In the 1960s and ’70s, the Swiss jeweler and watchmaker Piaget made a name for itself as a creator of exceptionally groovy wristwatches featuring dials decorated with opaque gemstones.
Fitted with thinly sliced discs of turquoise, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye, malachite, and opal, the timepieces kicked off a trend that has made a comeback in recent years, as watchmakers, including Piaget, embrace the retro look anew. This time around, however, they’re using materials—from Verde Alpi marble to petrified wood—that have never been used on wristwatch dials.
In the case of the Bulgari model highlighted below, that stands to reason. The watch was made expressly for the 2023 Only Watch, an auction of unique timepieces that raises money for research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic degenerative muscle disease. The biannual auction’s 10th edition is scheduled to take place on Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. local time at the Palexpo exhibition hall in Geneva.
Along with Bulgari’s watch, we present a few other winning gem-set timekeepers.
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Marble Tourbillon Only Watch
Clad in a thin layer of Verde Alpi, a luxurious green marble quarried in the Aosta Valley of Italy, the Octo Finissimo Marble Tourbillon by Bulgari stands out as one of this year’s most talked-about Only Watch submissions. And it’s not just the DLC-treated titanium case and bracelet that bear thin layers of marble. The dial is set with a marble wafer measuring just 0.6 mm in thickness with a perfectly cut subdial to make way for the tourbillon. Beauty and brains in equal measure!
Piaget Terrae Watch
Introduced earlier this month as part of Piaget’s ambitious Metaphoria high jewelry collection, the Terrae watch offers a bejeweled take on the brand’s cushion-shape Black Tie model, famously worn—and beloved—by Andy Warhol. Featuring a petrified wood dial offset by a bezel and markers made of baguette-cut emeralds, the one-of-a-kind piece is a winning example of how an unusual color combo—in this case, tones of brown and green—can make a wristwatch utterly unforgettable.
Rolex Day-Date 36 mm
With its bevy of colorful new Day-Date 36 models bearing gemstone faces and diamond-set bezels, Rolex sees the hard stone trend and raises it to the next level. Encased in the brand’s proprietary Everose gold (paired with green aventurine), 18k yellow gold (carnelian), or 18k white gold (turquoise), the stylish timepiece is a testament to the enduring appeal of stone dials, now groovier than ever.
Top: Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 in 36 mm 18k yellow gold case with carnelian and diamonds, $58,700; Rolex
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