The use of diamonds, sapphires and other gemstones can bring real expressive vibrance to a watch design. What I am referring to is not merely using these gems for the hour markers, lug settings, etc.–but for an actual artistic design. The timepieces of Jaquet Droz bring us some very fine examples of this breathtaking technique.

Created for ladies, the Jaquet Droz La Fleur de Cerisier and La Fleur De Lotus timepieces from the Paris 1785 watch collection, utilize precious gemstones to evoke the beauty and subtlety of flowers. The former presents a lace-like pattern of diamonds, or colored stones such as tsavorite, various sapphires, or onyx to present a uniquely delicate dial that is unusual and extremely exotic. The La Fleur De Lotus watch utilizes a pave-set field of diamonds, pink sapphires, or tsavorites to depict a fully opened lotus flower.

The effect of both of these timepieces is breathtaking, and highlights the rare beauty which all Jaquet Droz watches demonstrate. They illustrate with profound eloquence, that a watch can be far more than a utilitarian object that tells the time.