SpotlightA Diwali Hamper: Watches That Represent These Festive Times
There are some elements of the festival of lights that one cannot separate from it. They’re intrinsically linked to form the essence of this season’s festivities. Representing such essential aspects of Diwali, we shine the spot-light on a few timepieces in celebration of these festive times
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The Shimmering Night Sky And The New Moon
One thing that’s a given on Diwali is that it’s always on a new moon day. It can’t be Diwali if the moon is shining in the sky. It’s the essential aspect of when the day falls on the lunar calendar. Of course, we all know of the age-old watchmaking complication that tracks the lunar calendar via the phases of the moon—from full to new, the waxing and waning, and so on. Moon phase displays are often called poetic, because it’s more charming than utilitarian. No one really needs to know the phase of the moon in the sky, but what a thrill it is to see the moon on your wrist just the way it appears when you look up at the sky! So imagine if the moon on your wrist is larger than life, and even more spherical in appearance than the one that you see (or don’t see) when you look up, outside at night. The moon of the Arnold & Son Luna Magna is said to be the largest three-dimensional moon in a watch, and on Diwali night, you won’t see the white marble of that sphere. Only the dark side of the moon will be visible as it blends into the starry sky. Not that you’d see a lot of stars in the sky in the city, but if you’re somewhere in the countryside, where the skies are clear, and you look really carefully, you might just see an outline of the moon, even as it is in complete darkness, the way you’d see the dark side of the moon on the face of the Luna Magna. That dark side is made of aventurine glass—a material of choice for many a watchmaker who choose to depict the night sky on the dial.
The specks of metal in the blue glass perfectly mimic the dark, starry sky—that which differentiates night from day. This is seen beautifully in the Girard-Perregaux Cat’s Eye Day and Night. This is another complication that doesn’t have a high utilitarian purpose, being more fascinating and interesting than functional. And in this piece, the shimmering diamonds on the bezel mirror the sparkle of the ‘starry’ dial, while the golden elements of the markers are complemented by the gold oval case of this Cat’s Eye.
Shining Lights In The Face Of Darkness
The whole idea of lighting up one’s home on this festival was to welcome those arriving home, and to guide them through the darkness of the new moon night. Of course, this was before electric streetlights and so on, but the tradition continues, despite the abundance of light, any time of day or night. Say what you will, it’s still gorgeous to see all the flickering flames of lamps or the strings of fairy lights that bedeck almost every home and building during this season. The thrill is not unlike that which you feel when you see a glow on the face of your watch, when it’s dark. Super-LumiNova or other luminescence is an essential part of a timepiece’s display, and when it’s elevated by the use of an innovative material, it’s even more visually stunning. Globolight—a ceramic-based substance infused with Super-LumiNova—is one such material, used quite a lot by H. Moser & Cie. Seen here is their Heritage Dual Time, with large Arabic numerals for the hours, which are pretty much blocks on the dial that glow with brilliance when the time is right.
It’s also not uncommon to go even bigger with the presence of luminescence on a dial. We’ve seen it on the Norqain Neverest Night Sight 40mm, which goes for darkness in all its markers, but against the illumination of the entire dial that they sit on. This powerful glow comes about thanks to the use of X1 Super-LumiNova—said to be 60 percent stronger than the standard version of the luminous substance. And it’s a fitting addition to the Adventure collection, conceived as one to help and guide adventurers. The Neverest series also supports the ‘Butterfly Help Project’. Ten percent of the proceeds from its sales helps in educating children of Sherpas who’ve lost their lives in Nepal.
Welcoming Colours Of The Rainbow
If lights were intended as a means to guide a homecoming, in more recent times, there are various other means of decoration to create a welcoming atmosphere at entrances of homes. One of them is the art of rangoli—the use of coloured sand or powder of some kind to create colourful patterns. Colour cannot be separated from festivities of practically any kind, and it forms an essential part of Diwali decoration as well. The best representation of that is the raging trend of ‘rainbow’ watches, which almost have a rangoli-esque quality about them, if you think about it that way. Rainbow watches have gained tremendous popularity in recent years, especially among higher-end brands, who have dials and bezels showcasing the colours of a rainbow, using various coloured gemstones.
One of them are Jacob & Co. Their Brilliant timepiece represents a rainbow via hour markers in sapphires of assorted hues, totalling about 0.44 carat. These are in addition to the white diamonds seen on the bezel and the centre of the dial, which is otherwise made of mother-of-pearl.
Then there’s the far more resplendent Hublot Classic Fusion Takashi Murakami Sapphire Rainbow. It recreates the floral motif that Japanese artist Murakami is known for, with all the colours seen in his artwork featuring this motif. This archetypal representation of a flower, with a smiley face, features 12 petals, with 487 precious stones that include orange and yellow sapphires, tsavorites, amethysts, blue and pink sapphires and rubies as well. The vibrant palette stands out even more against the backdrop of white and the transparency of Hublot’s 45mm Classic Fusion case in sapphire crystal. This watch is also a nominee for the Artistic Crafts prize at the 2022 GPHGs (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève).
Sweet Times
And once the welcoming, and meeting and greeting takes place, there are always sweets. Diwali is incomplete without sweets—of any kind—from traditional Indian mithai to chocolates and other desserts. The thought of all the festive sweets, and the sugar rush, brings to mind only one watch—which would literally be sweet to taste, owing to the actual sugar crystals on the dial. This is the Bovet Fleurier Miss Audrey Sweet Art. Set in the Swiss brand’s signature convertible case—which allows one to use the timepiece as a wristwatch, a pendant watch and a table clock as well—is the dial completely paved with sugar crystals, in ombre patterns of various colour combinations in different versions of the model. These pure sugar crystals are treated such that they may remain unaffected by light or heat, and then combined with special paint before being hand-applied to the dials.
Cards And Games Of Luck
Shunned by some, enjoyed by many; card games have been a big part of celebrations of the season, with all individuals of any given social circle—especially in north India—taking turns to host ‘card parties’ in the nights leading up to Diwali. Some play for fun, others ‘make it interesting’ with bets, big and small.
There was a Corum Bubble watch that’s no longer in production, which represented the joker from a deck of cards—one that is feared or treasured, depending on what’s at play. Magnified through the signature convex glass of the Bubble series, the watch featured motifs of hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. This timepiece has probably been the best representation of a standard pack of 52—plus the clown card, of course.
The red and black symbols on playing cards also made their way to the Girard-Perregaux Vintage 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon, which dates back to the early 2010s. From their collection of contemporary rectangular watches, this tourbillon timepiece had a quirky mechanical complication. It was an embedding of a casino slot machine into the watch’s display and mechanism, with a lever on the right-hand side of the case to make the wheels spin and possibly hit the jackpot. It’s definitely one of the most innovative ‘gamifications’ in watchmaking that one can think of, even today.
An even more elaborate mechanical gamification is the one you’ll see in the Jacob & Co Astronomia Tourbillon Casino, which features an actual roulette wheel that is fully operational even. Forming the base for the rotating timekeeping dial, tourbillon cage, the Earth and one-carat ‘Jacob-cut’ diamond—commonly seen across the Astronomia series—is this roulette wheel, which can be spun by using a push-button at eight o’clock on the gold case.
Shop The Story
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Arnold & Son Luna Magna
1LMAR.A02A.C153A
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Girard-Perregaux Cat's Eye
80488D52A451-CK4A
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H. Moser & Cie. Heritage
8809-1200
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NORQAIN Adventure
NNB1001BBWA/IL107/15NBF
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Jacob & Co. Brilliant
BQ020.40.RO.KR.ABCBA
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Bovet Fleurier
AS36027
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Bovet Fleurier
AS36023
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Jacob & Co. Astronomia
AT160.40.AB.AB.B
