From Floyd Mayweather to Jay-Z why exclusive diamond watches are a knockout statement accessory

When it comes to diamonds, we always talk about the 4 Cs: cut, clarity, colour and carat. But here’s a look at the fifth: chronos, the Greek word for time. Diamonds can add an inordinate amount of value and aesthetic to luxury timepieces, some of which are the most expensive and spectacular in the world.

The light catches the cushion, emerald, radiant, marquise, pear and princess-cut diamonds of the 2014 Graff Hallucination, transforming the timepiece into a kaleidoscopic marvel showcasing the beauty and rarity of blue, pink, yellow-orange and green diamonds. The stones set on a platinum bracelet are unique; their total weight is more than 110 carats, and the owner of the quartz Graff Hallucination paid US$55 million.

“Coloured stones are very rare. They are collected over years from mines around the world – there is so much energy in those diamonds. The watch is a vehicle for the intricacy of the stones; at first glance you don’t necessarily even see the watch,” says Samuel Sherry, head of creative technologies and production manager of Graff, whose main markets are China, the Middle East and Japan.

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It is not only about the value, since a watch is not about telling time in this age of mobile phones. A spectacular watch is more of a personal statement – and diamonds are good for that,” says Sherry.

Diamond cutting and setting is a craft dating back to the 16th century, and industry professionals agree that you can only understand the weight and movement of a stone with your hands. Sherry and his colleagues, however, also train their artisans to work with 3D imaging on computers. “With computer aided design you can further enhance precision in certain repetitive patterns, for instance on a bracelet with repetitive joints. It also enables quick prototyping in resin before we commit to working with real stones.”

Despite the extreme rarity of pink diamonds, Chopard was able to release the Red Carpet collection in 2019, which featured 4.8 carats of brilliant-cut pink diamonds surrounding the paved dial, creating a bezel and bracelet evoking Japanese cherry blossoms. The watch body is made of ethically mined 18-karat gold. The front is circled by 20 marquise-cut white diamonds, and at 12 and 6 o’clock two pear cut fancy grey-blue light diamonds weighing in at two carats each emphasise the timekeeping function. The price? US$3.374 million.

In 2019 Chanel joined the fully paved baguette-cut bandwagon with a unique piece based on the J12 model. White diamond settings are more about cohesive colour and brilliance, and by repeating the rectangular, parallel facets of the 14-sided baguette cut, Chanel’s artisans have created an extremely precise structure. The 38-millimetre 18-karat white gold case is set with 77 baguette-cut diamonds, the dial with 168, the bezel with 46 and the bracelet with 502. Even the black oscillating mass powering the chronometer certified manufacture movement is set with 52 baguette-cut diamonds – the only odd one out is a single brilliant diamond on the crown. The 846 diamonds have a sum total of around 44.26 carats. The recommended retail price is US$1.219 million.

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Over its 145-year history, Piaget has become both a fully fledged manufacture watchmaker and a master of high jewellery in one of Geneva’s largest high jewellery ateliers. Its most extreme diamond watch to date has been the US$3.5 million Piaget Emperador Temple. In the 2019 collection, the reigning queen is the Limelight Aura. This 32 x 35-millimetre, slightly oval white gold case with a subtly tapered bracelet is set with a total of 302 white baguette and emerald-cut diamonds with a total weight of 59 carats. The retail price is HK$11.7 million.

If you look back in history, a collector’s willingness to pay for unique diamond creations has increased tenfold in recent times. In 1977, Vacheron Constantin Kallista was, at €5 million, the most expensive watch ever made. Designed by French painter Raymond Moretti, it is set with 118 white emerald and Asscher cut diamonds with a total weight of 130 carats. However, you cannot compare its weight and price with Graff’s Hallucination, since coloured stones fetch a much higher price than white ones.

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The surprisingly ergonomic case of the Kallista – Greek for “most beautiful” – is carved from a single ingot of solid gold. In 2012 Hublot presented the Big Bang $5 Million, featuring more than 112 carats of diamonds set in white gold. The diamond cutters started with the design and then searched out the stones to fit the vision – an adaptation of the brand’s most famous model. It was realised through the teamwork of specialist cutters and setters working over 14 months. If only one person had been put to the task, it would have taken at least 10 years of full-time effort.

The Big Bang $5 Million features a total of circa 118 carats divided between 1,282 diamonds. One hundred of those carats are baguette cut, and six are emerald cut, the latter weighing at least 3 carats each. The famous watch got even more famous when Beyoncé gave it to her husband Jay-Z for his 43rd birthday in 2012.

Three years after its creation, the Jacob & Co. Billionaire watch was at last bought in June 2018 by Floyd Mayweather. On Instagram, the professional boxer proudly flaunted the US$18 million timepiece, bought from Tokyo jeweller Tadashi Fukushima. Mayweather is a suitable client for this heavyweight piece, with a 58 x 47.5-millimetre white gold case that enables the pyramidal setting of a whopping 260 carats divided between 239 emerald cut diamonds. The see-through skeletonised tourbillon movement is an equal knockout.

Cartier has made flamboyant watches over the years, and in 2019 the company presented the Révélation D’une Panthère, which uses diamonds in a novel way. The dial is filled with a patented liquid and secret technology that slows the movement of the diamonds as they fall. The stones take the shape of the head of a panther before falling towards 6 o’clock.

Mouawad is a jeweller flying under the radar. The Grande Ellipse Galaxy, however, is a brilliant gentleman’s watch from the 129-year-old company that marries stone setting with watchmaking. The elliptical 18-karat gold case and bracelet is completely paved with baguette and emerald-cut diamonds and highlighting rubies with some serious watchmaking. The movement equipped with tourbillon, retrograde date and the double barrels provide a full five-day power reserve.

The white gold Blancpain Villeret is another example of how “real” watchmaking and a snowlike stone setting can go hand in hand. Its haute horlogerie decorated inverted movement is set with 409 diamonds. Add the sparkles to the case, lug and crown and it adds up to 816 diamonds weighing 2.426 carats. Costing US$138,200, it is far from extreme in value compared to the other watches mentioned, but is a novel way of bringing sparkle to your wrist. The race to the top will go on – at least for Graff, says Emmanuel Gueit, CEO of Graff Watches, who took over in May.

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“We really have an open road since we are now pretty much the only brand staying in this field; other brands are not really doing it any more,” he says. A recent spectacular creation is the colourful sister of the Hallucination, the 89.33-carat Secret Blossom. For standard watches, the vision is clear.

“In the coming year Graff will focus on ladies’ diamond watches for a simple reason: diamonds and ladies work – they are a girl’s best friend, right? People who want Graff watches want diamonds, and the brand is all about diamonds.”

As we finish our conversation, Gueit sums up two of the added value aspects of diamonds that are inescapable.

“Every diamond is unique – and size matters.”

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