Ladies’ Watches or Precious Jewelry Pieces?

We all have our iPhones, Androids and other smart gadgets that can tell us time more precisely than any watch. Still, craze for wristwatches in almost every imaginable shape, color and size has never stopped. As a matter of fact, the watchmaking industry is among those rare sectors with a constant growth, each year releasing something breathtakingly creative and beautiful.

The reason for that is obvious. Watches are indispensable fashionable objects that find our style and taste. In particular a lady should have at least two timepieces among her accessories. I will skip those that are created for casual moments and present the top ladies’ models for 2012, marked by their originality, sophisticated look and technological excellence.

Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Poetic Wish

With this breathtaking timepiece, a luxury watchmaker, Van Cleef & Arpels, puts together highly complicated technology, storytelling and beautiful design.  On its enamel dial, a Lady Arpels Poetic Wish displays the romantic scenes from Paris and a girl waiting for her wish to come true. Standing on the terrace of the Eiffel Tower, the girl is surrounded with wonderfully depicted symbols of the City of Lights – the river Seine and the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral. In the background, there is a representation of Paris as seen from the sky.

This piece of art is highlighted by the eye-spinning frame, completely set by sparkling round diamonds. The true magic starts by a simple press on the push button that activates the scene. Immediately, a kite appears and carries the girl’s wish, while the five-minute repeater is telling correct time with the series of gongs. Powered by the hand-winding mechanism, this white gold model is a true representative of the haute horology, with only one downside – it is available for the price of 350,000 euros.

Chanel Première Flying Tourbillon 

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its first watch, Chanel presented one of the most prestigious horological complications – a flying tourbillon, beating discreetly in the heart of the Première watch. Besides its mechanical excellence, Chanel Première Flying Tourbillon brings us true feminine beauty and stunning luxury, highlighted by a delicate floral decoration, a tribute to Mademoiselle Chanel’s favorite camellia flower.

With the shape inspired by the octagonal geometry of the No. 5 perfume bottle stopper and the Place Vendôme, its 18 karat white gold case is set with 101 baguette-cut diamonds for the total of 5.7 karats, and 127 brilliant-cut diamonds for the total of 2 karats. Without any doubt, this is one of the most elegant ladies’ timepieces on the market and surely one of the most valuable pieces with the price of $276,000.

Louis Vuitton Tambour Bijou Secret

Presented for the first time in 2006, the Tambour Bijou has already been one of the most renowned jewelry watch collections, but with its latest model, Louis Vuitton made the next step in creating high-end ladies’ timepieces. Refined, gentle and precious, Tambour Bijou Secret watch reveals a poetic interplay of mother-of-pearl Monogram flowers adorned with diamonds. It keeps time as a secret. The first round Monogram flower hides hour and minute hands that display time at the second pointed petal flower. Available in two variations, with either white gold or rose gold body, this piece of art costs 100,000 euros.

Harry Winston Premier Feathers

Almost forgotten artistic craft is now revived. As a highly valued discipline until the beginning of the last century, the decorative use of feathers inspired Harry Winston to create a new watch collection, entrusting the delicate design to Nelly Saunier, one of the few craftsmen who still practice the technique. Requiring approximately seven hours of work, each dial of remarkable Premier Feathers timepieces got the unique texture and the appealing artistic look. While their peacock-feather composition expresses femininity and sophistication, the three-dimensional, precious stone-setting technique provides the feel of high luxury. This original white gold timepiece can be yours for $65,600.

Zannetti Piano Lady Diamond Edition

Zannetti surprised us with its truly original timepiece, created for ladies who want to be completely different. A new Piano edition presents a spectacular keyboard bezel, made of a natural white mother-of-pearl base and black enamel. Besides, the inner rim of the bezel is marked by diamond setting. Each Piano Lady watch required at least 20 manual specializations and over 100 hours of work on the keyboard. Zannetti released only 23 pieces of this great model with the price of CHF18,900 each.

Saint Honore Opéra Black Eclair

A Parisian watchmaker, Saint Honore, presents exquisite ladies’ creation with the unique, infinitely dazzling effect of “pavé diamonds”, seducing us with the heart of its dial. A beautiful contrast between intense blackness and sparkling stones is underlined by six diamonds representing stars. With its sophisticated design, the Opéra Black Éclair timepiece represents feminine beauty in its core. Its retailing price is $1550.