Bearing the same contemporary yet feminine edge of the collections that the artistic director of the house, Raf Simons, has brought to the runway since he came on board three years ago, the two new Dior III Montaigne “saisonnière” models are dressed in distinctive colors from the spring 2015 and the upcoming winter 2016 fashion collections.
The spring model features a polished stainless steel case and bezel set with a white mother-of-pearl ring, a deep shimmering blue lacquer dial, enhanced with diamonds and traces of rose gold on a two-tone, white leather bracelet trimmed with peach rubber. For next winter, the seasonal variance will be in the shimmering plum-colored lacquer dial with a strap in plum with “Yves Klein” blue rubber piping.
“The concept of the seasonal watch is completely new for Dior Horlogerie,” said the Maison Dior at the launch presentation in Baselworld. “For several years, we had been tracking Dior’s haute couture collections. This year, the saisonnière watch collection is in sync with Dior’s prêt-à-porter.”
Since 2010, the most exceptional timepieces produced by Dior Horlogerie known as the Grand Soir and the Dior VIII Grand Bal collections have paid tribute to the Haute Couture heritage of the house and its iconic bubble dresses and distinctive color palette through a series of unique or limited edition timepieces that has enabled the house to deploy an inimitable savoir-faire in integrating eclectic materials rarely seen in watchmaking namely gold thread, feathers and this year, beetle wings.
The focus of the new prêt-à-porter pieces is color, electric and futuristic, espousing Raf Simons’ taste for contrasting color blocks. While the seasonal collection is not limited in numbers, it is limited in time to the current season.
The challenge for any watch company envisioning a seasonable product is overcoming the lead-time in the production cycle. Dior Horlogerie is able to surmount that challenge because its design studios where the watch collection is first conceived alongside the house’s fashion accessories are located on Paris’s Avenue Montaigne. From there, the ateliers in La Chaux-de-Fonds established in 2001 take over the production in association with outside specialists that including movement designers, dial makers, or other skilled artisans like stone setters or plumassiers.
“With a seasonal product, one must be highly reactive,” explained the Maison Dior. “Our design studios in Paris handle the conception of the accessories for Raf Simons’ collections. Because the same studios can work simultaneously on several products including watches, we are able to coordinate otherwise incompatible production cycles.”
For the inaugural seasonal collection, Dior has adopted the existing base dials and mechanics that it had developed for the Dior VIII Montaigne line launched last year in the steel version.
The easy elegance of the new seasonal collection signals a new free-spirited style true to the image of Maison Dior for the 21st century. It will be available in stores in late March for the spring model and in June as the winter prêt-à-porter collections hit the boutiques.
