Bazaar Arabia’s Watch Columnist Elizabeth Doerr on Dragon-themed Timepieces For Lunar New Year
Celebrate in style, right down to the timepiece on your wrist…
These days, watchmakers observe Chinese New Year by creating beautiful, decorative, limited-edition timepieces adorned with symbolic depictions of the appropriate Chinese zodiac, often using rare, artistic techniques to pay tribute to the eastern calendar.
Lunar or Chinese New Year has a variable date, in 2024 commencing on 10 February and lasting for 16 days. Contrary to the West’s Gregorian calendar, which uses the solar day as its base unit, the traditional Chinese calendar uses the lunar cycle (29.53059 days) as its base. One year of 12 lunar months (354.36707 days) is approximately 11 days shorter than the solar year comprising 365.242374 days, and a leap month is sometimes added. Each month of the Chinese calendar (including leap months) begins at new moon, and its length is either 29 or 30 days.
As the calendar cycles through the 12 zodiac animals, each year has a different patron; this year it is the mighty dragon. Let’s have a look at the best of these special editions.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute Enamel Dragon
Rotating the case of this very special Reverso Tribute model reveals a magnificent dragon engraved into the pink gold that seems to slither out from the background of glossy black grand feu enamel.
Maximising the sense of volume and bringing depth to the engraving, JLC’s engraver used a technique called modelled engraving for the dragon, thereby employing 10 differently sized chisels used to sculpt the metal over a span of 80 hours. Adding to the challenge of creating the dragon, the engraver’s work did not begin with a bare metal surface, but rather one already coated with the layer of grand feu enamel. Each one of these swivelling masterpieces is made to order.
Chopard L.U.C XP Urushi Year of the Dragon
Since 2013 the annual Chopard L.U.C XP horological tribute to the Chinese New Year has combined arts, crafts, ideology, and technology originating in Switzerland, China, and Japan; the L.U.C XP model with its ultra-thin movement features expert Japanese lacquer depicting China’s zodiacal symbolism.
To achieve this work of art, Chopard’s gold-based dial contains a number of special elements, in particular the Maki-e technique, which sees gold flakes captured between layers of lacquer from the Toxicodendron vernicifluum (Chinese lacquer) tree for the “starlit” background. In an ethical rose gold case, it is available in an 88-piece limited edition.
Arnold & Son Perpetual Moon Year Of The Dragon
This ode to Chinese New Year by Arnold & Son lives from an enormous, shiny, and beautifully luminous mother-of-pearl moon splashed across the upper half of the dial, positioned in a window that also contains hand-painted constellations sprinkled with silver powder and painted with luminous Super-LumiNova.
However distracting that moon may be, it doesn’t take away from the art found on the lower half of the dial involving an imposing rose gold dragon slithering through a beautiful hand-painted landscape. This of course against a background of dial crafted in a deep black or blue aventurine – there are two variations of eight pieces each – that mysteriously replicates the night sky.
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Legend Of The Chinese Zodiac Year Of The Dragon
In an annual limited edition crafted since 2012 called Legend of the Chinese Zodiac, Vacheron Constantin’s artistic tribute to Chinese New Year features a highly detailed, engraved gold dragon added to a lovingly enamelled dial. This dial provides a calendar in the truest sense of the word: its four windows respectively show the current hours, minutes, day, and date on jumping disks. The placement of these windows in each of the four corners allows the beautiful dragon to take pride of place, pushing the time to a secondary position. This watch comes in two 25-piece limited editions, one with an enamelled blue platinum and one with an enamelled pink gold dial.
Piaget Altiplano Year Of The Dragon And More
In 2024 Piaget begins a new 12-year Chinese New Year cycle by paying tribute to the\ Dragon and Phoenix, a symbolic yinyang. The new collection features both watches and high jewellery pieces.
Cloisonné enamel graces two Altiplanos, each limited to 38 pieces, featuring a blue dragon and a red, pink, and orange phoenix. A larger Altiplano High Jewellery Dragon boasts fine paillonné enamelwork under an engraved gold dragon holding a black opal fireball. The gold dragon on the new Emperador flying tourbillon sensually winds its way around the case onto the sides and dial, while snow-set sapphires and diamonds evoke a twinkling starry sky.
Two asymmetrical phoenix-themed high jewellery watches feature splendid plumage of marquise – and brilliant-cut diamonds or rubies and diamonds. Each of these is limited to eight pieces and comes on a gold bracelet with Palace Décor engraving. Finally, two extravagant and customizable made-to-order high-jewellery phoenix cuff watches are available that also detach to create a stunning, transformable jewel. And for the first time, this collection includes high-jewellery creations: a unique dragon brooch and ring as well as two phoenix-themed earcuffs.
Images Supplied.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s February 2024 issue.