“Drink me” the bottle exhorted Alice. Eager to take a ladybird’s-eye look at the volumes imagined by Alexandre Beauregard, I quickly took a gulp. His watches go by the names Dahlia and Lili, and so I found myself catapulted into a floral wonderland of remarkable precision.
Dahlia boasts a horological heart with a central tourbillon contained in a white gold cage in the shape of a flower. At 15mm high for a 38.8mm diameter, Dahlia saves room for hand-carved stone petals whose delicious plumpness takes advantage of the dial’s almost 5mm thickness. Such a beautiful flower, sculpted from fire opal, that the ladybird in me had to nibble just a tiny piece… only to be shooed away by the hands, two curved openworked petals, as they circled the central tourbillon. “Much of the work that went into this tourbillon involved the hands,” Alexandre Beauregard explains. “While it may not be immediately obvious, they are high-precision elements. The minutes hand sweeps just two tenths of a millimetre above the dial – the same distance that separates it from the hour hand.”
With a flutter of wings, I alighted on Lili. Round like a button, or rectangular, Lili’s focus is the art of carving and setting stones. Beauregard has chosen a Swiss quartz movement, hence the sides of the case aren’t interrupted by a winding crown. Clusters of topaz petals sent ladybird-me floating through a cloudless sky; mother-of-pearl called me back down to a shimmering sea.
Precious petals
These magnificent high jewellery watches are a temptation that is hard to resist. Both Lili and Dahlia contain a wealth of expertise in the selection, carving and setting of stones. “I’m a regular at the Tucson Gem Show in Arizona. I go every year to buy batches of stones. I need a substantial stock of each type. Some don’t make it past the initial selection, then ninety per cent of the stone is lost during the hand-carving.” The resulting petals are assembled and adjusted with a precision of one-hundredth of a millimetre. During this process, some will inevitably be discarded because their size, or colour, is not an exact match. Alexandre Beauregard, assisted by Jérémie, cuts, polishes and assembles the stones himself at his studio in Montreal, Canada. Because we are in the realm of high jewellery, the petals are mounted in a white gold dial ring, rather than held by adhesive. This provides a secure setting because, Beauregard insists, “these are precious watches but they are made to be worn.” Brilliant-cut diamonds, snow-set on certain models, bring sparkle to cases in pink gold or white gold.
At Watches and Wonders
The bouquet of flowers that Beauregard is presenting this month is carved from mother-of-pearl, fire opal and sky-blue topaz, and fitted with gorgeous, easy-change satin straps. The petals’ generous volumes show the colours in all their glory, and offer a surface for light and transparency. As for the delicious Lili Candy, it returns with its “lollipop” spiral of coloured stones and Turkish white opal. A sweet treat I would love to try!
The ladybird has two questions for Alexandre Beauregard. Is there a stone you haven’t yet used and would like to see on your dials? “I’d love to work with tsavorite for its stunning green colour. We’ve done all the tests and are waiting on an order for this very expensive stone.” And a stone you will likely never use but wish you could? “Probably imperial jade, because of its rarity. I absolutely love it.”
