Tay Tay and RiRi lead 2024’s watch-as-necklace trend, while Chanel, Piaget, Cartier and Vacheron Constantin blur the lines between jewellery and timepiece
The past few months have certainly been a boon for jewellery that tells the time. Or indeed jewellery that stops time. Such as the watch choker Taylor Swift wore to the Grammys earlier this year with the hands set to midnight. Swift, no stranger to Easter eggs, left her fans breathlessly pondering the meaning behind the choker and its midnight setting.
The piece itself was a vintage Concord watch on a choker by Lorraine Schwartz. Swift isn’t the only celebrity getting in on the trend. Rihanna is another fan of the watch choker, most recently opting for a blinged out number by Jacob & Co. Emma Chamberlain wore a timepiece choker to the Miu Miu spring/summer 2024 show during Paris Fashion Week and Olivia Rodrigo posed for Rolling Stone with a watch choker (and a miniskirt made from timepieces).
Rihanna sporting a Jacob & Co Flying Tourbillon set with diamonds as a choker at Louis Vuitton’s Paris fashion show. Photo: Handout
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The time-on-a-string trend was reflected in many of the most exciting releases unveiled earlier this year at Watches and Wonders. Jewellery watches make sense for now. When we hardly need a watch to tell the time, there’s certainly more appetite for being dazzled. This was the beguiling idea expressed by the likes of Chanel, Piaget, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Vacheron Constantin.
Many of the jewellery houses reached into their archives to tap into the glamour-seeking mood for today.
Vacheron Constantin’s Grand Lady Kalla is inspired by the house’s 1979 Kallista watch
Vacheron Constantin reimagined its 1979 Kallista watch, then the world’s most expensive timepiece, with the new Grand Lady Kalla. Set with dazzling baguette-cut diamonds, it can be worn as a necklace watch, bracelet or a pearl and onyx Deco-style necklace.
Vacheron Constantin’s Grand Lady Kalla is good as a bracelet or necklace watch
Sandrine Donguy, product marketing and innovation director at Vacheron Constantin, says the watch builds on the brand’s legacy in both women and secret watches, especially from eras when “it wasn’t polite for a lady to look at the time”.
Donguy believes the jewellery watch is resonating with clients for several reasons: “These are trends which are much appreciated by clients. It’s a different way of wearing things … there’s a passion for high watchmaking also among women. But that doesn’t mean we should stay limited to the watch on the wrist.”
Chanel Couture O’Clock sautoir necklace features a dressmaker’s mannequin
