High Jewellery Archives - Eyes on TimeEyes on Time

High Watchmaking showcased by jewellery prowess

A watch from the Traditionnelle collection entirely paved with more than 300 baguette-cut diamonds.

A technical tourbillon timepiece powered by ultra-thin Calibre 2160, enhanced by the splendour of its invisible setting.

A creation that embodies all the watchmaking mastery and decorative expertise of the Maison’s cherished artistic crafts.

Vacheron Constantin has enhanced the Traditionnelle collection with a tourbillon High Jewellery model powered by ultra-thin Calibre 2160. This technical timepiece is enhanced by exceptional mastery in the art of invisible gemsetting. All case components are paved with baguette-cut diamonds, from lugs to caseband, from bezel to clasp and from the crown to the dial with its radiant motif. This Traditionnelle tourbillon High Jewellery timepiece reflects Vacheron Constantin’s own approach to High watchmaking.

High Watchmaking meets High Jewellery

A Vacheron Constantin watch cannot be technical without being precious. Over the course of the Maison’s more than two and a half centuries of existence, this attitude has constantly stimulated its creativity. Born at the height of the Age of Enlightenment, this philosophy specific to Vacheron Constantin was nurtured in particular by La Fabrique, a unique organisation encompassing more than 5,000 watchmaking and goldsmithing professionals in 18th-century Geneva. Today, Vacheron Constantin continues to perpetuate this legacy through timepieces whose aesthetics stem from research that is equally thorough in exploring decorative arts as in ensuring smooth mechanical operation.

With the Traditionnelle tourbillon High Jewellery watch, this approach finds an exceptional new interpretation. Entirely paved with baguette-cut diamonds, this timepiece offers a remarkable symbiosis between expertise in artistic crafts and mastery of horological complications. The tourbillon regulator equipping its ultra-thin movement serves as a visual starting point for the gemsetting adorning the dial and which blossoms like a sparkling corolla. This composition is complemented by a sloping inner bezel ring and bezel that are likewise gemset, as indeed are the crown, lugs, caseband and clasp.

The magic of invisible setting

For this latest watch joining the collection, invisible setting was chosen to highlight the distinctive structure of its ornamentation. Invented in the early 20th century, this technique consists of setting perfectly calibrated stones so that the metal prongs serving as visible fastening points vanish, hence its name. Instead, master jewellers fashion T-shaped rails (channels), while the gems are cut with a groove on each side of the culet – the bottom facet of the stone. The gems are then slid one by one between the channels to form diamond paving with no visible joints.

For the setting to be perfect, the gems must be cut with absolute precision. This is a major challenge for this watch, whose radiating setting plane requires multiple calibrations of the baguette-cut diamonds that are increasingly larger the further away they are from the tourbillon. The same difficulty is found on the lugs with their trapeze-shaped baguette-cut diamonds, as well as on the caseband that was the object of specific research and cutting to enable vertical positioning of the gems. The crown is also entirely invisible-set on both the edge and front, where the diamonds have been specifically cut to fit between the polished flanks of the Maltese cross. In all, this Traditionnelle tourbillon High Jewellery is adorned with more than 300 diamonds (~27.11 cts), resulting from exceptional gemsetting craftsmanship.

An ultra-thin tourbillon calibre

Paired with a dark grey alligator leather strap with tone-on-tone stitching, this watch measures 41 mm in diameter, making it suitable for all wrists, not least because it is so slim (12.46 mm). The latter is made possible by Calibre 2160, the first self-winding tourbillon movement developed by the Maison. In addition to the elegance of its openworked carriage shaped like the Manufacture’s Maltese cross emblem, Calibre 2160 is distinguished by its extreme slenderness: ultra-thin movement featuring a total of 188 components measures just 5.65 mm thick and has an 80-hour power reserve. The steady beating of its mechanism operating at the moderate frequency of 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hz) can be admired through the sapphire caseback, notably thanks to the peripheral 18K gold oscillating weight featuring a Clous de Paris hobnail guilloché pattern and serving to reduce the overall thickness.

The same quest for perfection has been applied to the finishing of the movement, with a circular-grained mainplate on the dial side and hand-bevelled bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève on the back. The gear train wheels are circular satin-finished, while the screws are chamfered and polished. Inspired by the Maison’s emblem, the tourbillon with its carriage bearing the small seconds indicated by a blackened screw features exceptional finishing lavished on all its components. One example is rounding off, which consists in filing the tourbillon bar to achieve a conical and semi-cylindrical shape, entirely hand-crafted to meet the criteria required by Vacheron Constantin.

Traditionnelle Tourbillon High Jewellery

Reference
6057T/000G-H067

Calibre
2160
Developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin
Mechanical, self-winding
Peripheral rotor
30.4 mm (13½’’’) diameter, 5.65 mm thick
Approximately 80 hours of power reserve
2.5 Hz (18,000 vibrations per hour)
188 components
30 jewels
Hallmark of Geneva certified timepiece

Indications
Hours, minutes, small seconds on tourbillon carriage
Tourbillon

Case
18K white gold case set with 144 baguette-cut diamonds on sides, lugs and bezel
041 mm diameter, 12.46 mm thick
Crown set with 16 baguette-cut diamonds
Transparent sapphire crystal caseback
Water-resistance tested at a pressure of 3 bar (approx. 30 metres)

Dial
18K white gold set with 158 baguette-cut diamonds
18K white gold hours & minutes hands
Black screw on tourbillon carriage for seconds indication

Strap
Dark grey Mississippiensis alligator with alligator inner shell, saddle-finish, large square scales

Buckle
18K white gold folding clasp, set with 16 baguette-cut diamonds

Total diamond-setting
334 diamonds, for a total weight of approx. 27.11 carats (guaranteed minimum carats)

Available only in Vacheron Constantin Boutiques

Hublot combines iconic design and craftsmanship with its Classic Fusion High Jewellery 2023 watch, a stunning piece of high jewellery with 431 dazzling baguette-cut diamonds.

The latest addition to Hublot’s High Jewellery collection of watches is a Classic Fusion High Jewellery 42 mm in white gold set with baguette-cut diamonds. It fits effortlessly into the brand’s High Jewellery collection alongside other iconic models such as the Big Bang, the Spirit of Big Bang and the Square Bang Unico, adorned with white gold, diamonds and even rainbow-coloured gemstones. The Classic Fusion High Jewellery 42mm combines iconic design with the most remarkable gem-setting techniques. This Classic Fusion, embellished with baguette-cut diamonds and enhanced with sleek lines of white gold, has become a true Hublot icon. An exceptional accolade for a timeless watch.

The highest form of sophistication is simplicity, so Hublot has chosen to go back to basics and to the very shape that epitomised its creation in 1980. The result is now one that offers an acclaimed expression of high jewellery, accentuating the timeless purity of the Classic Fusion model. What a stunning piece! Master gem-setters have brought this new Classic Fusion High Jewellery 2023 to life with no fewer than 431 baguette-cut diamonds—around 14.6 carats in total. These gemstones adorn the watch’s case, bezel, dial and clasp. On the dial alone, it took 120 hours of painstaking, meticulous work to set the 241 baguette-cut diamonds. That’s almost three weeks of full-time work! Then came the task of setting the 60 additional diamonds around the bezel.

The 42-mm case is set with 94 baguette-cut diamonds and contains the HUB1710 calibre, which is visible from the back of the watch through the sapphire glass. The self-winding movement oscillates at a frequency of 4 Hz (or 28,800 alterations per hour), offering a power reserve of no fewer than 50 hours.

Of course, watchmaking of this quality must be perfect in every detail: even the black rubber-lined alligator strap features a deployant buckle adorned with 36 baguette-cut diamonds.

All in all, it takes over 200 hours to set all the 431 diamonds that grace this exceptional piece of high jewellery, the perfect fusion of watchmaking excellence and jewellery artisanship.

“This wonderfully radiant piece celebrates and icon of the maison. The jeweller’s artistic creativity and our watchmaking expertise intertwine to create a work of art that is both a watch and a jewel!” – RICARDO GUADALUPE, HUBLOT CEO

CLASSIC FUSION HIGH JEWELLERY 42MM

REFERENCE	CASE	CASEBACK	BEZEL
543.WX.9004.LR.9904	Polished 18K White Gold set with 94 baguette-cut white diamonds Diameter: 42 mm Thickness: 10.5 mm Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 M	White Gold	Polished 18K White Gold set with 60 baguette-cut white diamonds
DIAL	MOVEMENT	STRAP AND CLASP	PRICE
Polished 18K White Gold set with 241 baguette-cut white diamonds	HUB1710 Self-winding movement Frequency: 4 (28’800 A/H) Power reserve (hours): 50 Number of components : 166 Jewels : 27	Black Alligator and Black Rubber Polished 18K White Gold set with 36 baguette-cut white diamonds and Black-plated Titanium deployant Buckle Clasp	330’000.00 CHF 363’000.00 EUR 348’000.00 USD 300’000.00 GBP

HUBLOT

Hublot is a Swiss watch manufacturer founded in 1980 and based in Nyon. For its first ever timepiece, this fundamentally disruptive company combined gold with a rubber strap in a case with a design inspired by a ship’s porthole (hublot in French). Thus, the Art of Fusion was born, blending tradition, innovation, craftsmanship, worlds and talents. It became the brand’s aesthetic and technical signature.

This identity was strengthened in 2005 with the Big Bang, which attested to an unrivalled know-how in terms of complications, manufacture movements and state-of-the-art materials. Carbon, titanium, ceramic and sapphire have been developed on this model to technical extremes.

This ground-breaking, high-quality approach to watchmaking is summed up in its philosophy ‘Be First, Unique and Different.’ It gradually led to other collections with innovative designs: Classic Fusion, Spirit of Big Bang, Shaped Collection (Square Bang and Manufacture Pieces). These draw on high levels of craftsmanship, both in terms of the materials so dear to Hublot (such as Magic Gold, brightly-coloured ceramics and sapphires) and its manufacture movements (Unico chronograph, Meca-10 and large complications such as the Tourbillon, the Cathedral Minute Repeater and the specific Manufacture Pieces movements).

Hublot’s world extends to powerful partnerships including football. ‘Hublot Loves Football’ has become the slogan at the world’s biggest sporting events (such as the FIFA World CupTM, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA EUROTM) and through its ambassadors. This love of football continues in art, design, music, sport, fine dining and sailing. Lastly, Hublot’s implication in joint environmental projects with SORAI and Polar Pod reflects its concern for the issues of the day. Over 130 boutiques around the world share Hublot’s fervour and values, alongside the Hublot.com e-commerce site.

Eyes on Time

Everything about luxury watches

Tag Archives: High Jewellery

Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle tourbillon High Jewellery