Serpents and secret watches — the most glamorous high jewellery from Baselworld
- The year’s Baselworld watch show, as usual, heralded the cutting edge directions for the year
A walk through the grand halls of Baselworld 2019, the annual Swiss watch and jewellery fair showcasing the world’s most desirable objets d’art, revealed the new products setting the direction of the year’s trends.
“Baselworld is the platform for the whole industry, not only watches but jewellery, gemstones and related branches,” says Michel Loris-Melikoff, managing director of Baselworld.
The emerging directions for the industry were quickly apparent: the strong return of the colour yellow in the form of yellow diamonds and yellow gold; the emergence of custom-cut gemstones and diamonds; and the ability of a jewel to be flexible and also keep time.
Inspired by the poetic universe of Coromandel screens that Gabrielle Chanel so admired, The Chanel Watch creation studio introduced the Sautoir Mademoiselle Prive Coromandel. The dial of this necklace pendant watch features a design of tiny diamond birds sitting on branches in miniatures sculpted in 18-ct beige gold, surrounded by diamonds, and on the other side a solitaire diamond is set in onyx, enabling the necklace to be worn to show either a timepiece side or a jewellery side.
Another piece by Chanel, the Premiere Midnight in Vendome Ring, is a unique design in yellow gold, which features a custom-cut black onyx that can be flipped to show a full diamond set watch dial with a quartz movement. Unique in its concept and execution, this ring is a statement piece and a jewel with a purpose.
Bulgari successfully continues to gamble on movement, waves and suppleness to reinterpret flora and fauna through the seductive charms of the serpent. Inspired by the creative excitement of the roaring 80s, the new Serpenti Misteriosi Pallini watch with an 18-ct rose gold bracelet features a touch of pop. Striking and mesmerising, the gold snake whose diamond-encrusted head holds a secret watch, sensually slithers around the wrist with its body made of unique mobile spheres, enlivening the jewel at every movement.
In high jewellery, the sparkle of the golden rays of the sun and the joyfulness of daffodils are interpreted in the form of yellow gold and yellow diamonds.