Countdown to Mother's Day

DeWitt Classic and Golden Afternoon Dazzle with Powdered Gemstone Dials


Mother’s Day is on May 8, and watch aficionados know what that means: the opportunity to express their appreciation to moms, wives, sisters, and other important ladies with a well-chosen timepiece. Between now and the big day, we will spotlight some notable ladies’ watches we’ve discovered at this year’s watch fairs. First up are two new models from boutique haute horlogerie brand DeWitt, the Classic jewellery and Golden Afternoon.

DeWitt Japanese Spring dials - pair

While the colorful dials of these two watches appear at first glance to be ornately executed miniature paintings, this is not the case. The floral-themed, subtly textured imagery on the dials — which DeWitt call “Japanese Spring” — is formed by hand using the powder of precious gemstones, including diamond, gold, pearl, agate and gemstones. As one might expect, both of these watches are extremely limited, only 10 pieces of each.

The DeWitt Classic jewellery model has an 18k rose gold case, measuring 40 mm in diameter and set with a row of diamonds on the bezel. Its floral-motif dial offers “springtime shades” dominated by yellow, orange, and green, created with a pigment mixture of powdered diamond, pearl, platinum, gold, tiger’s eye, malachite, quartz, and other gemstones. The side of the case has the DeWitt “Imperial Columns” design — a reference to royalty, specifically to brand founder Jérôme DeWitt’s ancestor, Napoleon Bonaparte — and the openworked hour and minute hands are patterned after double-edged swords, another recurring motif of the brand.

The watch contains a mechanical movement, DeWitt’s automatic caliber DWHMS, with a 42-hour power reserve and a specially designed côtes-de-Genève-pattern rotor, which is visible through a sapphire caseback. The Classic Jewellery Japanese Spring watch has a shiny green alligator strap, with a polished rose-gold pin buckle engraved with a DeWitt “W.” It is priced at $71,500.

 

DeWitt Classic - Japanese Spring

The Imperial Columns motif is more prominent in the 39-mm, white gold case of the DeWitt Golden Afternoon jewellery watch, with the columns dividing the 146 brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel. The butterflies-and-flower tableau on the mother-of-pearl marquetry dial is predominantly in elegant violet and blue tones, achieved with a mixture of powdered diamond, pearl, platinum, gold, lapis lazuli, agate and other gemstones. The hour and minute hands on this model, like the others in the Golden Afternoon collection, are shaped like sculpted angel wings and the counterweight on the central seconds hand is evocative of a tiny flame. The watch, powered by another self-winding DeWitt caliber, the DWT8AU, has a stylized white gold crown with a ruby cabochon. It has a clear sapphire caseback and comes on a shiny blue alligator strap with a DeWitt white-gold pin buckle. The retail price is $82,500.

DeWitt Golden Afternoon - Japanese Spring
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