The gold standard of high jewellery watchmaking: Cartier, Bulgari, Chopard, Graff and Piaget set the bar, according to Alexandre Bigler of auction house Christie’s Asia-Pacific

Just as all yachts are boats, but not all boats are yachts, there are key distinctions separating true high jewellery timepieces from mere gem-set watches.

Distinguishing true high jewellery watchmaking, said Alexandre Bigler, senior vice-president and head of watches, Christie’s Asia-Pacific, “is all about the conception and approach from the start of the creation of the piece”. In Bigler’s opinion, “High jewellery watches are conceived from the outset as jewellery creations, with the gemstones a fundamental aspect of their design.”

For a watch to qualify as a legitimate haute joaillerie timepiece, the gems must be intrinsic to the watch’s identity, Bigler suggests – meaning the case, bracelet and movement must all be designed to work in harmony with the jewels.

“In contrast, gem-set watches typically start as standard designs to which gemstones are later added, primarily to enhance their sparkle and allure, without fundamentally altering the original concept,” he explained.

The materials used in haute joaillerie timepieces – including an array of precious metals, diamonds and other gems, plus exotic stones, enamel and so forth – are integral to the design.

These watches incorporate any number of sophisticated techniques, with painstaking gem-setting and intricate metalwork a given.

Pushing the boundaries of both watchmaking and jewellery artistry, one of these watches can represent hundreds of hours of work.

“High jewellery watches are true sculptures, or pieces of art, where we enter the realm of the exceptional,” Bigler said. “The gemstones are at the heart of the creation, just like in a masterpiece of fine jewellery.” These bejewelled timekeeping devices are, he explained, “much more than watches, and are closer to pieces of jewellery – they are expressions of artistry and craftsmanship”.

Although, in Bigler’s view, “High jewellery watches transcend the function of a timepiece – they belong to an entirely different category,” today, horological excellence is demanded by most collectors. No longer will discerning clients tolerate a simple quartz movement powering the timepiece element of an haute joaillerie watch, as was so often the case in the recent past.