Haute Jewellery House Chaumet Creates A buzz In Paris With A “Bucolic Promenade” And A Tourbillon Bee

By Adrienne Faurote September 29, 2015

Profile of Abeille mechanical manual-winding tourbillon watch in white gold set with sapphires, spessartite garnets, tourmalines and brilliant-cut diamonds.

Parisian high jewellers Chaumet are creating a buzz with their recently opened “Bucolic Promenade” inside their boutique at N° 12 Place Vendôme in Paris. Consisting of an “ephemeral museum” combined with the showcasing of thirteen new one-of-a-kind or limited-edition pieces to complement their “Jardins” collections, this temporary exhibition will make every visitor wish (s)he had a green (peridot) thumb.

Abeille ring in yellow gold and white gold, set with a 3.48 carat pear-shaped peridot, a pear-shaped Mandarin garnet, round Mandarin garnets and brilliant-cut diamonds.

The company that was founded in 1780 has been keeping photographic records of every piece produced, reworked or repaired in their workshops since 1885. Sketches, mock-ups and photographs have been preserved and are now exposed to highlight and accompany some of the historic pieces of the House, attesting to their influence on Chaumet’s collections today.

Under the theme of naturalism, symbolic of Chaumet style and culture, we see a history of brooches, necklaces, clips, combs, bracelets and transformable tiaras representing the most delicate flowers, insects, and foliage made of gold, silver, diamonds, sapphires, pearls, enamel and later, platinum, turquoise and egret feathers, from the French Empire style through “La Belle Epoque”, into Art Deco until today.

Ivy leaf bracelet, 1847, gold, enamel, diamonds and fine baroque pearls

Surprisingly contemporary-looking pieces such as the gold, silver and diamonds wheat sheaf tiara, made from some of the 150 precious stalks commissioned in 1811 by Napoleon’s second wife Empress Marie-Louise to adorn her gown and hair, or the Aigrette tiaras from circa 1910, would befit any blossoming empress or budding princess today.

True to its roots, the new collection constitutes a veritable “Ode to a Garden” essentially composed of an adorable swarm of colourful, delicate, sparkling bees that come alive with movement. The openwork wings of the “Abeilles” flutter lightly in white gold set with diamonds and polished yellow gold, sparkling on bright yellow, orange and green bodies made of mandarin and hessonite garnets, opal tourmalines, peridots, topazes, yellow sapphires, green beryls, diamonds and golden pearls.

Abeille brooch, in yellow gold and white gold, set with a 6.57 carat pearshaped hessonite garnet, a pear-shaped orange tourmaline, round Mandarin garnets and brilliant-cut diamonds.

Transformable necklaces and agile rings, brooches, earrings and bracelet are rhythmed for watch lovers by a bee that is gracefully poised upon the tourbillon of the Swiss mechanical manual-winding tourbillon CP12V-IX movement specially made for Chaumet. Encased in white gold set with brilliant-cut diamonds, the tourbillon is positioned at 6 o’clock on a honey-coloured dial set with more diamonds, enhanced by sapphires, spessartite garnets and tourmalines to form honeycomb shapes.

Epi de Blé ring, in brown rhodium-plated yellow gold with a satin effect and brushed yellow gold, set with brilliant-cut diamonds

A separate limited edition of a ring and a brooch called “Epi de Blé” – wheat sheaf in English- pays homage to the tiara that dates from 1811. To obtain the natural wheat colour, brown rhodium-plated gold is contrasted with brushed gold, then adorned with glittering seeds of diamonds.