Baselworld 2013: Harry Winston Embraces Nature With Premier Glacier

Baselworld 2013: Harry Winston Embraces Nature With Premier Glacier

The Premier Glacier looks as though the diamonds have been randomly set in a disorganized manner to achieve a glacial impression. In fact, the master designers and diamond setters at Harry Winston worked tirelessly to create an extremely precise and complex setting. Each of the baguette-cut diamonds on the dial assumes its elongated lozenge shape from the unique, invisible setting style that transforms it into an extraordinary asymmetrical pattern of drama and delight.

The challenge of accomplishing an almost haphazard look on the dial, while, in fact, utilizing an extremely difficult and methodical process, is one for which Harry Winston’s team naturally rose to the occasion. To create this 18-karat white gold wonder, Harry Winston’s in-house design team first had to develop a specially made dial plate with an elaborately carved grid – another astonishing feat of precision and craftsmanship. This complex base is engraved and etched to hundredths of a millimeter’s precision so that each diamond is set exactly with no metal showing. 

So difficult is the setting of the diamonds in this complex labyrinth that the master gem setter, with 16 years of experience, can only set between five and seven diamonds a day. The end result is a stunning dial fully adorned with 108 baguette-cut diamonds weighing approximately 8.88 carats.

Representing the most complex dial Harry Winston’s diamond masters have ever made, the Premier Glacier is, therefore, offset with a classically elegant bracelet of baguettes so as not to distract the eye from the elaborate diamond dial. The iconic arches of the Harry Winston New York salon are represented in the case-to-bracelet attachments. In all, the bracelet is set with 254 baguette-cut diamonds (weighing approximately 16.1 carats); the case is set with 130 baguette-cut diamonds (weighing approximately 5.51 carats); brilliant-cut diamonds adorn the crown and the end-pieces of the bracelet attachment parts. 

Every diamond is selected, cut and set in-house, at the Harry Winston Manufacture in Geneva, by the brand’s master gem specialists. Only the House of Harry Winston – with a rich heritage in diamonds – could set such an intricate piece totally in house. Just five of this breathtaking Premier Glacier timepiece, each with a total of 497 diamonds (weighing approximately 30.59 carats) will ever be made.