ROCKS OF AGES

Since it was launched in 1969, the diamond-studded L'Heure du Diamant line by Chopard has showcased the brand's extensive jewellery and watchmaking capabilities. The latest novelties in this line are only taking things further.

- Preetika Mathew

When it comes to women's watches from Chopard's stables, one could easily say that the charge is led by the Happy Diamonds collection, whose floating gems on the dial quickly rose to become a signature of the brand after it was launched in 1976. In many ways, Chopard has put the collection front and centre-it has a subline called Happy Sport, a wide range of iterations, and Julia Roberts was its face in 2021. However, if one were to plumb the depths of Chopard's expertise in both jewellery and watchmaking, the line that personifies these skills is the utterly feminine L'Heure du Diamant.

Meaning 'Diamond Hour, the L'Heure du Diamant was fittingly unveiled in 1969, an epochal decade for watchmaking that saw the introduction of the automatic _ chronograph and the quartz movement.

Presenting strongly feminine watches, the very first L'Heure du Diamant was designed by Karl Scheufele III as a token of his love for his wife Karin-the husband-wife duo had acquired Chopard in 1963, and are the parents of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and = Caroline Scheufele, current co-presidents of Chopard. Over the years, the line has come to represent a distillation of the maison's mastery in different fields-how it went from a maker of pocket-watches and chronometers to that of jewellery watches, to developing an expertise in design. As a result, the collection is rich with stone dials, precious metals, intricate gem-setting techniques, harmonizing proportions, and hand-crafted textures.

L'Heure du Diamant 2024 This year at Watches and Wonders 2024 Geneva, all these aspects once again came in the spotlight with the latest L'Heure du Diamant collection.