Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis built her recognizable style on a simple formula: impeccably tailored dresses, a color palette confined to two tones and jewelry deployed with parsimony — a row of pearls, a pair of earrings and just one bracelet at her wrist. That bracelet more often than not was a 1960s Jean Schlumberger creation for Tiffany & Company, a paillonné enamel bangle in a cross-stitch motif called croisillon.
So faithfully did she wear it, owning a collection of different colors, that it was nicknamed the “Jackie bracelet.”
More than 60 years after the introduction of the bangle, Tiffany & Company has miniaturized it into a decorative ring and sealed it inside a watch to embrace a dial.
The Croisillon Paillonné Enamel watch, released in February, is the latest expression of Tiffany’s strategic approach to watchmaking: turning recognizable jewelry styles into timepieces. Since the jeweler was acquired by the luxury giant LVMH in 2021, it has regularly applied that blueprint.
“This approach reflects Tiffany’s identity as a jeweler,” said Nicolas Beau, the senior vice president of Tiffany Horlogerie in Geneva. “Our watches draw from the house’s design heritage while evolving these iconic motifs through the craftsmanship and precision of watchmaking.”
In the past five years, Tiffany has translated other jewelry designs into timepieces. The HardWear watch echoes a 1962 bracelet from the brand’s archives. The Rope watch preserves the sculptural twist of Schlumberger’s gold rope motif, itself inspired by the braids and tassels of his textile-manufacturing upbringing in the Alsace region of France. The Bird on a Rock watch — perhaps the most theatrical of the series — sets Schlumberger’s classic diamond bird on a rotating ring of gemstones, so that it sways with the motion of the wrist.
Donatella Zappieri, an independent luxury consultant based in Milan, suggested that Tiffany’s approach was rooted in the fact that women were becoming more discerning watch buyers, offering jewelers that also create timepieces a way to “further consolidate their design language across both jewelry and watches,” she said.
The Croisillon Paillonné Enamel watch, however, not only evokes its jewelry counterpart, but also has allowed Tiffany to highlight the technique that Schlumberger revived in the 1960s within the house for the launch of the bangle. Paillonné enameling is a 19th-century process that involves layering gold or silver leaf beneath translucent enamel, building depth and shimmer through repeated kiln firings.
Two versions of miniature decorative rings have been created for the watch, available in three versions all in a 36-millimeter case (price on application). One features the house’s signature Tiffany Blue in a fully diamond-set bracelet and dial and in a Tiffany Blue alligator strap, while the other is rendered in white, framing a diamond-set dial and echoing the white alligator strap. Both decorative rings display the subtle, almost liquid shimmer of paillonné enamel, achieved through an exacting process carried out by specialized artisans in Limoges, France.
Each ring requires approximately 55 hours of enameling, followed by an additional 10 hours to craft and apply the 18-karat yellow gold croisillon elements.
The technique leaves no margin for error. Each firing in the kiln risks altering or destroying the enamel’s structure, meaning that any imperfection requires the artisan to start again from the beginning.
“Achieving the right shade of Tiffany Blue on the lacquered dial required extensive development, with multiple layers of lacquer applied to obtain the depth, luminosity and signature hue,” Mr. Beau said. (According to Mr. Beau, artisans learn to “hear” the color through the sound of the enamel powder as it is ground.)
And beyond the minute details, “Maintaining the right proportions on the dial was essential to ensure every element felt harmonious and refined,” he added.
To echo the sensation of a bangle slipping loosely around the wrist, Tiffany’s designers mounted the dial ring on ball bearings, allowing it to spin freely with motion. The rotating ring, however, does not wind the movement, which is powered by quartz.
And what will be the next Tiffany jewelry design to be turned into a watch? Mr. Beau gave no indication beyond reiterating the house’s strategy. “The ambition is to create a perfect balance between Swiss watchmaking savoir-faire and Tiffany’s jewelry artistry,” he said.
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