What makes me happy about attending Baselworld each year is that despite the utter insanity of the watch industry, there is still room for new watch brands, new ideas, and new ways to shock and excite the ultra-rich. A family of diamond dealers in Paris have started the new watch brand, De Tournemire, with the foundational notion of answering the query “why has no one inserted a large diamond into the center of a timepiece’s sapphire crystal?” De Tournemire watches do just that, and some of them even include a tourbillon. This is circa 2008 luxury watches in 2017 – and to be honest, I was happy to see it.
There are hot spots around the world where the bejeweled elite shop – like ports where mega-yachts dock or private jet terminals near exclusive weekend resorts. If those places have watch stores, then I hope at least a few of them carry something from De Tournemire. At least the brand is anything but shy about the fact that its target customers are “hedonistic collectors.”
The brand’s flagship product for 2017 is the De Tournemire Tourbillon, which comes in a few versions depending on just how much you like your diamonds decorated with diamonds. The 44.8mm wide case comes in a few materials, such as DLC-coated titanium or a precious metal like gold. The case is thick given the movement, but comfortable and relatively simple though elegant on the wrist. The simplest versions of the case have no diamond decoration – save for baguette-cut diamonds decorating the periphery of the crown.
Right now, what all De Tournemire watches have in common is a unique sapphire crystal design with a large (5-6 carats in size) diamond set directly in the center. Given that such stones are not exactly common commodities, the exact look and price of each timepiece will vary a bit – given that so much of the value is in the stone.
One of the most important things about setting the diamond in the sapphire crystal itself was being able to maintain basic levels of water resistance (30 meters). Doing this was pretty straightforward in concept, but did require some special development. In essence, the sapphire crystal has a hole cut in it, and around the hole is a gasket and then the diamond. The challenge, as I understand it, was developing all of this in a way that allowed the extremely valuable stone to be set securely. As such, you can see that there is a bezel between the center-mounted diamond and the rest of the sapphire crystal.
It’s really fun to look at the case from a side angle and see the end of the diamond sticking into the dial. It offers a very impressive sense of the authentic fact that there is a large carat diamond right in the middle of the watch. The dials themselves are of course designed around the fact that a diamond is mounted in the center. The various versions of De Tournemire’s timepieces are still legible, but use different means of displaying the time ranging from standard hour and minute hands, retrograde hands, or discs, to digital indicators. From the outset, you can see the lovely creativity that the brand is offering, not just in the singular concept of putting a diamond front and center in the design (literally) but also offering decorative artistic value around it.
The De Tournemire Tourbillon collection contains a double retrograde, manually wound mechanical movement produced specifically for the brand by Concepto. The 259 part movement features a skeletonized look with two retrograde hands to display the hours and minutes to the left and right of the dial. The lower part of the dial features a spinning tourbillon which can be set with diamonds. The escapement operates at 3Hz and the movement has 72 hours of power reserve. It doesn’t break major new ground, but it is nice to see that it was developed especially for this type of watch. I did mention to De Tournemire that the hands are nice, but should not be polished against the otherwise glossy background of the skeletonized face. Matte-finished hands would be much, much better for legibility.
The De Tournemire Tourbillon watches feature various levels of diamond decoration depending on the version, and given that the center stone is obviously unique, it would not be totally inaccurate to call each watch a unique piece. While most of the center diamonds in De Tournemire watches are about 5 carats in size, they can range from about 3 carats to over 6 carats in the various pieces the brand currently has. I am pretty sure that in a lot of cases, clients will purchase a stone individually from De Tournemire, and from there, they will design a watch around it. When spending several hundred thousand, or even millions of dollars on a single watch, enjoying personalized work like that is part of the fun.
In addition to the De Tournemire Tourbillon model are the De Tournemire Metiers d’Art watches that feature a range of artistic techniques on the dials from engravings, to paintings, and other works of craftsmanship designed to appeal to either men or women. The women’s models have a smaller 40mm-wide case size and are typically fitted with proportionally smaller diamonds that are about 3 carats in size. The De Tournemire Tiger is a particular favorite of mine which nicely demonstrates the strengths of the brand.
For the De Tournemire Metiers d’Art Tiger, a black case with a 5.05 carat diamond appears to be carried in the jaw of a Tiger crafted from engraved gold and straw marquetry. Time is indicated in two windows (that depending on the dial of the watch can be placed anywhere) for the hours or minutes. Inside of the watch is a Swiss automatic mechanical movement. The piece is clearly lavish, but also demonstrates a healthy sense of humor and actual personality that in some ways almost downplays its blatant depiction of excess.
The most traditional (if you want to call it that) of the De Tournemire collection watches is the Abyss collection. Here, standard hour and minute hands are placed over diamond set or otherwise decorative dials that also have a large diamond mounted into the center of the sapphire crystal. I say “traditional” given the two-hand automatic mechanical movement on the inside, as well as the overall jewelry-like appearance of the cases, which is more conservative in nature. Still, it is clearly positioned in an avant-garde high-luxury category.
Even the more simple De Tournemire watches for men have 6-7 carats of diamonds if you take into consideration the large center-stone as well as other diamonds on the case. That number can go way up given the volume of diamonds all over the case. The idea of putting a diamond front and center – especially at this size – is smart and makes sense given the buyers De Tournemire’s founders are used to serving. The appeal of such designs is the right mixture of artistically pleasant and tastefully ostentatious so as not to appear gaudy (which isn’t something I can say for all watches with diamonds shoved into them). A team of people with a real passion for precious materials, art, jewelry, and of course diamonds put their heads together for a rather cohesive collection of watches at De Tournemire. Price for De Tournemire watches ranges from about €250,000 to about €2,000,000. detournemire.com
