Graff has long approached watchmaking from a distinctly jeweller’s perspective. Its timepieces are conceived not as accessories, but as jewels that happen to tell the time — designed, gem-set, and finished by the same teams responsible for the House’s high jewellery. The result is a collection of jewellery watches that place emotion, artistry, and craftsmanship ahead of mechanics, offering a refined view of contemporary watchmaking.
For Graff, the distinction between jewellery and watches is largely irrelevant. Each timepiece carries the same design codes, gem quality, and finishing standards as the House’s rings, bracelets, and necklaces. This philosophy reflects how Graff’s clients wear jewellery — as objects of pleasure and discovery rather than purely functional items.
Acquiring a Graff watch is intended to evoke the same sense of excitement as choosing a new jewel, a sensibility that has shaped the brand’s timepieces since the 1970s.
The Jeweller’s Approach to Time
Translating the emotion of a jewellery creation into a watch, however, presents unique challenges. The technical elements of case and dial must be carefully balanced to preserve elegance and proportion, demanding considerable creativity from Graff’s designers and artisans.
When successful, the result is a timepiece elevated beyond utility — a work of wearable art where design prowess, gem-setting expertise, and savoir-faire converge.
Where Gemstones Become Timepieces
This approach is particularly evident in a recent collection inspired by the rippling effect created when a single drop falls onto water. The design features a bezel set with 30 custom-cut baguette diamonds, emeralds, rubies, or sapphires, available in four colourways.
From this halo, a field of snow-set diamonds radiates outward, creating a fluid, shimmering surface that captures light from every angle.
Snow setting, a technique closely associated with haute joaillerie, demands extraordinary precision. Each stone is selected for its size and clarity, then set closely together using fine grains of white gold to minimise visible metal. The curved, undulating form adds further complexity, requiring extensive planning to ensure the gemstones follow the piece’s natural flow without interruption.
Also among the 2025 releases, the Tilda’s Bow jewellery watch collection presents a softer, more sculptural expression of Graff’s design language. Crafted in white and rose gold, each timepiece features a flowing silhouette inspired by the form of a hand-tied bow.
Diamonds are snow-set across every contour, creating a continuous surface of light. The bracelet forms two intertwined strands that meet in an elegant knot, accented by a refined line of pavé-set emeralds, sapphires, or rubies that continue around the dial. A second variation features a sleek bracelet in highly polished rose gold.
Powered by Swiss-made quartz movements, these jewellery watches reaffirm Graff’s position at the forefront of diamond and gemstone innovation — where time is measured not just in seconds, but in brilliance, beauty, and craft.
Visit the Delaire Graff boutique in Stellenbosch to discover more classic jewellery collections on display.
