Diamonds, Sapphires, Beetle Wings? Piaget’s New High Jewelry Watches Are Wearable Odes to Nature.
Piaget occupies a rare niche in the luxury world. It specializes in micro-thin mechanical watchmaking on the one hand, and high jewelry watches on the other, which are often introduced as part of high jewelry collections. It’s easy to imagine Piaget’s gem buyers out there competing with teams from Bulgari (which shares both specialties), to scoop up the world’s top gems. While both are masters of gem-setting and micro-horology, Piaget places a special emphasis on mixing gems with metiers, particularly inlay and marquetry using ornamental stones and exotic materials. The Metaphoria collection—inspired by nature’s metamorphoses—is 52 pieces strong, including 41 jewelry creations and 11 watches, most of which are one-of-a-kind.
Piaget says the goal of this collection was to emphasize details of natural phenomena, such as the flow of a waterfall, the colors of the forest, or the rays of the sun, all within the house’s signature style, which is festive, elegant, and unique. It accomplished the goal using ingredients from nature itself: coral, turquoise (which in high-quality grades is shaping up to be a favorite gem in high jewelry collections this year), lapis lazuli, petrified wood, and even elytra (beetle’s wings) along with diamonds and precious metals.
The collection is divided into subsets of pieces meant to be worn together, with high-jewelry watches sprinkled into the mix. The leaf-themed Alata set includes a cuff watch, with leaf-shaped pieces of hand-engraved yellow gold that are given Piaget’s special “decor palace” finish – a kind of organic version of guilloché that resembles tree bark. Yellow gold leaves are folded together over the cuff in layers with mother-of-pearl marquetry and white gold pieces set with round and marquis-shaped diamonds. Matching pieces include a necklace, ring, and a spectacular ear cuff.
The Adrivea secret ring watch hides its dial under a 10.88-carat aquamarine, surrounded by an elaborate diamond and sapphire setting. The Foliatura emerald secret wristwatch is topped with a 6.59-carat Colombian emerald, surrounded by intertwining leaves set with chrysoprase and diamonds, and engraved with a Decor Palace finish.
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The Alitura watch is an exotic mosaic of diamonds and black opal, chalcedony, sodalite, and pietersite. It contains the 430P ultra-thin, hand-wound movement. The Undulata also has an open, marquetry dial, this one set with straw, wood, leather, parchment, and elytra. It’s an ultra-thin tourbillon, with the caliber 670P.
The cushion-shaped Terrae watch is part of a collection designed in brown and green tones, inspired by the colors of the forest. The dial is fossilized wood, surrounded by a bezel ringed with three rows of emeralds. It contains the ultra-thin, hand-wound caliber 534P. There is a matching collar, cuff, earrings, and ring, variously set with tiger’s eye, rutilated quartz, and green tourmaline.
These pieces are either very limited or one-of-a-kind. Prices on request.
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