Harry Winston, now a part of the giant Swatch Group has traditionally catered to their feminine clientele extremely well. They are a very well known jewellery house, with exquisite offerings first establish themselves in the very high end jewels as early as the 1930s, and became known as the Jeweler to the Stars. Indeed, the red carpet of many a star studded event like the numerous Film Festivals are graced by stars in their loaned Harry Winston jewellery. We do not normally get the goosebumps over jewels and huge diamonds and other stones, but this year, the Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection caught our eye. Exceptional beauty. Here is our quick impressions review.
Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection
The Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection, showing the three new models with a model which was released earlier (in the blue dial).
What first catches one’s attention is the dial. The colour is brilliant, irridescent, and absolutely amazing. Three new models were introduced in this BaselWorld 2015.
Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection: The Chrysiridia Madagascariensis butterfly marquettry motif on metal, in 18k white gold case.
What amazes us is that the entire pattern on the dial is made only with the use of powder from the wings of live butterflies. Harry Winston apparently have perfected the method to harvest the powder from these little creatures without harming them. And created a method to preserve the brilliant colours that originally adorn the butterfly’s wings. These are applied by hand onto the metal dial. The artisan creates the beautiful patterns. Quite amazing.
Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection: The Adelpha Lara butterfly marquettry motif on metal, in 18k rose gold case.
The movement is not to sneezed at either. Instead of taking the easy way out by inserting a convenient quartz movement into the watches, Harry Winston chose to use a very nicely designed and decorated automatic movement. The Harry Winston Caliber HW2008:
Harry Winston Caliber HW2008.
The movement is decorated with Circular Côtes de Genève, rhodium plating, circular graining, and features a flat silicon balance spring vibrating at 28,800 bph. It resides in a case which is 36mm in diameter with a height of 8.4mm which we feel is perfect for most ladies’ wrists.
The bezel is adorned with 57 brilliant cut diamonds laid out in the classical Harry Winston signature style.
Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Collection: The Agrias claudina lungens butterfly marquettry motif on metal, in 18k rose gold case.
We find the technique of making the dial to be very interesting, and unusual. And applaud Harry Winston for pushing the envelope to try and bring fresh ideas to the world of watchmaking. And even more brilliant in applying artisanal work which is beautiful, appealing and eye catching. We further give kudos that they do not scrimp on the movement and insert a soulless quartz movement in a ladies timepiece. But chosed to use a highly respectable automatic movement which is nicely decorated and specified. This is quickly becoming the norm, manufacturers are taking notice that ladies too appreciate the technical aspects of horology in addition to the visual and jewellery aspect.
Harry Winston Premier Precious Butterfly Automatic 36mm
Technical specifications
Movement Caliber: HW2008 Type
Mechanical, automatic Movement dimensions
Diameter: 26.2 mm
Height: 3.37 mm Number of components
186 Number of jewels
28 Frequency
28,800 vibrations / hour (4Hz) Balance spring
Flat silicon balance spring Finishes
Circular Côtes de Genève, rhodium plating, circular graining
Case
18K white gold Case dimensions
Diameter: 36.0 mm
Height: 8.4 mm Crystal
Sapphire Case back
Open, sapphire crystal Water resistance
3 bars Gemsetting on the case
57 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 2.32 carats)
Dial
Butterfly marquetry motif on metal
Strap
Black tech satin strap
Buckle
18K white gold ardillon buckle set with 17 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 0.15 carats)
Total carat weight
74 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 2.47 carats)
Variations
18K white gold, “Chrysiridia Madagascariensis” butterfly marquetry butterfly motif on metal, burgundy tech satin strap
18K rose gold, “Adelpha Lara” butterfly marquetry motif on metal, brown tech satin strap
18K rose gold, “Agrias claudina lugens” butterfly marquetry motif, champagne-toned beige tech satin strap
