Fawaz Gruosi, founder and design force of de GRISOGONO, has a talent for seducing women. His jewellery and his watches in joyful colours and immodest proportions are made for females who like to be noticed. A renowned jet-setter and socialite, Gruosi's voluptuous pieces light up the wildest nights and embellish some of the world's sexiest women, including Sharon Stone.
His watches, like his jewellery, have that unmistakable "wow" factor. Just think back to the de GRISOGONO Sugar watch, which could hardly contain its precious stones as they frothed like bubbling caramel off the borders of the dial. And the Allegra watch collection with its explosion of colourful gemstones and equally colourful leather cords that look like fruity licorice strings.
The de GRISOGONO Grappoli watch is the latest women's timepiece from the flamboyant Swiss brand. Grappoli - which in Italian means a bunch or cluster, usually of grapes - is a fitting name for this mouth-watering high jewellery masterpiece. Like a sunflower bursting with orange sapphires, the Grappoli SO3 model is the fruit of expert gem-setters and stone cutters who invest a total of 120 hours on each watch, patiently cutting and setting each and every one of the dazzling 1,030 orange sapphires by hand.
The first stage involves attaching the juicy briolette-cut orange sapphires to the exterior bezel. Like a natural cluster of grapes, the briolettes come in different sizes and gradations of colour. Each is sewn by hand on to the case using small rose gold rings so that they can move freely and play with the light.
The orange sapphires on the dial and inner bezel are set using the painstaking technique of snow setting. A series of different-sized wells are bored into the pink gold by hand and then set with 960 orange sapphires in varying shades and sizes to cast a mantle of orange light over the entire surface. Once the brilliant-cut orange sapphires have been embedded in the gold, the surface is expertly polished.
When the watch is finished, it is mounted and dismounted several times to ensure the briolette-cut gems move with ease and perfectly complement each other when sat side by side. This level of attention to detail throughout the watchmaking process ensures that no two de GRISOGONO Grappoli timepieces are the same.
Equipped with a Swiss quartz movement that provides unrivalled accuracy and carefree maintenance, the Grappoli watch is attached to the wrist with a zesty orange galuchat strap and a pink gold clasp, set, as you can already imagine, with more brilliant-cut orange sapphires.
Also available in white diamond, emerald and blue sapphire versions, the de GRISOGONO Grappoli watch collection is currently on display at Harrods in London as part of its Biennale des Antiquaires showcase. A recreation of the legendary biannual exhibition of antiques and high jewellery that took place in Paris earlier this month, it runs until 12 October 2014.
