It’s official, this year we won’t be wearing our watches around the wrist

Emigrating from our pockets to our wrists over the course of the centuries, timepieces have now come to settle close to our hearts. Poised to become the most popular placement of the year, a watch nestled around the neck is nothing new. In fact, it is believed to be the original way to sport a watch in the royal courts of Europe during the 16th century: the necklace watch being a luxurious precursor to the pocket watch dangling from gilded chains

While convenience is not its strongest point — especially not in comparison to the easy-to-check wristwatch — ever since the necklace watch was first invented, it has always had a certain cachet of luxury and status. “Really, it speaks to the fashion crowd,” notes Bonnier. “The necklace watch truly bridges that gap between watchmaking and jewellery.” Just look at the displays at annual industry fair (and equal watchmaking mecca) Watches & Wonders.

Take Piaget, for example, whose history of bridging jewellery and watchmaking sets them apart as a particularly pertinent example. Under the creative direction of Benjamin Comar, the way forward for Piaget into a dazzling design-driven future is through “the avant-garde icons of its glittering past,” according to the Swiss luxury house.

Necklace watches have long been a favourite among Piaget aficionados. In 1969, at the Basel Fair, the brand revealed an arresting array of spectacular watches that fused timekeeping, jewellery, fashion and contemporary design. These bejewelled pieces drew the attention of the glamorous jet set at the time: a mix of artists, designers, actors, musicians, and models. During this time of cultural ferment, the bold and graphic designs of open-worked cuffs, lavishly textured gold chain bracelets, and richly coloured stones were de rigueur. But the brand’s swinging, sassy, sautoir (or long necklace) pendant watch became the quintessential jewel of the 1970s – delivering the thrill of a new take on timekeeping.

Those original sautoirs were dreamt up not in the Swiss watchmaking atelier but in the front rows of Paris runway shows. Piaget’s designers imagined time-telling jewels to match the fashions of the day and, once back in Switzerland, sketched directly on the pages of fashion magazines. The result were couture-like sautoirs, where gold was moulded, sculpted, woven and braided into supple, silk-like fabrics.

For the 2023 instalment of Watches and Wonders, Piaget presented two hand-crafted sautoirs paying homage to the brand’s heritage. Fashioned from twisted gold chains and gold starts with a single strand of wire wrapped around a mandrel to create a coil, the links meticulously hand-twisted before assembly. The hand-crafting of the gold chain was minutely researched by reverse-engineering the original, and the entire process took no less than 130 hours. One vivacious, tassel-style sautoir is set with a 25.38ct oval cabochon Zambian emerald to match an oval-shaped dial, a signature Piaget shape from the 1960s

Chanel’s contribution was part of the Mademoiselle Privé collection – a subsection of the brand’s Métier D’art collection. The French Maison opened the doors into the private world of Gabrielle Chanel, the full line-up designed as a jewellery box filled to the brim with the symbols and motifs that Chanel cherished.

The brand’s necklace watch was inspired by Chanel’s star sign, Leo, where the 18k sculpted lion’s head button – set with 252 brilliant-cut diamonds and onyx eyes – conceals the black lacquered watch dial. The necklace is part of a four-piece set which perfectly presents Chanel’s exquisite expertise and savoir-faire.

Finally, Jaeger LeCoultre, who reimagined an almost 100-year-old icon as a necklace, cemented the shift towards sautoirs.

The codes of Reverso – the design icon in question – have been revered at Jaeger LeCoultre since 1931, the horizontal gadroons that emphasise the rectilinear geometry of the case, the triangular lugs that appear to be a seamless extension of the case sides. For 2023 the design icon was reimagined as a feminine Art Deco sautoir featuring a twist of the original swivelling case: the Reverso Secret Necklace.

However, many of the original features can still be ascertained in the new Reverso necklace. The cordonnet ( the original black textile bracelet) seen on Reverso models of the 1930s, for example, now takes the shape of a supple diamond-set chain with polished onyx beads – the gem setting alone takes 300 hours of meticulous work. “The intricate diamond-set links and polished onyx beads transform the Reverso design into a feminine necklace, while the hidden time-telling watch adds a touch of mystery and character,” says Lionel Favre, head of design at Jaegre LeCoultre.

We intend to keep this trend close to our hearts for 2023, both figuratively and literally.