Valérie Messika’s Lucky Move collection
Messika’s Lucky Move collection

Joie de Vivre | Finding joy through watch and jewellery designs

By Debbie Hathway

It’s game on for watch and jewellery designers who celebrate optimism, hope, and joy through their creations. Like-minded consumers can’t get enough of them.

At this year’s Vicenzaoro, the largest European trade fair for goldsmiths and jewellery, designers showcased rainbow hues with a full range of coloured gemstones for whimsical pieces while others mixed it up with different sizes. TRENDVISION Jewellery + Forecasting, the fair’s independent think tank that monitors and forecasts global jewellery trends, calls this gamification.

They see optimism on the horizon for 2023 and excitement and joy channelled by jewels in neon and chrome-coloured metal, pop-art aesthetics, candylike gemstones and playful shapes. Upbeat energy is reflected in colourful, fun, powerful statement pieces and shimmering finishes in full metallic effect. “The party mood calls for chunky gold chains, gargantuan stones, loud logos, earrings and chokers in enormous proportions,” states TRENDVISION.

The need for joy and celebration of freedom through watch and jewellery designs in big colours and mood-boosting styles has endured since consumers were able to shed lacklustre lockdown outfits and dress up again. This trend was embraced by industry leaders such as Oris and Zenith, who exhibit at Watches and Wonders Geneva, the most prestigious watch fair held in the world’s watchmaking capital. Brand CEOs were excited about the swing to bright colours on dials and straps attached to timepieces that made them happy.

Oris’s ProPilot X Calibre 400 is a “mechanical joy machine” with a pink dial, extending a long line of Oris pilot’s watches from the early 1900s with the hashtag #GoYourOwnWay.

Oris-ProPilot-X-Calibre-400

Zenith’s Defy 21 Spectrum Collection features an array of dazzling shades, while this year’s releases in the Chronomaster Collection feature classic hues in tricolour counters that contrast beautifully with a matte silver or black dial.

Zenith-Defy-21-Spectrum-Collection

Think flamboyant energy and full-blown glamour even in unisex pieces by Roger Dubuis, for example, which has added interest to collections that previously favoured black, white, silver, and champagne dial colours. Blue is an enduring favourite, but today shades of burgundy, salmon, green, yellow, pink, and turquoise enhance the colour spectrum for those building a watch collection with variety. Hublot’s jungle green is one of four new colourways in the Big Bang Integral Ceramic line, representing earth, water, and wood.

Hublot_Hublot-Big-Bang-Integral-Green-Ceramic

Montblanc introduced a smoky red dial and red Sfumato calf leather strap for its 1858 Automatic Chronograph Kawa Karpo limited to 858 pieces and glacial patterns to the green, blue, and black dials of its first-ever sports diving watch, the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date. Inspired by the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice), the main glacier of the Mont-Blanc Massif, the pattern is applied to dial colours that represent the blue of the Sea of Ice, the green ice in Antarctica, and black ice coloured by the lack of inclusions or air bubbles or containing volcanic ash deposits as seen in the polar regions. These tool watches are designed to nurture and fuel a spirit of adventure, which is even more treasured after the lengthy pandemic-induced confinement.

Montblanc-1858-Automatic-Chronograph-Kawa-Karpo

Omega’s Constellation collection also features a wide range of vivid new dial colours. And let’s not forget one of the most talked about launches this year – Omega’s first collaboration with Swatch to produce a playful take on its iconic Speedmaster Moonwatch chronograph. “Omega’s long and distinguished history may have been cut short if it weren’t for the vision and the courage taken by Swatch. The MoonSwatch collection salutes the saviours of our industry in a witty and accessible way. The Swatches are perfect for budding Moonwatch fans, and I can’t think of a more appropriate icon for our shared project. We went to the moon, now we’re exploring the whole Milky Way. They’re great watches, in fantastic colours and make me smile,” says Omega President and CEO Raynald Aeschlimann.

In the jewellery sphere, joyful spirit and cohorts of bold, juicy gems feature in collections such as Chopard’s Happy Diamonds with floating diamonds (because diamonds are happy when they are free).

Chopard-Happy-Diamonds

Meanwhile, Valérie Messika’s Lucky Move collection inspires audacity with precious stones imbued with luck, energy, and strength with its understated yet assertive aesthetic. She and fashion icon Kate Moss have collaborated on haute joallerie collections built on spontaneity and sincerity, the most recent being Messika by Kate Moss – Opus 2. Moss says her approach to jewellery is mood-based and constantly changing.

Valérie Messika’s Lucky Move collection

Piaget encourages buyers to wear “total colour your way” by mixing and matching the engaging colours presented in the Possession and Sunlight collections, and who can resist Fabergé’s penchant for colour, detail, and surprise? The Colours of Love collection exemplifies ‘A Life in Colour’ with extraordinary rainbow-coloured gemstones, while the Heritage guilloché enamel egg pendants and surprise lockets use yellow gold and rose gold to offset the jewel tones of the enamel and “surprise” detail. Similarly, Fabergé’s Emotion range captivates with kaleidoscopic jewellery creations.

Piaget

Faberge

Pomellato’s Nudo collection now features the Rivière necklace, which balances femininity and boldness. The semi-flexible necklaces have pastel stones suspended between rose gold bars, two of which are set with diamonds. “We were looking for a way to bring the iconic look of the Nudo to a short necklace without losing its original spirit of fun and daring. By using the Clessidra cut, we give more volume and a richer colour to the bare gemstone without compromising the strong personality of Nudo. The simplicity and grace of the Nudo remains while offering a fresh take on the gemstone necklace,” says creative director Vincenzo Castaldo.

Pomellato-Nudo-collection

Nature offers an endless colour palette that is a constant inspiration.