This exquisite Art Deco watch has been given on loan to DIVA. Antwerp’s Home of Diamonds. DIVA is Antwerp’s amalgamated Silver Museum and Diamond Museum.
Although we feel very honoured to have our jewellery on display in this prestigious house of diamonds and jewellery, this also means that temporarily we haven’t got this piece in our store supply.
If you’re interested in this precious piece, we would be obliged to make all the necessary arrangements. Just let us know well in advance when you will be dropping by and we’ll do our best to have the jewel here at our premises.

This 14ct bi-colour gold watch suspending as a pendant from a matching brooch is enhanced into an authentic Art Deco emblem by its geometrical blue and black enamelled patterns. In between the stylish tincture, a green with black enamelled flower design floats on a surface of old mine cut diamonds set in white gold. Behind this shimmering surface, a graceful watch is confined in a yellow gold case richly engraved with a flower motif. No timepiece could make you lose track of time more than this subtle and sophisticated 1920’s jewel.

From October 21st, 2013 till December 9th, 2013, this jewel was exhibited at the Art Deco exhibition organised by the Antwerp Diamond Museum in their Diamond Pavilion at the MAS. The MAS is an abbreviation for Museum aan de Stroom which translates to something like “Museum to the Flow”. A new landmark building in Antwerp, a must-see when you are in Antwerp, city of diamonds! To see all our Art Deco jewellery that was at the museum’s exhibition, contact us.

Antique jewellery object group: ladies watch, pendant and brooch

Condition: very good condition

Country of origin: Austria (Vienna)

Style: Art Deco – Art Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style which had its origins in Paris in the first decades of the 20th century. The style originated in the 1920s and continued to be employed until after World War II. The term “art deco” first sawwide use after an exhibition in 1966, referring to the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts D√©coratifs et Industriels Modernes that was the culmination of high-end style moderne in Paris. Led by the best designers in the decorative arts such as fashion, and interior design, Art Deco affected all areas of design throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including architecture and industrial design, as well as the visual arts such as painting, the graphic arts and film. At the time, this style was seen as elegant, glamorous, functional and modern.

Style specifics: Abstract motives and geometrical forms are quite typical for the Art Deco period. Art Deco moved away from the soft pastels and organic forms of its style predecessor, Art Nouveau, and embraced influences from many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, and Futurism. Its popularity peaked in Europe during the Roaring Twenties and continued strongly in the United States through the 1930s. Although many design movements have political or philosophical roots or intentions, Art Deco was purely decorative.

Period: ca. 1925

Source of inspiration: Mother Nature (see also: flower symbolism)

Material: 14ct bi-colour gold (yellow and white), although most of this jewel is in yellow gold, the diamonds are set in white gold. This finds it origin in a much older period (see explanation on silver on gold).

Technique: Enamelling is an old and widely-adopted technology. The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to pottery and stone objects. The ancient Greeks, Celts, Russians, and Chinese also used enamelling processes on metal objects. Enamel is the colourful result of fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 degrees Celsius. The powder melts and flows and hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, glass or ceramic. According to some sources, the word enamel comes from the High German word smelzan (to smelt) via the Old French esmail. Used as a noun, “an enamel” is a usually small decorative object, coated with enamel coatings, such as a champlev√© or a cloisonn√© (different techniques).

Diamonds: 42 various old mine brilliant cut diamonds with a total estimated weight of approx. 1.30 crt.
Note: All diamond weights, colour grades and clarity are approximate since the stones were not removed from their mounts to preserve the integrity of the setting.

Total diamond weight: approx. 1.30 crt.

Birthstones: Diamond is the birthstone (or month stone) for April.

Hallmarks: The hallmark is a horse head with a letter “W”, which was in use in Vienna, Austria after 1922.

Dimensions: brooch width 2.97 cm (1.17 inch), watch height 4.50 cm (1.77 inch)

Weight: 21.50 gram (13.82 dwt)