TIFFANY & CO.
METALWORKING Certainly a house founded in 1837 that counts sterling silverware as one of its signatures would be a specialist in metalworking. Tiffany & Co.’s heritage in this craft later extended to precious metals for luxury jewellery, and reached the height of sophistication ever since Jean Schlumberger (1907-1987) joined the company in 1956. With a free rein to every available resource, the French-born Schlumberger, one of the most important jewellers in the 20th century, could turn his fantastical flora and fauna designs into reality. Making them possible were a huge repertoire of in-house techniques to transform gold and platinum into sculptural, evocative jewels. This Schlumberger Surreal Floret platinum and diamond bracelet is an exemplary showcase: Instead of a rigid structure, this piece is made of individual fully diamond-set strands that are interwoven and looped together. Platinum is also harder to manipulate than gold, and cannot be remelted for reuse.
SNOW SETTING
For the decoration of its Reverso watch cases, watch manufacture Jaeger-lecoultre had developed this high jewellery technique in 2002. An exacting and intricate gem-setting craft, it recreates the mesmerising and scintillating effect of sunlight on snow. Diamonds of different diameters, each measuring 0.5mm to 1.6mm, are carefully selected, after which they are juxtaposed with one another and skilfully set over a surface to cover its entirety. Every piece of snow setting is the unique work of an individual artisan. Here is one of four models from Jaeger-lecoultre’s limited-edition Reverso One Precious Flowers, which shines the spotlight on the expertise of its venerable Métiers Rares (rare handcrafts) workshop. Featuring arum lilies, it showcases enamelled flowers and leaves against a snow-set diamond background – all requiring 95 hours of labour.
MYSTERY SETTING One of the most recognisable and laborious settings ever, Van Cleef & Arpels’ mystery setting was patented in 1936
and has since remained an important hallmark. It features
individually precision-cut stones that are inserted one by one into gold rails carved
into a piece of jewel. The tightly fitted stones cover the entire set surface smoothly and continuously, creating a soft lustre and showing no metal. Besides the traditional mystery setting, the jeweller
also developed variations including the navette mystery
setting and vitrail mystery setting – placing the limelight
squarely on the gems. This artistic achievement is epitomised by the Sous les étoiles Terre et Lune white
and rose gold bracelet with traditional mystery-set sapphires, blue and yellow sapphires, and diamonds.
WINSTON CLUSTER SETTING
A setting that masterfully showcases the beauty and brilliance of diamonds surely comes from a house that is well known for the gems.
It is none other than Harry Winston, whose founder Mr Winston made a name for himself in the 1940s and ’50s as New York’s king of diamonds, and the owner of the Hope Diamond. He believed in letting diamonds take the lead in dictating design, and hence in the ’40s invented the Winston cluster setting, which combines pear, round and marquisecut diamonds in a visually stunning asymmetrical and three-dimensional composition revealing minimal visible metal.
His vision is exemplified by this transformable Secret Cluster platinum necklace bearing a locket pendant and 530 diamonds totalling 81.85 carats.