Results matching “jewelry”

For spring 2012 Louis Vuitton(previously mentioned) has a new collection of haute joaillerie designed by Lorenz Baumier(previously mentioned): Escale à Paris (a stop in Paris).  Not all the pieces are announced yet, but eventually there will be 7 famous landmarks of Paris represented.  For the first three we have the Champs Elysees, the Tuilleries garden and the Place de la Concord (really the fountain at the center).

For the Champs Elysees we have a matching necklace and ring, both in white gold set with diamonds and red spinels, a red stone so close to ruby that many famous "rubies" are actually found to be spinel with proper testing. According to the press release, the necklace represents 1650 hours of work.

Addendum
I had noticed the small Arc de Triomph at the neckline, which I thought was a cute little detail, but it wasn't until I thought about it a bit that i realized that it really represents the Champs Elysee as seen from the river. The spinels on the right are the brake lights, and the diamonds on the right are the headlights of the constant traffic one sees there, any time of day or night. The loop of the necklace around the neck is the massive rotary which surrounds the Arc.

For the Tuilleries gardens we have 2 pieces in an Art Deco vein, a pair of earrings and a ring, both in white gold set with emeralds and chrysoprase. The earrings have an interesting book-matched symmetry to them, reminding me of a piece in Chanel's 2011 collection.

Finally for the Place de la Concorde, we have a overwhelming ring depicting the fountain at the middle of the circle. Unusually the press-release includes 2 pictures of it, which give a good feel for just how closely matched to the original it is. It is also of white gold, set with small diamonds and sapphires for the lower tiers, and a large sapphire on top. The support-structure is a piece of carved onyx, a clever way to "darken" the interior.

And completely unrelated collection, also from LV, was also announced, Defile (translates probably to parade). The pictured piece is the "Charm" bracelet, version XXL, in multiple colors of gold and diamond. It is only available as a custom order in gold and lapis lazulie, gold and malachite or the pictured gold and diamond. Price ranges from 50,000-60,000 Euro.

All of these pieces, one assumes, will be available at Louis Vuitton's soon-to-open jewelry boutique in Place Vendome

A

Another Jules Verne, by which they really mean 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, themed piece from Louis Moinet.  This one is a single-button chronograph, a hacked 7750*, with a button-mode indicator patterened after a ship's telegraph.  The casework isn't exceptional, but not bad, with a gold-on-black patten repeated on the bezel, controls and dial.  The dial has a nice swirling guilloche pattern (reminding me of Guinel's jewelry), but the harmony is broken by the inexplicable inclusion of the date in the middle of the open space, not centered in any way, between 5 and 8 o'clock.  The hands look to be off-the-shelf steel, a pitty as the chronograph hands do a good job echoing the blue of the outer chapter ring.


(source)

A
* "Movement is the Swiss automatic mono-pusher Louis Moinet caliber LM30, exclusive to the firm, with 27 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 48 hours. " Ahh, PR speak for "we hired someone to modify a 7750 and nobody else can call it a LM30"

Unlike the usual eponymous color, the Turquoise of Turkmenistan is a deep, almost alge-like, green color. A new collection by Parisian jeweler Lydia Courteille, "Amazonia" takes full advantage of the unusual color and texture of the stone.

First a pair of flower rings with the turquoise embellished with green garnets, chrysoberyl and diamonds set in 18kt gold

Two Flowers,	One Flower

My favorite of the rings is this nameless under-sea themed piece (yes I know that hasn't been the "in" motif for several years), also using green garnet and diamonds, with the addition of ruby eyes

The collection also includes a matching trio of bracelet, necklace and earrings with the same arboreal pieces over large slabs of variegated stone.

(source)
A

Wallace Chan will be the first Asian jeweler to display his work at the Paris Biennale des Antiquares this coming September 2012. He's not new to the industry, though, having won the Hong-Kong Jewelry Design Grand Award for his 1987 invention, the Wallace Cut. This is basically an intaglio cut on the reverse side of a faceted stone which is carefully calculated to appear "complete" only when seen through the facets.

In the early part of this century he caught the Titanium trend(see previous), and presented a collection in 2007 as Baselworld

He's recently pre-presented several of pieces to the press:

A pair of elegant, if somewhat severe, earrings in diamond and rock-crystal (a traditional European material that he seems to use somewhat often)	"Innocent Heart" ring. The center stone is a 25ct star-ruby, and it is surrounded by smaller star-rubies and yellow-green diamonds

A Butterfly broach in titanium set with precious and semiprecious stones. The wings are verigated rock-crystal

Necklace of aquamarine, sapphires, amethyst and diamonds set in titanium. The settings of the aquamarine deserve special note, they are titanium shells, anodized to match the color of the stones nearly exactly and set with tiny diamonds, giving them the appearance of just sticking to the outside of the large stone unsupported.

(source)

A

In 1932 Gabrielle Chanel, known to all as Coco, announced her first collection of diamond jewelry. To commemorate that, the current incarnation of Chanel Joaillerie, which was formed in 1993, will be releasing a large collection (80 pieces in total) in July entitled, simply, 1932. The designs take their inspiration, so the press-release says, from the motifs and symbols held dear by the eponymous designer. The first 4 pieces released all have celestial themes.

The first three pieces are all from the same family, the Etoile Filante, or shooting star. All are 18kt white gold set with white diamonds.

	A photo by André Kertész for Vogue Paris from the original 1932 expo "Années Folles Rappelons" (roughly "remember the Roaring 20's") where the initial pieces were displayed. This motif was the inspiration for the star-themed pieces above

My favorite piece of the initial release was this broach, the Céleste, centering on a massive 79ct blueish baroque Austrailian pearl.

(source)
A

Jean-Claude Sabrier has worked in the world of antique watches since 1960, first as an antiques dealer, then as a consultant for both the French government, the Musee des Arts et Metiers (previously mentioned) and the department of Justice, and the SWATCH group, notably the Breguet museum collection.  He's recently published a book on the history of the self-winding (automatic) watch , starting with it's origins in the 1760s, which will be available not-soon-enought (March, 2012).  For those interested, there's an excerpt in this month's VOX Magazine, published by Antiquorum, though the online Flash-based reader is a bit sucky, the piece begins on page 34.

A

Barneys of New York is now carrying the jewelry of Sevan Bicakci (previously mentioned).  It means you no longer need to travel to Istanbul to see the pieces in person, but on the downside, you no longer get to go to Istanbul.  One of his rings, with a large Topaz back-carved with doves, is on the cover of their Christmas catalogue, and here's another piece with the same theme.

Well I'm sure I've seen worse...
In celebration of the 80th birthday of Mickey Mouse Disney has teamed-up with Chopard to release a series of jewelry and watches.  The Watches are of the usual "happy sport" style, but with a little black-and-white diamond mickey head instead of the fish. It is interesting to see them working with Chopard and not Bulgari since Disney and Gerald Genta had a long relationship for Mickey (and occasionally Goofy) themed watches.

Specs:
The Happy Mickey pendant, in white, rose and yellow
gold set with black, white, yellow and pink diamonds, rubies, onyx
cabochons eyes, with one mobile diamond; on a white gold chain set with
blue and pink sapphires, emeralds, rubies and amethysts. Retail will be £132,00

(source)

A

Starting on December 13th, Christies will be auctioning off Elizabeth Taylor's collection of jewelry with proceeds to benefit her AIDS charity ETAF. The preview show has started and is making its way around the world before coming to rest for the sale in New York which means that photos of the pieces have started trickling out. I'll start with just the previewed necklaces.

First a pair of shots of an emerald and diamond necklace by Bulgari originally given to Taylor by Richard Burton

REUTERS/Fred Prouser	AP Photo/Richard Drew

More Necklaces

Sapphire and diamond necklace by Mouaward with matching earrings AP Photo/Misha Japaridze	A gold and ivory necklace which was a gift from the estate of Edith Head. The Ivory disks are 19th and 18th century opera passes. AP Photo/Richard Drew
One of a suite of Kunzite, amethyst and diamond "Triphanes" jewelry by Van Cleef & Arpels. It is estimated at $70,000 - $100,000. AP Photo/Richard Drew	"The Taj Mahal Diamond," (c. 1627), on a gold and ruby chain by Cartier, was a gift from Richard Burton for her 40th birthday in 1972. The central diamond is engraved with the words "Love is Everlasting" in Parsee. It is estimated at $300,000 - $500,000. AP Photo/Richard Drew
A ruby, diamond and pearl necklace by Cartier with the La Peregrina 60-carat natural pearl pendant The necklace is expected to bring $3 million at auction. REUTERS/Fred Prouser	The so-called "Grandmother's Necklace", with matching earrings, by Van Cleef and Arpels in front of a Warhol "Liz Taylor" screen-print (not owned by Ms Taylor). The necklace and earring set were a present from Richard Burton to commemorate the birth of Taylor's first grandchild. AP Photo/Misha Japaridze

(source note that that page is a nightmare of ads and javascript pain, and the second image in the slideshow is Hank Williams Jr.)
A

Back when there was still a BNB they were working on a wristwatch version of the Antikythera mechanism, a 1st Century BCE mechanical sky map.  Now that they're Manufacture Hublot, that project has been continued and Hublot has shown off the prototype at the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris(Previously Mentioned).

The original is flattened, broken and corroded(left), so most of the understanding on the internals is based on CAT scans(right)

The watch movement is not yet finalized, but they've released a rendering (below) and over at thePurists Andrew (219) has some live pics of the protoype from the press reception last night.

I don't usually bother with the full movement specs, but these are not the usual "gear, screw and jewel count":

Hublot Antikythera - Calibre 2033-CH01

• Movement functions:
  • Hours, minutes, Seconds via the tourbillon cage
  • Flying tourbillon without ball bearing
  • Manual winding
• View of dial
  • Egyptian Calendar
  • Calendar for the Panhellenic games
  • Zodiac
  • Aperture showing moon
  • Lunar phases
  • Aperture showing sun
• View of bridges
  • Metonic cycle
  • Saros cycle
  • Callippic cycle
  • Exeligmos cycle

Main Physical Characteristics

• Dimensions of shaped movement
  • Width 30.40 mm
  • Length 38.00 mm
  • Thickness 14.14 mm (overall dimensions)
• Time-setting stem (3 o'clock) 2-position
  • Manual winding, Time setting
• Number of jewels: 69
• Number of components:495
• Hairspring:Flat for extremely accurate setting
• Frequency: 21,600 Vib/h (3 Hz)
• Power reserve: Approximately 120 hours (5 days)
• Oscillator (made in-house)
  • Balance with adjustment inertia-blocks
  • Moment of inertia: 16mg/cm2
  • Lift angle: 53°

They've also released a little introductory video (with an unpleasant narrator, but some good video)

A