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Dazzling Diamond Watch
Put on your sunglasses before you ask her for the time.
Women have changed and it is reflected in their tastes and expectations in watches, observes Janek Deleskiewicz, Jaeger-leCoultre's artistic and design director.
And what they seem to want is more bling bling, if the Reverso Duetto Duo and Lady Jewellery are anything to go by.
Like the original, the Duetto is targeted at the busy jet-setting woman with “timezone leaping lives”, as the Jaeger-leCoultre spiel goes. Hence, it offers local time on the front dial and a second timezone on the back.
The additional sparkle is for added “glamorous expression”, explains Deleskiewicz.
“The size has changed (the case is bigger) and the setting too with 64 diamonds,” he added, which is double the number of the old Duetto which he designed in 1997.
“That’s because we have diamonds on both faces. In the past, women didn’t want to wear their Duetto with diamonds all the time (so there were only 32 diamonds on the second dial). But now they expect it because fashion has changed – you see jeans with silk, leather for all sorts of different styles, inner clothes become outwear....
“To me, women are saying: This is my personality and my life and I’ll wear diamonds any time I want because I am responsible for myself.”
Deleskiewicz has also further feminised the Duetto by setting the art noveau floral numerals on a delicate engraving of sunrays.
All that prettiness takes nothing away from the solid technology that drives the watch. The back-to-back dials with a double set of hands, turn in opposite directions, driven by the same Jaeger-leCoultre 854 mechanical movement set in 8-carat pink, yellow-or white-gold case of exquisite craftsmanship.
For the Lady Jewellery, 28 diamonds in two lines adorn the first dial where blue-steel hands sweep over floral numerals replacing the plain, more masculine numerals of the earlier Reverso Lady.
Since the reverse side of the case is plain, the wearer can personalise the space with a wide choice of engravings.
