Well, 3,713 diamonds to be exact, divided almost equally among four evocative new watches that Chanel recently added to its glamorous Les Éternelles de Chanel collection. Introduced in Baselworld 2015 as a capsule collection, it was composed of a trio of heart-achingly beautiful high jewellery secret watches that were produced entirely at Chanel’s high jewellery workshop at Place Vendôme. These statement pieces were emblazoned with snow-set diamonds and drew on the three familiar house icons: The comet, camellia and feather.
This year, the Maison decides to cast the spotlight on its inimitable quilted motif. (Earlier in the year, it also launched a high jewellery collection, Signature de Chanel, which was all about the quilted pattern). Each of the four new Les Éternelles de Chanel watches is composed of a network of gem-set segments held together by a delicate and inconspicuous gold supporting structure, so that the whole watch appears to float magically on the skin.
Unlike last year’s watches, which were composed of hundreds of discretely sized gemstones, these new watches feature an important stone prominently placed on each watch. Adorned respectively on the Signature Morganite Secret watch, the Signature Diamant Secret watch and the Signature Grenat Secret watch, are a 43.6-ct facetted sugarloaf cushion-cut morganite, a 5.2-ct rose-cut oval diamond and a 39.9-ct cushion-cut garnet, that shield the dial from prying eyes.
The Signature Saphir Secret watch shows off a 17.2-ct cushion-cut Padparadscha sapphire that is placed at the opposite side from its snow-set dial. Composed of diamonds set in white gold, the entire structure is outlined in pink gold to bring out the delicate hues of the rare gemstone.
