JEWELLERY NEWS

Words: Zoe Gunn and Annabel Harrison

New Maharajahs Padma earring, POA, boucheron.com

Déferlante tiara POA, chaumet.com

The traditional home of high jewellery, the Place Vendôme is also the address of choice for the select few houses capable of crafting creations worthy of the title. Featuring the finest craftsmanship and most flawless stones, many of these typically-unique designs are snapped up within days of being released (despite sixfigure price tags).

Building on the success of 2021’s Torsade de Chaumet collection, the Déferlante collection takes its cues from the Wavescroll tiara, designed by founder Joseph Chaumet, circa 1900. The highlight of the eight-piece collection is a dazzling tiara (above), which features 1,600 brilliant and step-cut diamonds in a design based on an archival drawing of a fountain.

Just as couture collections often hark back to signature silhouettes and fabrics of a fashion house, so too do designers delve into the history of jewellery maisons. In 1928, Bhupinder Singh, the Maharajah of Patiala, visited Paris, taking over 35 suites at The Ritz. Jewellers waited with bated breath to see which boutique he would favour before he stepped into Boucheron and placed the largest order in the Place Vendôme’s history: 149 custom pieces to be exact. With the New Maharajahs collection, centred around diamonds, emeralds and pearls, Boucheron pays homage to this remarkable moment.

There’s no escaping this beautiful silverywhite metal in the year of Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, as The Queen marks a remarkable 70 years on the throne. The metal is often eclipsed in favour of its shiny precious golden sibling, which has several colour options, and not always for good reason: platinum, which is hypoallergenic, lasts longer than gold and requires less upkeep. Here are some of our favourite platinum pieces to treasure for 70 years and more.

Bespoke engagement ring (left), POA, tadaandtoy.com; Earrings, £6,450, Bayco, bayco.com Ring, £7,260, Fred Leighton, netaporter.com; Necklace, £15,000, boodles.com

Catherine tiara pendant, garrard.com

In 1735, Garrard company founder George Wicks received his first royal commission from Frederick, Prince of Wales. By 1843, Garrard had been appointed the first official Crown Jeweller and 70 years ago, altered the Imperial State Crown, originally made for King George VI, to fit the young Queen’s head. Garrard’s Albemarle collection is inspired by one of its most iconic commissions – The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, one of Her Majesty’s most recognisable pieces. The collection’s update includes a statement diamond ear cuff – a first for Garrard. garrard.com

Flowers are beautiful, joyful, intricate, unique; no wonder they provide the perfect creative inspiration. Graff’s design team has wandered through an English garden and created jewelencrusted iterations of our favourite flowers. The four Wild Flower styles, from trios and individual blooms to floral clusters and blossoms in a row, are designed to be worn singly, paired in organic asymmetry or assembled in extravagant bouquets. graff.com

Pavé diamond ring, £14,000, Diamond cluster ring, £11,000

HIGH JEWELLERY MEETS HAUTE HOROLOGY IN HARRY WINSTON’S LATEST AVENUE CLASSIC GRAFFITI COLLECTION

Words: Hannah Silver

In the three decades since New York jeweller Harry Winston ventured into watchmaking, traditional watch codes have been reframed, and imbued with a high jewellery heritage. Recurring design elements intertwine Harry Winston’s history into the essential form of the watches: distinctive case shapes recall the bold geometric silhouette of the brand’s flagship Fifth Avenue store, while plays on blue nod to the legendary Hope Diamond which held company founder Winston so enthralled. The so-called King of Diamonds was fascinated by the rare blue-toned diamond, later donating it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, thus sealing its place in high jewellery legend. The jeweller’s watches are themselves a love letter to New York City, translating sights from the striking silhouette of the Manhattan skyline, to the neat grid of Central Park and the traditional brownstones of Winston’s birthplace on the Upper West Side, into precious gems in both high jewellery and timepieces.

Three new Avenue Classic Graffiti models embody this fixation with geometry and form. Like the original watches in the Avenue collection, the Classic Graffiti pieces conform to the precise proportions of the Big Apple, their play with diamonds a dazzling foil for the clean white or rose gold links of the metal. These new pieces mark a new direction for the Avenue watch family – which takes its name from the symmetrical Art Deco codes of New York’s Fifth Avenue – eschewing typical tonal hues, and embracing bolder tones.

The new models, each limited to 30 pieces, travel away from Fifth Avenue, looking instead to the vibrancy of Soho, which is encompassed in a range of joyful colour palettes. While still quintessentially New York, it is the buzz of downtown and the vibrancy of the art and fashion scenes which are here drawn in sorbet shades, playfully set off with scribbles of precious gems.

The first model in bubblegum pink riffs off these sugary sweet hues, casting a mother-of-pearl dial and alligator leather strap against brilliant-cut pink and blue sapphires, its face framed with the geometric row of brilliant-cut diamonds. Precious stones pop against the cooler blue hues of the second model, a contrast more restrained in the blue and white mother-of-pearl of the third piece.

Playing off a wealth of historical references, these new watches epitomise the high jewellery expertise honed by the House over the past century.

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