The Fine Art of the Dior Watch

Over the years, couturier Christian Dior has been known more for the first than the second. After the inelegant practicality that characterised women’s clothing through the Second World War, the voluptuous silhouettes of his “New Look” redefined women’s style, and with it the female shape, through the ‘40s and ‘50s. Since then, the house of Dior has become a byword for a recognisably French definition of chic.

That goes for its watch collection as much as the rest of Dior’s now broad palette of products, witness the timepiece released just this month by the Parisian fashion house. Dubbed the “Christal 8” in homage to the couturier’s passion for art and the number ‘8’ that he always considered lucky, this is a wonderfully original design that harks back to the art deco styling of his youth and early manhood

It comes in two models: one, in a very limited edition of just eight pieces, featuring a yellow gold case, a dial in red coral and ivory laquered with mother-of-pearl and gold leaf, and a black python strap, the other with a mother-of-pearl dial and a bezel set with diamonds. Though this is clearly a watch designed more for elegant soirees than early morning swims, it is also water-resistant to 50m.

At the same time, this is a watch that will also appeal to the practical side of watch buyers, its movement – the first “Dior 8 Fuseaux Horaires” calibre, designed by Orny and Girardin – allowing for the display not just of local time, but of the time in eight cities around the world, and of night and day, via a satellite that rotates through 24 hours.

The only question here is just how lucky the number 8 was for Dior, who died at the indecently young age of 52 from a heart attack in a health spa.