As a premier name in the world of haute couture, it stands to reason that Dior would find inspiration in its rich heritage of fashion for use in its haute horlogerie. The Grand Bal line was created in tribute to Christian Dior’s personal taste in festivities allowing him to celebrate his work’s raison d’être.
Like the hours spent crafting one of his flamboyant ball gowns using endless meters of fabric and complicated patterns, the models in the Grand Bal line unite a keen sense of fashion with aesthetic mechanical details to please the female wrist.
These coalesce mechanically in the Dior Inversé Caliber, which was jointly developed by Swiss movement maker Soprod and Dior’s own watchmakers in La Chaux-de-Fonds. These little oeuvres proudly boast functional automatic winding rotors on the dial sides of each model: the perpetual to-and-fro of the movement evokes the idea of a swirl of a ball gown that could have been present at one of Monsieur Dior’s legendary parties.
Automatic watches generally feature their rotors on the back – it is both unusual and eye-catching to place the rotor on the front of the dial. And in this case, it fits the concept like no other.
Dior Grand Bal Plume
Like all other collections produced by the house of Dior, the ticking Grand Bal was born in Paris – more precisely in the creative studios located in the eighth arrondissement on Avenue Montaigne. This very street, named for Renaissance writer Michel de Montaigne, was renowned in the mid-1800s for its colorful Saturday-night balls, where the original cancan was danced. Today, the avenue boasts numerous high-fashion stores in addition to LVMH’s headquarters, where Dior’s creative studios are now housed.
Dior has three watches currently in the running at the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, two of which are based on the Grand Bal concept. Let’s have a quick look at them.
Dior Grand Bal Plume
This 36 mm Grand Bal Plume model, which is entered into the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in in the Artistic Crafts category, is particularly evocative of the era in which Christian Dior attended his beloved, glamorous gala balls; the genuine feathers on the rotor perfectly reproduce an elaborate swoop, looking for all the world like an underskirt of feathers embroidered with diamonds.
Dior Grand Bal Plume
Using nearly invisible gold wire, the feathers are positioned like a fan and secured using a process devised by the Dior’s technicians. Arranged in staggered rows on the openworked 22-karat gold rotor, they stylishly sweep across the dial along with the motion of the wearer’s arm.
Feathers are a constant theme in the world of fashionable haute joiallerie watches: Cartier, Harry Winston, and Corum are just some of the well-known brand names that have released exquisite feathered beauties and may also be powered by great mechanical movements.
Dior Grand Bal Plume
The art form known as feather mosaic is not new to high society; it was highly revered in Central America already more than 500 years ago. A popular form of Aztec society’s artistic expression, Spanish conquistadors carried a number of such artistic objects back to their homes, where they landed in cabinets of curiosities, encyclopedic collections of objects that had yet to be categorized in Renaissance Europe. Feather marquetry became prized among Europe’s royalty, and today its rare beauty still graces luxurious products in homage.
This very wearable watch features beautiful blue feathers – unfortunately Dior does not specify which bird they originally came from – and a mother-of-pearl dial as well as 1.06 carats’ worth of white diamonds. But for me, it is the swooping grace of the decorated rotor in action on the front that makes this watch so fascinating.
Dior Grand Bal Ruban
The Grand Bal Ruban follows the same concept, but dresses the rotor up like a bow for an extremely feminine look that is only accentuated by fine lines of gold thread extending out from behind it to form stylistic flower petal layers.
Dior Grand Bal Ruban
The over-the-top styling of this watch is enhanced by the snow-set pink gold bezel, which adds a decided extra layer of glamour to the entire creation. If you ever wanted to feel like Cinderella, this watch will get you there.
The very feminine look is interestingly underscored by an iridescent sapphire crystal as the case back. Unfortunately, Dior provides no information as to the creation of this shimmering look, but I would hazard a guess at a special coating. It would have been really interesting to see this watch in the metal, but unfortunately the lasting effects of this pandemic year have prevented us from seeing many watches live – including these.
This watch comes on a blue velvet strap whose buckle is also set with diamonds. If you were ever in doubt as to the types of events you’d be meant to wear this watch too, this velvet-and-diamond combination certainly provides a major clue.
The Dior Grand Bal Ruban is a finalist in the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the Ladies category.
Dior Grand Soir Reine des Abeilles No. 25
The time on this watch is so incidental as to practically not even matter. Powered by a quartz movement, the case not outfitted with a crown, and with the time shown by two tiny little white metal hands at 12 o’clock that entirely blend into the snow-set background, what this watch communicates is that it is a beautiful piece of jewelry that happens to display the time if you look closely enough.
Dior Grand Soir Reine des Abeilles No. 25
The time is adjusted using a stylus corrector and an opening to the movement, which is generally placed either on the side or the back of the case.
The artistic queen bee dominating the dial is crafted in yellow and pink gold and set with white diamonds, pink sapphires, tsavorite garnets, and emeralds. The bee’s torso and head are dominated by two emerald-cut diamonds, an emerald-cut emerald, and a marquise-cut diamond of some substance. The creature’s two eyes are tiny marquise-cut emeralds, while the tail/stinger is a triangle-cut emerald.
The entire dial comprises snow-set diamonds of varying sizes to provide a sparkling, uniform (yet interesting) background so that the colorful bee remains entirely and fully in the spotlight with little to detract from its majesty – including the time.
This watch is part of a series of unique pieces Dior introduced for 2020 featuring queen bees (“reines des abeilles”) in different color and gem variations, all installed against the backdrop of snow-set dials and diamond-set white gold cases and lugs. It is competing in the Jewellery category of the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
For more information, please visit: www.dior.com/en_gb/products/dior-grand-bal-ruban-36-mm-automatic-movement and www.dior.com/en_us/products/dior-grand-bal-ruban-36-mm-automatic-movement.
Quick Facts Dior Grand Bal Plume
Case: 36 x 12.04 mm, two-tone stainless steel and yellow gold set with diamonds (1.06 ct)
Movement: automatic Caliber Inversé 11 1/2 (Soprod base) with rotor on front, 42-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: 88 pieces
Price: CHF 31,100 / €27,000
Quick Facts Dior Grand Bal Ruban
Case: 36 x 12.04 mm, two-tone stainless steel and pink gold set with 103 diamonds (0.99 ct)
Movement: automatic Caliber Inversé 11 1/2 (Soprod base) with rotor on front, 42-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph/4 Hz frequency
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: 88 pieces
Price: CHF 51,900 / €45,000
Quick Facts Dior Grand Soir Reine des Abeilles No. 25
Case: 36 x 10.97 mm, white gold
Gem setting: white diamonds, pink sapphires, tsavorite garnets, and emeralds for a total of 10.77 carats
Movement: quartz
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: one unique piece
Price: 270,000 Swiss francs
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Dior’s 2015 Grand Bal VIII With Dial-Side Rotor And Scarab Beetle Elytra
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