Jewellery watches 2025: When high horology meets haute artistry

No longer indicating only the hours and minutes, today's most extraordinary timepieces have evolved into miniature canvases for artistic expression. The latest jewellery watches from maisons like Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, Bvlgari and Piaget are a bold departure from traditional watchmaking. Transforming into brooches, morphing into pendant necklaces, separating into earrings or masquerading as makeup, these creations demand to be appreciated as wearable art first and timekeepers second.

What unites these diverse pieces is storytelling: Cartier revives its emblematic Panthere with renewed ferocity; Van Cleef & Arpels charts romance from dawn to moonlight; Dior spins a circus-inspired fantasy on a dial-side rotor; while Piaget reboots the audacious and liberating spirit of the 1960s. Behind the scintillating gems and the thousands of hours at the bench lies a deeper ambition: To capture emotion, history and beauty into objects intimate enough to rest against the skin. Not for the timid, these timepieces are proof that when artistry and watchmaking collide, magic happens.

BVLGARI: CELESTIAL ARTISTRY

Drawing inspiration from Rome’s architectural grandeur, Bvlgari's Nuvole Preziose Pendant Watch from the Italian jeweller’s Polychroma high jewellery collection transforms timepiece design into wearable poetry. Its octagonal case echoes the coffered ceiling of Rome’s Basilica Maxentius, while its focal point – a breathtaking 6.88-carat certified cushion-cut yellow sapphire – blazes like a shaft of Italian sun.

This extraordinary creation took 1,560 painstaking hours to complete, showcasing the maison’s incredible jewellery savoir-faire and artisanship. A delicate butterfly set on trembler, inspired by a vintage Bvlgari brooch, flutters across the dial, while detachable cloud elements cleverly double as earrings to offer versatile luxury. Bvlgari’s signature blend of yellow and white gold forms sculptural spikes representing sun rays from Gian Lorenzo Bernini's altarpiece at the 17th-century Roman church, Santa Maria Della Vittoria.

At the heart of this 58mm masterpiece beats the ultra-thin Piccolissimo manufacture movement, an incredible 2.5mm thin mechanical marvel delivering 30 hours of power reserve. With more than 40 carats of precious gemstones, including diamonds, sapphires, aquamarines, and Paraiba tourmalines, the Nuvole Preziose is a spectacular jewelled tribute to Italian artistry.

CARTIER: FELINE FANTASY

The French maison’s most charismatic muse brings magnetic elegance to the wrist in the form of the La Panthere de Cartier pink gold watch – a sculptural jewel where the feline steals the spotlight. A lacquer-spotted panther grips the dial in its mouth via a polished gold ring, its three-dimensional head modelled with a defined nose, cheeks and pricked ears. Two pear-shaped tsavorite garnets ignite the big cat’s gaze, while 40 brilliant-cut diamonds frame the pink gold dial. Completing the allure is a supple pink gold bracelet that drapes the wrist with effortless grace.

This naturalistic iteration pairs Cartier’s high-jewellery savoir-faire with the ease of a quartz movement, keeping impeccable time as the panther prowls between day and evening. The contrast of the warm pink gold and deep black lacquer spots sharpens its graphic edge, a signature that traces back to Cartier’s creative director Jeanne Toussaint. Nicknamed La Panthere, she cemented the feline as a house emblem from the 1930s. Although Cartier’s first panther motif debuted on a watch in 1914, it was under Toussaint’s daring eye that the magnificent animal leapt from pattern to personality, culminating in three-dimensional pieces from the late 1940s until today.

Part of a broader line offered in yellow or rose gold and various diamond settings, this model distils the magnificent beast into a compact, wearable statement. More than an accessory, it’s a reminder that when Cartier’s Panthere takes hold, it commands attention.

CHANEL: BEST-KEPT BEAUTY SECRET

Chanel transforms the ritual of lipstick application into haute horlogerie with the Secret Watch "Kiss Me”, part of the Blush Watch Capsule Collection that translates the maison’s beauty universe into contemporary watchmaking. Inspired by the house’s iconic 1954 lipstick, the five-piece limited edition masquerades as an everyday beauty essential, while hiding a miniature watch within.

Crafted in glossy black titanium, the square tube pulls open to reveal a precious black lacquered dial resting on a luminous yellow gold ring set with golden beryls. Suspended from an opulent yellow gold chain threaded with mini onyx tubes and rhodolite beads, the pendant is topped with a central 0.7-carat diamond. In total, the piece dazzles with over 100 carats of rhodolites, 20 baguette-cut beryls, and 144 brilliant-cut diamonds totalling nearly six carats. Seamlessly bridging beauty and watchmaking, “Kiss Me” elevates the secret watch from playful conceit to a high-jewellery statement that is whimsical, precious and unmistakably Chanel.

DIOR: HAUTE COUTURE MEETS BIG TOP MAGIC

Since its debut in 2012, the Dior Grand Bal collection has paid homage to Christian Dior's love of grand soirees and the ethereal beauty of haute couture gowns. The latest Dior Grand Bal Cirque transforms this couture heritage into a whimsical celebration of circus artistry. Limited to just 38 pieces, this 36mm stainless steel timepiece captures the enchanting spectacle so beloved by Monsieur Dior.

The Swiss quartz-movement watch's theatrical personality emerges through its gem-set carnival of colours. A diamond-set bezel frames a brass dial adorned with a glitter pattern, while the signature Dior Inverse 11 1/2 automatic movement features its oscillating weight front and centre – mimicking a ballgown's graceful swirl when in motion. Here, the openworked gold rotor becomes a stage for precious performers in the guise of diamonds, rubies, amethysts, spessartite garnets and sapphires that pirouette around the dial with every flick of the wrist.

The circus theme extends to thoughtful details – metallised rose gold stars on the translucent purple sapphire crystal caseback evoke the Big Top's celestial canopy, while the pink mother-of-pearl bezel ring adds feminine sophistication. A pink calf leather strap with steel prong buckle grounds the theatrical elements in wearable luxury, creating a versatile piece that pairs as effortlessly with jeans as well as with a red-carpet worthy gown.

HERMES: BACK ON THE CHAIN GANG

The Maillon Libre brooch watch revives a classic masculine accessory and makes it versatile – wearers can pin it to a jacket lapel or coat sleeve, or opt to slip it onto a black Swift-calfskin cordlet to wear as a pendant. Measuring 35mm by 23mm, its white or rose gold anchor-chain link case is set with brilliant-cut and bead-set diamonds, as well as a bezel-set cushion-shaped main stone – indicolite for the white gold version and terracotta tourmaline for the rose gold model. Additionally, the white gold model is paired with a matte onyx dial, while the rose gold variant flaunts a polished rose gold dial.

PIAGET: MOVEMENT AND METAMORPHOSIS

Piaget's 2025 Swinging Sautoir collection revives the revolutionary spirit of the maison’s 21st Century Collection from the 1960s, when it boldly reimagined timepieces as wearable art. Born from designers' immersion in Parisian couture shows, these phenomenal creations transcended traditional wrist-worn constraints, introducing the concept of time as a fashion element.

The latest iteration features a vibrant 29mm by 20mm ruby-root dial surrounded by gemstones, including spinel and white opal set within Piaget's signature hand-woven pink gold chains. It embodies the original collection's philosophy of individuality and artistic expression, celebrating the era's creative liberation that challenged Swiss watchmaking conventions.

The Swinging Sautoir's defining innovation lies in its dual functionality. The quartz-movement timepiece can be worn as a pendant necklace, with its asymmetrical trapeze-shaped dial gracefully suspended from the meticulously crafted chain. There’s more. The dial also detaches seamlessly and transforms into a wristwatch via a complementary satin strap.

VAN CLEEF & ARPELS: THE ROMANCE OF TIME

Van Cleef & Arpels expands its beloved Pont des Amoureux collection with four exquisite 38mm timepieces that chronicle love's journey across a single day. Each watch captures a distinct moment ­– Aube (dawn), Matinee (morning), Soiree (evening) and Clair de Lune (moonlight) – through masterful grisaille enamel work that transforms each dial into a watercolour landscape.

The collection's signature romance unfolds through a double retrograde movement, where two lovers approach each other for a tender kiss at noon and midnight that lasts three magical minutes before separating to mark time anew. An on-demand feature allows wearers to replay this 12-second scene at will, making each timepiece an intimate theatre of affection.

Complementing these romantic vignettes are bejewelled bracelets set entirely with diamonds and graduated sapphires: Soft pink for Aube; fuchsia for Soiree; light blue for Matinee; and deep blue for Clair de Lune. The bracelet’s intricate mesh construction allows fluid movement around the wrist, ensuring the timepieces wear comfortably. Additionally, each watch comes with second complementary interchangeable alligator strap to be chosen at the time of purchase.