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Maria Doulton: Geneva in January is the place to see some of the most beautiful watches
in the world because this is when the SIHH opens its doors and 16 different luxury watch
houses show their wares to the world. I was particularly interested to see what was on
offer for women, so I looked out for things that I think will be big this year.
One of the first watches I saw was the Piaget Blooming Rose. Now this is, in fact, two watches
in one because, with one little twist, you can change the number of petals on display,
and all of them are set with diamonds. Cartier had a very strong offering for women,
as always, and in particular with jewellery watches. This year the house looks back to
some of its most famous jewellery designs and brings them to watches. The Crocodile
watch reminds us of the Mexican actress Maria Felix's specially commissioned necklace. In
this version of the watch, the crocodile is shrunk down and sits on top of the case. The
crocodile can be removed and worn separately as a broach.
Likewise, the Flamingo watch is inspired by the Duchess of Windsor's famous flamingo brooch.
Once again, the flamingo can be detached and worn separately or on top of the watch; the
choice is yours. Van Cleef & Arpels are known for their jewels
that tell the time, and this year, the theme is all things to do with the sky, stars and
the planets, and there is a whole series of zodiac watches. Now, I'm an Aquarian, so I
was particularly drawn to the Aquarius watch. I particularly like the Roger Dubuis Velvet
watch because it has been designed to allow larger stones to be set on the case. As you
can see on this version with diamonds and pink sapphires, the pink sapphires are actually
quite large, and you'd normally not find stones of this size on a watch. This design is a
very strong design because even with less diamonds, it still looks great.
If you want to know all that's happening in the world of jewellery and watches, visit
my website: www.thejewelleryeditor.com.