Watchmakers look to jewellery’s resilience

Amid the global downturn in luxury goods, jewellery is a notable bright spot — with gem-set watches set to add some sparkle and optimism at this week’s Watches and Wonders fair.

According to Bain & Co’s latest report on the luxury goods market in 2024, jewellery was one of the most resilient categories alongside beauty and eyewear. Less subject to fashion cycles, jewellery benefits from having intrinsic value — in gold and diamonds — reinforcing the category’s investment appeal, especially in times of crisis, the consultancy says.

Figures at the top luxury houses reflect the trend. In January, Richemont reported 14 per cent growth at its four jewellery maisons — Buccellati, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Vhernier — which contributed to the group’s overall sales of €6.2bn, the highest ever quarterly sales.

Both Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels have unveiled strong and diverse jewellery watches this week. Cartier is extending its popular Panthère collection, unveiling a bangle watch with a tucked away dial that is more jewel than timepiece — a white gold version comes set with 1,103 diamonds. The brand has also expanded its Panthère link-style bracelet models, including a rose gold design that evokes various animal prints — a house design code — that is bedecked with nearly 550 diamonds. Meanwhile, four everyday models feature a semi-paved, diamond-set bracelet, rather than fully paved.

Cartier’s new Panthère design features an animal print in rose gold

Van Cleef & Arpels’ fully paved Cadenas is accented with sapphires and marks

Cartier’s new collection, Tressage, recalls the brand’s vintage jewellery collections, combined with recent watch designs. Despite the clear jewellery nods, the timepiece notably features a leather strap. “The watch has to fit every wrist, with the focus on ergonomy,” says Marie-Laure Cérède, Cartier’s creative director for jewellery and watchmaking. “This is where we are a jeweller before being a watchmaker.”

Chief executive Louis Ferla, who joined in September from Vacheron Constantin, added: “Cartier is positioning itself as the king of jewellers and watchmaker of shapes.”

Van Cleef & Arpels is likewise harnessing its jewellery-making expertise and heritage with its latest launches. A fully paved Cadenas watch comes accented with sapphires and marks the 90th anniversary of a house icon famed for its clasp-like design and slanted dial. Meaning padlock in French, Cadenas was last revisited in 2015, and is an eagerly awaited return of a watch that has been worn by the Duchess of Windsor and actress Catherine Deneuve.

The brand is also unveiling the couture-inspired Ruban Mystérieux diamond watch, which is topped with a 3.72 carat centre stone and a flourish of emerald and sapphires set in the house’s signature Mystery Set technique, which creates a flush surface of stones.

Rainer Bernard, Van Cleef & Arpels’ head of watchmaking research and development, called the watch “at the crossroads of high jewellery knowhow and watchmaking tradition”.

Piaget’s Sixtie collection features a sautoir watch with diamonds and gold rope-style detailing

Each model of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Precious Colours and Precious Flowers Reverso One collections is limited to 10 pieces

Piaget chief executive Benjamin Comar says jewellery is “having a moment” with the investment and heirloom qualities acting as the main attractions. “Luxury bags used to stand for [value retention], now clients are looking for iconic jewellery pieces,” he says. “And unlike watches, you can stack as many pieces as you want around your hands, wrists, ears or neck. The possibilities are endless.”

A pure watchmaker and another Richemont house, Jaeger-LeCoultre is also embracing an upmarket tone. Its new Precious Colours and Precious Flowers Reverso One collections showcase different enamelling techniques and gem-setting using hundreds of diamonds, with each model limited to 10 pieces and taking between 60 and 100 hours to create. The watchmaker is also debuting its first Milanese mesh bracelet on its iconic Reverso watch. The design comes in an unexpected pink gold finish and features a closed caseback in polished gold, exuding a strong jewellery aesthetic.

Chopard’s L’Heure du Diamant collection features a dedicated movement created in-house

Bvlgari’s Serpenti collection comes in a bejewelled bangle bracelet

Chopard’s focus this year is L’Heure du Diamant, a collection that co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele says “is doing very well”. Last year, the house launched a dedicated, in-house movement for the collection — one of the thinnest and smallest on the market. L’Heure du Diamant timepieces are themed around a chunky diamond bezel crafted with a special crown setting and V-shaped prongs, offering added brilliance. In addition to unveiling a set of 12 models set with hard stone dials, there is also a new advertising campaign with Bella Hadid and the launch of a travelling exhibition of 15 timepieces.

Meanwhile, LVMH group reported a 2 per cent decline in sales for its watches and jewellery division in 2024, but cited strong performance at several of its jewellery brands. Bvlgari, which is now exhibiting at Watches and Wonders after spending three years outside the fair, is revamping its house icon, the Serpenti jewellery watch. Featuring a snow-set dial and bejewelled bangle-bracelet — a first for the collection — the Serpenti Aeterna comes in two models: rose gold and diamonds, and a high jewellery version in full pave.

The watch shares the same name as Bvlgari’s recent high jewellery collection, which according to LVMH’s latest financials, “achieved record-breaking revenue” last year.

This unique Tiffany Aquamarine model features 897 diamonds on the bracelet

795 snow-set diamonds feature on the Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence platinum model

LVMH’s results also pointed to New York brand Tiffany & Co and its high jewellery sales that have quadrupled since its acquisition in 2021. In January, Tiffany debuted at LVMH Watch Week with five heavy-hitting gem-set watches. Three of the novelties took their inspiration from existing Tiffany jewellery collections; there was also the one-off Carat 128 Aquamarine high jewellery watch featuring a pave set dial that shimmered below a single 34.52ct aquamarine, paired with a bracelet of 897 diamonds.

Nicolas Beau, vice-president of Tiffany horology, says jewellery watches was one of three pillars of the brand’s streamlined offering, alongside classic watches and clocks. He added that as a jeweller, Tiffany will take a “design-first” approach to creating timepieces. “Being a jeweller is a bit different from being a pure watchmaker,” he says “The idea is that watches are jewellery first, a piece of jewellery on your wrist.”

Hublot’s Big Bang One Click Joyful model features gemstones matching the colour of the rubber strap

Dior’s automata timepieces are jewel set with sculpted flora and fauna

Louis Vuitton does not participate in Watches and Wonders, but launched jewellery gem-set versions of its signature watches earlier this year. Its everyday sport-luxe Tambour collection now comes in platinum with a bezel and index of rainbow sapphires and rubies. The fashion house also debuted a new collection, the dragging hour display Tambour Convergence, featuring a precious plate as a dial, in either polished rose gold or platinum. The latter is festooned with 795 snow-set diamonds, which come in seven different sizes and required 32 hours to set on the dial plate.

Hublot meanwhile adds coloured gemstones to the mix with a new Big Bang One Click line called Joyful. It features interchangeable rubber straps matching the colour of the gemstones encircling the bezels: red spinels, orange and pink sapphires, blue topaz and green tsavorites.

Dior’s latest automata timepieces play with gold bezels, set with sculpted flora and fauna. Meanwhile its masculine Chiffre Rouge collection features a tourbillon with a dazzling snow set dial of 572 diamonds, in Dior’s Cannage pattern. Next week, the fashion house introduces a limited edition secret watch pendant to its Rose des Vents jewellery line, a mother-of-pearl dial hidden below a diamond-set gold face.

Finally, Chanel rounds out the jewellery-style timepieces with an extensive range of necklace watches. This year’s watches dangle from multi-strand chain chokers and sautoirs, and come as beauty-themed medallions. Others embrace Chanel’s known motifs, such as the lion and the button.

Coco Chanel herself features as a motif in Chanel’s new necklace watches . . . 

 . . . with a dial concealed in her hat.