Diamonds from ”incubators” have found their way into the watch industry

Text: Britta Rossander

First out with synthetic diamonds was Tag Heuer with the Carrera Plasma that we got to see at Watches & Wonders, a watch completely covered in synthetic diamonds. It costs 350,000 CHF. Eqotime's Britta Rossander untangles the concept of synthetic diamonds and reflects on the subject. 

-We are going to make more than one, but fewer than a dozen, said CEO Frédéric Arnauld at the presentation (son of the owner of LVMH, which includes Tiffany). 

-Innovation and the redefining of boundaries lies in our DNA. We want to widen the palette and the design for diamond watches and diamonds in general.

And they want to do that with synthetic diamonds.

A few facts about the synthetic diamonds

A synthetic diamond can be ready in 12 days and 1 ct of synthetic diamond gives 240 kg Co2, which is 69% more than what 1 ct of natural diamond gives, which is 160 kg Co2. (source SGRF and GR).  So that they would be a climate-smart choice is surely debatable. 

Synthetic diamonds only have value in the first link of the chain and the prices on them have a proven falling curve. Now it is not as if you pick the diamonds off a watch and then sell them the way you can with stones in jewellery. 

That synthetic diamonds cost far less than natural diamonds is not something Tag Heuer talks about. A natural diamond of 1 ct in good quality costs about 100 000 kr, melee costs for the same weight about 18,000 – 20,000 kr. Today the price of synthetic diamonds is probably half, or even less, of what you have to pay for natural ones and that price curve points, as said, steadily downwards. What is it then that makes the price tag on this watch a staggering 3,5 million?

The amount of ct is in total 11,7 ct = Case 4,2 ct + crown 2,5 ct + indexes etc 0, 6 ct + melee for the dial of 3, 9 ct. If we pretend that they would be natural diamonds it would have cost, roughly speaking, 1 170 000 kr + a little extra to get a stone as big as the one in the crown. Is it that Tag Heuer is counting on the watch becoming a collector's watch and can therefore charge heavily for the synthetic stones when it comes to the price? 

From Tag Heuer's side they say that it is the versatility of synthetic diamonds that gives infinite creativity and that is why they are going into the sector for lab-grown diamonds – to be able to focus on the avant-garde aesthetic and the design code. ”Diamant d’Avant-Garde”, as they call it, makes it possible to create a watch where diamonds are used in unique shapes, says Edouard Mignon, Chief Innovation Officer for Tag Heuer & LVMH Watches & JewelryDivision. 

Yes, yes – you can do more or less whatever you want in the ”diamond incubators” which for the most part are in Russia and China. Tag's partners are Lusix and Capsoul in Israel and Diamaze iGermany but where the stones are manufactured we are not told.

A few facts about the watch

Case of 44 mm in sandblasted aluminium with a polished black ceramic bezel. The crown at 3 o'clock is a diamond. The movement is the Heuer 02 automatic chronograph with tourbillon and 65-hour power reserve in a special version for this watch. 

Frédéric Arnault added: 

-To use lab-grown diamonds in an avant-garde way is an innovation that we have planned for a long time. We think that luxury watches should be exciting, surprising and in tune with the times.

That Hodinkee thinks it is fantastic what Tag Heuer has done with these synthetic diamonds is on them – I do not agree, besides the watch is not particularly good-looking. On top of it all it is nominated for the jewellery prize at the GPHG

A personal reflection

As the most valuable gemstone, the journey of natural diamonds from the interior of the earth is both fascinating and magical. The stones can be followed from mine to end consumer and keep their value over time. I wonder how many more watches we will get to see – or perhaps have already seen – with synthetic diamonds in solitary majesty or mixed with natural ones? Breitling has just picked up the baton and is now going to renovate its model range with diamonds so that it contains synthetic stones. First out is the recently launched Super Chronomat 38. Perhaps the designation Natural Diamonds is to be preferred for those who use natural stones, which there are suppliers who already do today. And the question that presents itself is: if more in the LVMH group (which includes Tag Heuer) start with synthetic diamonds, what happens then for example with Bvlgari and Tiffany?