and grooves that grip the stone – the purpose is to have much less steel encompass the stone. That approach, extra mild can enter the pavilion after which mirror out by the sides of the desk. That is the method that produces a gem’s brilliance. The brand new fashions are set with diamonds and/or sapphires, and there’s a excessive jewellery model set with 12.42 carats of spherical sensible and marquise lower diamonds. The dials are mom of pearl or translucent blue grand feu enamel over gold. There are additionally three limited-edition fashions with aventurine glass dials and a one-of-a-kind piece with a dial product of Ethiopian black opal that’s set with blue, yellow, orange, and pink sapphires for a complete of 158 gems totaling 13.15 carats. The bracelets are engraved gold utilizing a method originating within the 1960s. It takes eight hours to engrave one bracelet. Costs on request.
Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Tourbillon
The Traditionnelle Tourbillon is the Vacheron Constantin’s first tourbillon for girls. It might be for males with smaller wrists — the case is 39mm-wide by 11.22mm-thick — as a result of males are additionally shopping for diamonds now, which provides to the intrinsic worth of the watch. The bezel, case, and tourbillon diadem are set with 291 diamonds totaling three.57 carats. A full jewellery model is about with 559 brilliant-cut and baguette-cut diamonds totaling greater than 6.5 carats. The motion, automated caliber 2160, is slender (5.65mm-thick) due to a peripheral rotor. It has an 80-hour energy reserve and a small seconds show that’s so discreet you possibly can simply miss it — a small blackened screw on the entrance bar of the tourbillon carriage counts the seconds because it rotates. You received’t know the precise second since, as a substitute of an index, there’s a row of diamonds set into the flange on the periphery of the tourbillon opening. The model with a mother-of-pearl dial and 291 diamonds is priced at $142,000. The jewellery model, with 559 diamonds, is boutique-only, priced at $197,000 and delivered on a blue satin strap and a second blue strap in alligator leather-based.
