At 11 years old, I thought I’d invented something quite marvellous. Receiving a gold pocket watch from my grandfather, it made total sense to attach the dainty creation to a neon green (and highly tarnishable) chain from Topshop. There was nothing high-low about it. It was, by all accounts, my own haute joaillerie creation. The year was 2009, and I had never seen another like it. It was, in my eyes, the birth of the watch pendant.

Through my jaded youth and innocence, I was blissfully unaware that my invention had its epoch as far back as the 16th century. It’s a mode that has reared its head time and time again: the narrative of the watch as something more than a tool, but a piece of jewellery. And its renaissance is happening again right now. One of the leaders during its former renaissance in the ‘70s, Vacheron Constantin made bold strokes in watchmaking history with the launch of the Kallista in 1979. In the year that Jane Fonda won an Oscar for Best Actress and Garfunkel’s “Bright Eyes” earned the UK Number 1 top spot, Vacheron Constantin debuted a watch, made up of 130 carats of diamonds, in a single piece edition, which, at the time, became the world’s most expensive watch creation.

Its descendants since then have earned equal spots in the horological hall of fame for jewellery-inspired watches. A year after its birth came the Kalla, the Lady Kall Flamme in 2010, and this year, the Grand Lady Kalla. Paying homage to its etymology, Kallista meaning the Greek word for ‘the most beautiful,’ this modern iteration not only puts my construction to shame, but speaks to this epic return of the watch finding its way on the body, anywhere other than the wrist.

Sure, you’re probably thinking of Swifty’s necklace right about now. Or Rihanna’s reinterpretation of a watch turned choker at Pharell’s debut show for Louis Vuitton, or anklet at the inaugural Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix. But these seminal internet-breaking moments surpass an overnight sensation or denouncement as a trend. It’s history repeating itself, but getting better every time.

For 2024, ‘the most beautiful’ means 57 facets of emerald-cut diamonds, which when fastened to a sautoir necklace bring the addition of onyx, Akoya pearl tassels and more diamonds, because there’s never such a thing as too many. Totally one-upping its ancestor, it boasts 268 diamonds to be exact.

While my tarnished treasure was useless if not draped around my neck, Vacheron Constantin’s multifunctional showpiece witnesses one singular watch undergo a quartet of wearable options. From necklace to bracelet, concealed dial or otherwise, it’s a testament to the watch as an object that continues to surprise. That alone assures its place in the history books of tomorrow.

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