A new trend was revealed at the 2023 edition of Watches & Wonders : the time-telling sautoir!
Is it so improper for a woman to look at the time? Do we still need to hide or use tricks to check the time inconspicuously, whilst men are wearing increasingly flashy watches, with gold and diamonds on display?
It seems that big brands have been offering us secret watches for a few years now, and have decided to bring back sautoirs to make watches out of them… After all, it’s quite amusing to see that we are reintroducing pocket watches for women. Life is full of surprises, life is a perpetual cycle. It seems we’re confidently turning back time!
Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels have unveiled some of these time-telling jewels in the previous years, and this trend is becoming more pronounced in 2023. More than just watches, timepieces are becoming jewels and accessories for sophisticated outfits.
Chanel’s Mademoiselle Privé sautoir is stylish and elegant, with its majestic lion sculpted in 18k yellow gold and set with 252 brilliant-cut diamonds, covering a button revealing a black-lacquered secret watch, at the end of a yellow gold sautoir made of faceted onyx and 51 brilliant-cut diamonds set in a square of gold, for a high “couture” look, limited to 20 pieces.
Sleek and elegant, the Reverso secret necklace reinterprets the 1931 Reverso to give it a feminine, graceful, and fine-jewellery touch. The cord, the original black textile bracelet that adorned Reverso models in the 1930s, has been reimagined as a flexible chain made up of diamond-set links and polished onyx pearls, to which a Reverso entirely paved with diamonds is suspended. Two polished onyx pendants add a refined touch to this new elegant way of telling time. Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the few watch brands to have its own Rare Handcrafts® studio, bringing together multiple artisanal skills in a specialized studio within its Manufacture.
A feminine and sensual dream with this unique and technical piece of jewellery, which features a Jaeger-LeCoultre 846 hand-wound calibre.
Piaget pays tribute to its most exuberant creations from the 60s-80s in connection with the Piaget Society and renews its watchmaking and jewellery expertise by offering three sautoirs made up of two twisted and handcrafted gold chains. A unique piece which required no less than 130 hours of work, adorned with a 25.38-carat Zambian cabochon emerald on a gold and diamond chain, with a watch on a malachite dial. Another super trendy gold sautoir set with diamonds, with high-quality work on the chain whose twists are also set with diamonds. Palace decor on the dial revealing a great deal of gold chiselling work and very chic tassels. Finally, a summery necklace made of gold, diamonds, and turquoise to dress up our summer evenings.
Van Cleef & Arpels also presents a series of sautoirs with a secret watch in the Perlée collection, with a hard stone cabochon such as chalcedony or sodalite, or a more luxurious piece with ruby, sapphire or emerald set on a beautifully crafted chain on a mother-of-pearl dial. A truly chic beaded effect. Some pieces already existed in the brand’s iconic Alhambra collection with gold and diamonds!
You get it – if you want to be trendy in 2023, you must wear a time-telling sautoir. But beware, all these time-telling jewellery pieces are either unique or limited edition!
As for me, I’m not sure I’m ready yet, as I’ve just started to enjoy wearing a few timepieces on my wrist. And if I really had to fall for a secret watch, it would probably be the new Ludo by Van Cleef & Arpels with pink sapphires and gold, also revealed at the 2023 edition of Watches & Wonders, which adorns your wrist with a lovely couture bracelet!
Ludo Secret watch, rose gold, pink sapphire and guilloché white mother-of-pearl, Swiss quartz movement, Van Cleef & Arpels © Likeabeautifuljewel
Let me know if you like time-telling jewellery, and why?