Time on a ring: how fine jewellers are reviving the ring watch, from playful Barbie themes by Fossil to embedded Rolex dials, and the world’s smallest mechanical movement from Jaeger-LeCoultre

Time-telling jewels are turning away from the traditional watch in favour of stunning non-wrist alternatives that promise to elevate your style game. Earlier this year, at the Watches and Wonders trade fair in Geneva, the 16th-century style pendant watch was all the rage, with the likes of Van Cleef & Arpels, Chanel, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget offering unique takes on the precious style, from tasselled sautoirs set with Zambian emeralds to dials suspended from diamond-set chains. Now, as 2024 looms, ring watches are making a timely return, as contemporary fine jewellers continue to find inventive ways to challenge watchmaking conventions.

Despite their resurging appeal, ring watches are nothing new, in fact, the first known ring watch is reported to have been made in the 1750s and, by the 1900s, Swiss watchmakers were able to create ring watches that could run for 46 hours without being wound.

Today, Patcharavipa Bodiratnangkura, the Thai-born, London-based jeweller behind Rihanna’s customised 1970s King Midas Rolex watch, is the leading name behind the ring watch’s revival. With one of her latest collections, Bodiratnangkura has brought new life to five different Rolex watches from the 1960s and 1980s, embedding the dials into custom rings using her signature layered 18k Siam gold, and adding the Rolex crown winder on the side to keep its watch credentials intact. The La Toile, for example, a customised vintage Rolex precision ring watch from 1965, is crafted in yellow gold with dainty glass crystals covering the intricate face. Other designs, like the Beads and Signet watches, opt for white gold in a beautiful, textured finish that is both unexpected and wearable, too.

Chanel, the renowned French house that first stepped onto the horology scene in 1987, has also championed the trend in recent years, most notably at the 2022 edition of Watches and Wonders with the unveiling of the Mademoiselle Privé Bouton Golden Pearl Motif set – a trinity suite that included a necklace, ring and cuff bracelet with golden pearls as the centrepiece. Each of the 18k-gold-and-onyx designs disguises a secret watch, with the ring revealing a dial set with brilliant-cut diamonds, in a limited run of only five pieces.

For a more accessible take on the trend, US-based watchmaker Fossil – founded in 1984 by Tom Kartsotis in Richardson, Texas – has debuted a staple collection of ring watches, available in a yellow and rose gold tone, as well as classic stainless steel. Each model flaunts a sunray dial, some trimmed with crystals, and a flexible bracelet-style band. Fossil also offers a playful interpretation courtesy of its new partnership with everyone’s favourite doll, Barbie. Carved in gold-tone stainless steel in a floral motif, the collaborative model sports a flexible band and a silver sunray dial, punctuated with a 1990s-era Barbie logo.