Showcasing this year’s most enticing pieces, selected by the editors at Robb Report Monaco & Côte d’Azur.
BEST HAUTE JOAILLERIE: GRAFF
1963 Jewellery Suite
This summer at haute couture week in Paris, Graff unveiled 1963, an entrancing new high jewellery suite that takes us to Swinging Sixties London and the start of the house of Graff. Born into an era of rebellion and freedom, Graff embraced the mood with bold and daring designs that defied the status quo and the classic jewels of the storied 19th-century French maisons. The label’s no-holds-barred, opulent glamour seduced the 1960s jet-setting beau monde—a spirit that’s fabulously carried forward in this collection.
Comprising a mesmerising necklace, matching bracelet and a spectacular pair of earrings, the jewels are ablaze with 7,790 exceptional oval, baguette-cut and round diamonds, totalling more than 129 carats. The suite’s technical mastery and engineering precision, however, is what most catches the eye. Featuring a series of diamond-set, sculptural concentric ovals, each sparkling frame is a single shimmering diamond, which are all conjoined in a dazzling, hypnotic pattern, creating an openwork-style jewel that draws your gaze towards an infinite, almost psychedelic-like loop. Amplifying the jewels’ radiance and graphic forms are sparkling arcs of baguette-cut diamonds—each one meticulously custom-cut and polished to perfection—that line the edges for brilliant contrast.
Eagle-eyed fans of the house will further spot the subtle edge of round pavé emeralds that flank each white-gold setting—an emerald flash and flicker of the “Graff green” that is a house signature. Pulsing with a kind of futuristic, electric energy, not to mention underscoring the jewellery-making savoir faire and innovation required to execute such pieces, the design is a scintillating nod to this defining period in Graff’s history.
Francois Graff, chief executive officer of the maison, says: “This is one of the most intricate, complex and technically challenging high jewellery suites we have ever created. While the design is inspired by the decade in which Graff was founded, each jewel also represents the journey and evolution of our brand, our expertise and our future potential. We pursue absolute beauty and perfection in everything we do, and ‘1963’ is the ultimate representation of these values.”
BEST ICON: CARTIER
Panthère Orbitale Necklace
Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection En Équilibre embraces the current mood and desire for balance and reset—with this sublime panther necklace celebrating the maison’s most beloved and enduring mascot. Themed around Cartier’s signature colourways and gemstones, the jewel contrasts intense coral cabochons with cool amethysts in a long, cascading gradation of stones, further flecked with tiny coral beads for added verve and volume. A realistic panther presides over the creation—its piebald coat sparkling in onyx and diamonds—as it looks out from emerald eyes, jaunty diamond-set ears standing to attention.
BEST ASYMMETRY: CHANEL
Pink Hour Earrings
Chanel’s new high jewellery collection Reach for the Stars naturally channels a sense of aspiration and freedom; it also recalls one of Gabrielle Chanel’s own life mottos. “If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing,” as she told Vogue in 1938. Wings are a new motif that’s explored in the collection, and feature in this rakish pair of pink sapphire earrings that joins a star-studded bedecked wing with a matching star, dangling with a dazzling 4.01 ct pink sapphire pear drop. Gabrielle would surely approve.
BEST EARRINGS: TIFFANY & Co
Sea of Wonder Seahorse Purple Sapphire Earrings
Tiffany & Co’s Blue Book high jewellery collection this year is titled “Sea of Wonder” and evokes all the ocean’s best: underwater flora, exotic sea creatures, even the dramatic wonder of the waves. The work of Jean Schlumberger, the maison’s most famed designer who began collaborating with Tiffany in 1956, permeates the collection. His iconic 1968 brooches, for example, make their way into a Seahorse chapter, whose earrings here parlay Schlumberger’s knack for creating texture and contrast, via these purple and blue sapphires juxtaposed with moonstones and diamonds.
BEST TROPHY: OLE LYNGGAARD
Elephant Trophy
Sport is the new frontier in the world of luxury—cue LVMH coming on as title sponsor of Formula One, or Chanel in June becoming the official timekeeper of the UK’s annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race. Ole Lynggaard is leaning into the trend with women’s tennis, and has created trophies for two WTA tour tournaments—the Bad Homburg and Berlin Tennis opens. The trophies featured an elephant (a symbol of strength, resilience and enduring craftsmanship) with the Berlin piece sculpted in bronze and balancing a silver tennis ball on its trunk.
BEST COLOURED GEMSTONES: BVLGARI
Celestial Mosaic Necklace
Bvlgari is the undisputed master of jawdropping coloured stones, a prowess that shines especially resplendent in its new Polychroma high jewellery collection. This hero Celestial Mosaic necklace is fashioned from a kaleidoscope of deep turquoise, multi-coloured tourmalines, buff top emeralds, onyx and diamonds, all which culminate in a colossal 131.21 ct spinel from Tajikistan, the world’s fourth largest example in terms of quality. Inspired by Mughal art, the piece also notably includes some 200 engineered elements for full flexibility and articulation.
BEST PEARLS: TASAKI
Grâce Éternelle
At haute couture week in Paris, Japanese pearl experts Tasaki showed its latest high jewellery collection, a standout series that fuses refined Japanese sensibilities and aesthetics with exceptional craftsmanship. Themed around five precious stones —ruby, emerald, sapphire, diamond and pearl—the collection is an ode to nature and the beauty of diverse cultures. This exquisite Grâce Éternelle ring is set in a rakish yet classic, sculpted form, incorporating a gorgeous premium pearl paired with the sun-kissed vitality of yellow diamonds.
BEST REVAMP: SARAH HO
Selene Cuff
The Monaco-based Sarah Ho is famed for her beautiful and ingenious repurposing of jewels, where new life is breathed into pieces that radiate with Ho’s signature contemporary flair and dash. Named after the Greek lunar goddess, the sensual Selene cuff is crafted from natural pearls that range in colour from apricot to lavender and which originally hailed from an antique pearl necklace. Here paired with opals and diamonds, they’re set in a graphic display that brilliantly captures the pearl’s shimmer and Luminescence anew.
BEST BROOCH: HARRY WINSTON
Hummingbird Brooch
Flora and fauna—with a suitable flourish of fantasy and escape—was the inspiration for Harry Winston’s new Marvelous Creations high jewellery collection. Exploring land, sea and sky, the series features a set of eight brooches dedicated to birds, from a delightful cockatiel and kingfisher to a gorgeous snowy owl and golden cockatoo. This hummingbird brooch, set with sapphires, tsavorites, aquamarines and diamonds, captures the delicate movement of this tiny creature, as it dips down to sip its nectar—a pear-shaped south sea pearl.
BEST HAND JEWEL: ANNA HU
Duo de Serpents Vert et Blanc Hand Ornament
The Monaco-based Hu is inspired by nature as much as an East-meets-West sensibility that echoes her own experience. This exquisite hand ornament pays homage to the Chinese folktale The Legend of the White Snake, as well as the Year of the Snake, which is Hu’s own zodiac sign. Two serpents fashioned from emeralds, green garnets, onyx, mother-of-pearl and diamonds are crafted as the hand jewel’s ring and bracelet, each snake gripping the central tai chi yin-yang emblem.
