Women's Diamond Face Watches

Since the heady days of the Art Deco period when women’s diamond cocktail watches became "de rigueur" for the emancipated Flapper girl of the Roaring Twenties, there have been numerous evolutions in the design of diamond face timepieces from many different companies.

Because good diamond face watches represent a combination of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie, it is the companies that have exceptional jewelry expertise that are most successful in the genre. Diamond face watches require the necessary level of watch making know-how, but also the ability to set gems and produce enameling and other high quality embellishments.

Vintage diamond face watches from the Art Deco period are available from Cartier, Dior, Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, and others at the higher end of the price spectrum. At the more affordable end are pieces from Hamilton, Movado, and Bedat, who have given their classic watch designs an upgraded look by adding diamond-set dials, bezels, and faces.

Quick Facts

• Cartier’s Nil De Cartier collection's Phoenix-shaped watch uses emeralds for the bird eyes and has one pear-shaped, portrait-cut, 3.53 carat diamond. It is covered with 3,010 brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 80.13 carats
• The Blancpain Tourbillion Diamants watch has 480 diamonds, a 7-day power reserve, and is water resistant to a depth of 100 meters
• The strong Chopard’s Super Ice Cube has a square-faced dial with 66 carats of diamonds