Piaget
Last month, Piaget brought its high-jewellery collections to Art Dubai for the second year running. These included pieces from the Sunny Side of Life collection, inspired by the Sun and the energy of Palm Springs – but which could easily have been referencing the UAE. Brought to life with coloured emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds, the jewels were set onto handworked white, yellow and rose gold. The Palace décor goldwork lent a 1960s retro mood to the earrings, rings and necklaces. Simple band necklaces featured tourmalines, spinels and diamonds fanning out like rays of sunlight, while cuffs from the Extremely Piaget range had gold inlaid with malachite, lapis lazuli and turquoise. The Lush Nature collection blended gems with feather marquetry, and showed a pair of diamond earrings with flamingo pink feathers. Each Piaget stone is fully certified in compliance with the Kimberley Process.
Vacheron Constantin
Launched as the world's most complicated wristwatch at the 2017 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva before being brought to Dubai, Les Cabinatiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600 took seven years to create. Composed of 514 components, the calibre is so skilfully integrated that 23 complications fit into a depth of just 8.7mm. Running on three time scales, civil (what the watch you are wearing is set to), solar (the Earth's orbit around the Sun) and sidereal (the track of stars across the sky), each movement has its own gear chain, ensuring accuracy for 2,600 years. The front face also carries a mareoscope (to indicate tides), a perpetual calendar, precision moonphase, sunrise and sunset times and zodiac signs. At 11 o'clock sits a 3-D depiction of the alignment between the Earth, Moon and Sun. The reverse face shows sidereal time as an etched map of the night sky. Finally, a tourbillon sits at 6 o'clock. Manually wound, this Vacheron Constantin timepiece has a power reserve of three weeks. This is a truly unique piece, and we have it on good authority that it has already been purchased by a collector in the Middle East.
Chopard
The new high-jewellery designs from Chopard's For You and Happy Hearts collections use emeralds and malachites in regal hues of green. The For You range features vibrant cherry blossoms, but don't expect to see any pastel pink buds here. Rather, the flowers are crafted from the finest white diamonds and emeralds. The artistic timepieces juxtapose embossed satin straps with dials surrounded by pear-shaped and brilliant-cut diamonds and emeralds. In this season's Happy Hearts range, the colour green remains ever-present, in the form of striking malachite, contained within dainty heart shapes. The romantic icon is a personal favourite of Chopard's artistic director and co-president, Caroline Scheufele, who opted for malachite due to its positive and protective qualities. The hearts are placed at the opposite ends of rose-gold bangles, made from malachite or speckled with diamonds. Drop earrings feature a trio of hearts, a cocktail ring flaunts heart clusters of varying sizes and a layered chain is also decorated with the motif.
Nejla bint Asem
For her latest collection of jewellery, Princess Nejla bint Asem, who is a member of Jordan's royal family, drew on memories from her childhood. "I was inspired by my history and by my family. My grandmother was an Ottoman and she had all these special pieces that I was very attached to." As a child, Princess Nejla would experiment with creating her own jewellery. "Four or five years ago, I decided to take a jewellery course in Florence, to turn my hobby into a career." Her latest, eponymous collection is being sold exclusively at Damas in The Dubai Mall, and consists of 16 pieces that offer a delicate take on Oriental motifs. "It's very East meets West," she explains. "But lighter and more modern. There is a simplicity to the pieces." Princess Nejla is wearing designs from her own collection at the Damas launch, and admits to gravitating towards jewellery that is significant in some way. "I like to wear pieces that are personal or that have meaning. My favourite piece of jewellery was designed by my father for my 13th birthday. It is a turquoise drop necklace that forms the Arabic letter 'N'. I just fell in love with it."
Read this and more stories in Luxury magazine, out with The National on Thursday, April 13.
sdenman@thenational.ae