Ladies Watches

[caracarnj]

Ladies, by now you would probably consider exploding numbers pretty passe, but what if we were to tell you that Jaquet Droz has a version this year which explodes Roman numerals in precious enamel - and you get to choose between black numerals on white enamel (as shown here) or the reverse combination. Especially for you, this Petite Heure or Small Hours version is made available in a more manageable 41mm size as well.

If that's a size you can handle ladies, Chanel would like to tell you that they have re-worked Audemars Piguet's calibre 3120 movement to bring you the J12 Calibre 3125 featured here. It's presented in yellow gold and black ceramic, with a matching auto rotor in the latter material. Rapid date correction and hacking seconds complete the picture. Hacking seconds means that the second hand stops when you pull out the crown, to allow much more precise time-setting.

Graham has decided to really dress up 40 of their 46mm Swordfish auto sports chronos with 40 Mandarin garnets and no fewer than 318 pieces of precious stones weighing more than four carats: Diamonds, emeralds, rubies as well as blue, pink and yellow sapphires. Presenting the Graham Swordfish Ali Baba.

Hats off to Breguet, who seem to have a knack for repeatedly scoring firsts with their inimitable Queen of Naples line! 2008's Cameo version of this egg-shaped watch breaks new ground with a delightfully multi-layered, multi-hued dial in the form of sunflower petals carved by hand from seashells. The white petals are carved out on one part of the shell, while the brown shades of the shell provide the contrast in the other parts of this beautiful dial. Check out the close-up taken by our friend Jaw in Basel, Switzerland earlier this year.

We're informed that standing ovations (ours happily included) should go to the craftsmen of a town called Torre del Greco in Naples. High horology meets high jewellery in this 10-piece Dior Sapphire cristal tourbillon. Almost 16 carats of internally flawless VVS diamonds combine with white gold and lots of sapphire crystal - including bridges, tourbillon carriage, grey crystal on the dial, black on the bracelet - to decorate this 42mm mechanical watch with 80-hour power reserve.

Have you heard of Zalium, ladies? It's an alloy credited to Ronald Winston, the chemical engineer son of Harry Winston, the famed jeweller. Hypo-allergenic, harder than titanium and almost as light, this grey metal emanates an aura as intriguing as that of the other rare element, tantalum.

To make it even harder to resist, the beautiful Lady Z that the brand introduced in Basel this year has an interesting two-disc arrangement fashioned in aventurine for the moonphase, on either side of its signature 'shuriken' second hand in metallic blue (The shuriken is a star-shaped dart of the kind used by Japanese ninjas). On top of that, it's not too large at 36mm, and boasts 100m water resistance to boot. You can wear this one everywhere!

Cheers!