Taylor Swift is a global trendsetter – but when it comes to wearing watches as jewelry, I'm afraid the royals were there centuries before, writes JOSIE GOODBODY…
She is the woman of the moment.
So when Taylor Swift walked into the Grammys last Sunday night, it's no wonder all eyes were on her — and specifically on a custom black diamond choker from Lorraine Schwartz with an art deco Concord watch in the center.
Was this a new move by trendsetter Taylor?
Well, not quite. Another Queen of Pop, Rihanna, did something similar last year, wearing a baguette diamond-encrusted Brilliant Flying Tourbillon from Jacob & Co on an alligator watch strap around her neck to a Louis Vuitton show.
But it's true royalty who originally set the pace with timepieces for the show.
Taylor Swift walked into the 66th Grammies in Los Angeles wearing a custom Lorraine Schwartz black diamond choker – and a Concord watch – around her neck
Diana, Princess of Wales, loved to play with royal jewels. This choker has a sapphire centerpiece, but the diamonds come from a watchband – part of the Saudi suite of wedding gifts given by the Saudi royal family
Wedding gifts received by Prince Charles and Princess Diana from the Saudi Royal Family, on display at St. James' Palace, London, August 4, 1981
Queen Victoria, centre, with her husband Prince Albert and family at the opening of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851
During her visit to the Great Exhibition, Queen Victoria was particularly impressed by a timepiece with an innovative keyless winding and adjustment system from Patek Philippe. She bought a powder blue dangling watch decorated with rose-cut diamonds in a gold floral design. It was worn with a chain
When watches first appeared in Italy in the late 15th century, they were actually designed as jewelry – which also happened to tell the time.
A few centuries later, watches were even worn in the hair. I have no doubt that Queen Marie Antoinette would have had a number of timepieces tangled in her enormous 'do.
During a visit to the Great Exhibition in 1851, Queen Victoria was particularly impressed by an innovative keyless winding and setting system from Patek Philippe – still a household name.
She bought a powder blue hanging watch (to attach to a chain), it was decorated with rose cut diamonds in a gold floral design.
Diana, Princess of Wales foreshadowed Taylor and Rhianna with a watch worn as a choker, although in this case only parts of a watch.
Asprey took a wedding gift (from the Saudi royal family) and transformed it into a beautiful choker that Diana wore to a state dinner in Melbourne in November 1985.
In this case, the band or bracelet of cabochon sapphires set in diamonds took center stage. They replaced the watch itself with a large cabochon sapphire (taken from a ring they had made for the princess) – with remarkable effect.
In 1799, five years before she became empress, Josephine ordered a montre à tact (tactical or tactile watch) from the then most famous watchmaker in the world, Breguet, for her daughter Hortense de Beauhernais.
According to Christie's, which last sold the watch in 2007, these watches were invented by Abraham Louis Breguet at a time when it was “inappropriate to tell the time in public.”
You just had to touch the diamond dial to see the time. This is designed to be worn around the neck at the end of a chain, but can also be kept in a pocket.
The royal blue enamel case was made by Tavernier and had a rotating white gold and diamond-set arrow on one side that would point to the appropriate diamond 'of the clock' from twelve, held in a gold frame around the outside of the case.
The Empress clearly enjoyed giving watches to the women in her life. She gave her daughter-in-law, Princess Auguste of Bavaria, a pair of very elegant gold bracelets from imperial jeweler Nitot, now Chaumet; one with a clock hidden under a plaque, and the other a calendar.
Both decorated with diamonds and especially useful when you need to keep up with the famously fastidious timekeeping emperor!
On the back was an 'H' set in diamonds, in 1806 a diamond crown was added above the H to indicate her new role as Queen Consort of Holland. Inside the case was a small clock itself.
Empress Josephine at Napoleon's coronation. She was a fan of bejeweled timepieces
The components of a rare and historic 'petite souscription à tact' 18-karat gold, enamel and diamond hunter case watch, made for Josephine Bonaparte, Empress of France, and given to her daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais
Daughter of Empress Josephine, Hortense de Beauharnais
The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at a gala dinner at the National Gallery in Washington DC, November 11, 1985. She wears the Vacheron et Constantin cocktail watch presented to her by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
According to the Jewelery Editor website, Elizabeth I is in possession of several jeweled timepieces, including one made as an “armlet or shakell of gold, all beautifully garnished with rubies and dyamonds, with a clock in the clasp.”
David Boettcher of Vintagewatchstraps.com writes about an unusual watch belonging to the Tudor Queen – set as a ring, but it also had an alarm of sorts: “a small tooth gently scratched Her Majesty's finger as the time set.”
Her namesake Elizabeth II didn't resort to a winding timepiece to remind her of her appointments, but she did love watches – watches with diamond bracelets no less.
The Vacheron Constantin 4481, given to her as a wedding gift by the Swiss Federal Republic, was a diamond-set watch strap.
The Vacheron et Constantin cocktail watch from 1947, a wedding gift from the Swiss Federal Council to Princess Elizabeth – later Queen Elizabeth II –
Etiquette still prohibited looking at your watch in public, so diamond bracelet watches – an impressive disguise for a discreet timepiece – became very fashionable.
The Queen later gave it to Princess Diana for her wedding in 1981, who wore it a few times, including at a film premiere in 1983.
Taylor is therefore certainly not the first to wear a timepiece purely as a jewel. In fact, she is half a millennium too late!