Time for Her: 7 Ladies’ Watches For Your Last-Minute Gift Consideration


It’s a few days before Mother’s Day and you still haven’t found the right gift for the woman who raised you? Read on. We offer a sampling of new women’s watches to make your last-minute shopping a snap.

The Dior VIII Grand Bal Fil de Soie has an 11 1⁄2-ligne automatic caliber that’s inverted so that the rotor is on the dial. The rotor itself is highly unusual: the rose-gold oscillating weight is woven with a single 1.5-meter-long pink silk thread and set with diamonds. The dial is made of black mother-of-pearl. The 38-mm case is made of ceramic and rose gold with a diamond-set bezel. The watch has a 42-hour power reserve. It comes on a black patent-leather strap with a rose-gold buckle, also set with diamonds. $46,500.

Dior VIII Grand Bal Fil de Soie
Dior VIII Grand Bal Fil de Soie

Chanel’s Mademoiselle Privé collection features design motifs associated with Coco Chanel, like the camellia, on artisanal dials. The Mademoiselle Privé Décor Caméllia Maki-e employs an ancient Japanese technique to outline the flowers on the black lacquer dial. In maki-e, the artist applies metal powders or decorations (like gold, mother-of-pearl or quail eggshell) to the lacquer before it dries. Here, the camellias are made of yellow-gold paillons. The watch has a yellow-gold case with a diameter of 37.5 mm. The bezel is set with 60 brilliant-cut diamonds and the yellow-gold crown has an onyx cabochon. The watch has an automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve. It comes on a black satin strap. $40,000.

Chanel Mademoiselle Prive Decor Camelia Maki-e
Mademoiselle Privé Décor Caméllia Maki-e

The dial of the Hermès Arceau Millefiori 41 mm was made by the same technique used to produce the well-known Millefiori paperweights. It involves slicing rods of colored crystal glass into thin cross sections and arranging the pieces next to each other, so that they form what looks like a dense bed of small flowers (millefiori means “1,000 flowers” in Italian). The watch’s case is made of white gold. The movement is the automatic H1837, which Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier makes exclusively for Hermès. The watch has a transparent sapphire caseback. Price upon request.

Hermes Arceau 41mm Millefiori
Hermes Arceau 41mm Millefiori

The new Lucea collection from Bulgari contains 12 models, all with round cases and cabochon crowns set with diamonds, but with a variety of dials and different combinations of rose gold, steel and diamonds. There are two case sizes, 28 mm and 33 mm. The smaller models have quartz movements and the large ones are automatic. The price as shown is $27,400; the others range from $4,200 to $41,600.

Bulgari Lucea
Bulgari Lucea
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