There are artists, archistars and fashion designers, all individuals who are accustomed to being in the limelight. The watch industry is traditionally different in that most brands don’t highlight a head designer. All the attention is on the brand. Exceptions include Christian Knoop at IWC, Sara Sandmeier at Baume & Mercier, and Carole Forestier-Kasapi, director…
The First Lady Jewellery Automatic by Vulcain is a women’s watch set with a cascade of blue sapphires and green tsavorites that look as if they are tumbling down from the sky and filling the dial. It’s like a static version of the Chopard “Happy Diamonds” idea. The jewels extend onto the bright steel bezel…
The Lady Fabergé collection has been expanded with these new pieces that combine a youthful, pop style with a prestige mechanical movement. Fabergé is the brand famous for the eggs made for the Tsar of Russia, and so the egg motif appears in several places: the shape of the case, the Breguet hands that have…
Jade is one of the few women’s watches to have been designed with specific consideration for female users. According to legend, it was Chai Schnyder (at that time chairwoman of Ulysse Nardin) who asked her husband Rolf Schnyder (then president and CEO) for the crown function selector and indicator back in 2002. Its main characteristic…
Girard-Perregaux launched the Cat’s Eye women’s watch in 2004. It is hallmarked by the oval case, horizontal or vertical. This year’s models, in steel, steel and gold, and pink gold, have a case with 60 brilliant-cut diamonds on the narrow bezel, with dials in fan-shaped sunray or guilloché decoration. The hour markings comprise two or…
This new version of the Omega Constellation introduces a small seconds subdial, set with four small diamond markers, in the 9 o’clock position, and METAS certification. So this is a mechanical watch for women, resistant to 15,000 gauss magnetic fields, to 100 metres depth in water, with a precision of 0/+5 seconds deviation per day.…
Eberhard & Co. say that they designed Aiglon Dame specifically for young, modern women. It is smooth and minimalist, with a fairly wide bezel, and an uncluttered dial. The case is 35 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick, with a water resistance of 50 metres. It is made in several different versions, based on…
Le Locle is the name of the town where Tissot was founded and works, and it is also the name of one of the brand’s watch collections. It now includes the Tissot Le Locle Automatic Lady, a watch that combines traditionally female characteristics such as the slender Roman numerals and mother-of-pearl dial with a relatively…
The Slim d’Hermès Manufacture extends the Slim range introduced by Hermès in 2015. It is a 39.5 mm watch for women, with a whole range of strap colours, and smooth or diamond-set bezel. In the version shown, the watch has an opaline dial, and a bezel set with 66 diamonds. The movement is the H1950…
It seems that Hermès is doing everything right. Its watches incorporate its exquisite leather craftsmanship. The brand gives its own names to its mechanical movements, justifiably, because it owns a 25% share of movement manufacturer Vaucher. It uses its vast design resources to create some interesting case and dial designs. And it is using its…
Bell & Ross has signed a new testimonial for their women’s watches, racing driver Carmen Jorda, currently development driver for the Renault Sport Racing team. In the photo below she is wearing the BR S Diamond Eagle, a watch presented at Baselworld 2016, and the brand’s latest women’s watch. Bell & Ross announced their partnership…
The Mido Baroncelli Heritage 33mm is an attractive piece in 33 mm case size, perfect for women and very slim at 6.85 mm. The case is in steel or rose PVD-coated steel, with dial in grained ivory finish or mother-of-pearl. In the mother-of-pearl version, the hour markers are small diamonds. Hour and minute hands have…
Several of Rolex’s new watch versions this year (2016) are hallmarked by Rolesor, their trademark combination of stainless steel and gold in case and bracelet that provides a distinctive appearance and has a touch of austerity when compared to the all-gold versions. In other words, they’re not so expensive, reflecting the general drift of things…
The third in the 556 series of watches by Sinn, this piece shows how a diameter around 38 mm has become a unisex size. This version with mother-of-pearl dial is aimed at a female audience and in my opinion works best on the stainless steel bracelet options, even though the watch can also be ordered…
The ProMare Lady is Mühle-Glashütte’s first watch made for women, but it’s for tough women. With respect to the ProMare Datum, the case is smaller and slimmer at 39 mm, 10.6 mm thickness, in stainless steel with polished and satin finish. The crown protector creates a distinctive motif, and colours are restricted to the delicate…
These watches were born from popular request. Bremont received feedback that women liked their classic pilots watches and so they have now introduced three 32mm models specifically for the female audience. As is customary for the British brand, no compromise: mechanical movements, COSC chronometer certification that guarantees precision, hardened steel case with excellent toughness and…
This watch by Patek Philippe has all the timeless simplicity of the Calatrava case, coupled with a modern minimalism that makes it contemporary. It has a mechanical movement, manually-wound. The lugs are designed so that they extend visually across the bezel, which adds complexity to the diamond-setting. The diamonds are differently-sized as they reach the…
The DS Podium Lady by Certina is an attractive women’s watch, 29 mm in diameter, with mother-of-pearl dial, Roman numerals, and an ETA 2671 self-winding mechanical movement. It is available in several versions, and in the variant with PVD rose gold trim on the bezel, crown and bracelet, it has a classical beauty that stands…
This 39mm piece by Parmigiani Fleurier is dominated by the poppy-red dial in aventurine, with rose gold case and bracelet, diamond-set bezel and lugs (in total 112 diamonds, 1 carat), and a single ruby cabochon set into the crown. Creating a dial from a stone such as aventurine is not simple: it has to be…
Here are some 2015 highlights from the world of women’s watches. This is a type of watch that often becomes very expensive because of the jewels used to decorate case, bracelet and dial, and so I have chosen a couple of watches in the lower price range. In general I have tried to privilege watches…