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L’Heure du Diamant, when a watch becomes jewellery

With L’Heure du Diamant, Chopard combines its watchmaking and jewellery expertise in a collection designed to turn time into something to be worn

Chopard L’Heure du Diamant brings fine watchmaking and jewellery together in a collection where diamonds, ornamental stones and mechanical movements share the same stage

A watch can measure time, or it can become part of what we wear. With L’Heure du Diamant, Chopard attempts to bring both ideas together, giving equal importance to mechanics, precious stones, gold craftsmanship and design.

The collection is built around two areas of expertise that both belong to the Maison: watchmaking and jewellery. It is therefore not simply a question of adding diamonds to a case, but of designing the watch around the relationship between light, materials and movement.

Diamonds become part of the architecture

One of the collection’s most recognisable features is the diamond setting surrounding the bezel.

Chopard uses a distinctive crown-setting technique designed to expose the stones more fully to light. The diamonds therefore become more than decorative additions, contributing directly to the architecture of the watch.

It is an approach that brings L’Heure du Diamant closer to high jewellery, where structure and stones are developed together and where the setting itself becomes part of the visual result.

Colour moves onto the dial

Alongside diamonds, the collection also features colourful ornamental stones on selected dials.

This detail can completely change the personality of the watch. The dial is no longer simply the surface used to read the time, but becomes a defining visual element of the creation.

Colour can interact with the gold case, the diamonds around the bezel and the bracelet, creating combinations that bring the watch even closer to the language of jewellery.

The bracelet as craftsmanship

The bracelet can also become one of the defining elements of L’Heure du Diamant.

Among the collection’s most distinctive finishes is the “bark” motif, hand-engraved to produce an irregular surface that plays with light. It is more than decorative finishing: the technique changes the way the metal reflects light and gives the bracelet a character of its own.

It is a detail that explains the nature of L’Heure du Diamant particularly well. Craftsmanship is not concentrated only on the front of the watch but extends across the entire object worn on the wrist.

Behind the diamonds, it remains a watch

The jewellery element does not replace the mechanical one.

Chopard emphasises that the movements used in the collection are developed and produced within its own workshops, keeping watchmaking at the heart of the project.

The range includes different dimensions and configurations, with both hand-wound and automatic movements and, among the more elaborate versions, a moon-phase complication.

The current collection includes numerous variations, ranging from very compact cases to larger interpretations, in rose or white gold and with different combinations of dials and bracelets.

26 millimetres for a jewellery watch

Among the more understated models is the 26 mm L’Heure du Diamant Round.

The version in 18-carat ethical white gold uses a hand-wound mechanical movement and approximately 2.23 carats of white diamonds. Water resistance is rated to 30 metres.

These are restrained dimensions, particularly compared with contemporary sports watches, but they suit an object that does not seek presence through size. Here, the focus remains on proportion, gemstones and metalwork.

When time meets the moon

The collection also includes more technically elaborate interpretations, such as the 36 mm L’Heure du Diamant Moonphase.

Here the case grows larger and the display of hours and minutes is joined by a moon-phase complication, while diamonds and gold continue to define the visual composition.

It is perhaps one of the clearest expressions of the collection’s dual identity: mechanical watch on one side, jewellery on the other.

Luxury designed to be seen up close

L’Heure du Diamant belongs to a very different category from the sports and professional watches often associated with the yachting world.

It is not designed to time a regatta, withstand extreme depths or provide navigational information. Its language is one of elegance, formal occasions and details intended to be appreciated at close range.

That is precisely why it can belong within the lifestyle surrounding yachting: not as a technical instrument, but as part of a world shaped by design, craftsmanship, materials and personal objects that retain meaning even when technology could perform the same basic function far more simply.

With L’Heure du Diamant, Chopard does not try to hide time behind jewellery. Instead, it changes the way time is presented.

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Chopard, L’Heure du Diamant

24 September 2026
© MED Yachting Editorial Team
L’Heure du Diamant, when a watch becomes jewellery
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The information in this article has been sourced from and adapted from official sources and/or press releases, in accordance with our editorial code of ethics.