Harry Winston Diane

Harry Winston is first and foremost a purveyor of jewelry for women. Yet the company’s most notable timepieces—such as the Opus watches and the Tourbillon Glissiere—were created for men. With the Diane, a two-and-a-half-year project named for the Roman goddess of the hunt, the Manhattan-based firm refocused its energies on pleasing its original customers. "The idea was to create a very strong watch for a woman," says vice president of design Sandrine de Laage. "We wanted to combine the importance of high complication with a unique and feminine style."

Harry Winston collaborated with complication specialist Renaud & Papi to design the Diane’s minute repeater, which offers prestige and a touch of the feminine in each of the line’s 20 limited-edition watches. Renaud & Papi developed the technical side of the movement but relied upon Harry Winston’s designers to decorate nearly all available plates and bridges in a complex, leaf-motif lattice. The watch is available with gemstones ($336,000) or without (from $300,000).

The specialty house also handed the Harry Winston team an unexpected design opportunity. "In order to refine the sound they wanted, Renaud & Papi recommended that we create as voluminous a case as possible, which we did," de Laage says. Crafted in white gold for resonance, the Diane’s case is voluptuously curved, and the proportions of the hands, lugs, and bezel are expanded and softened. "We love how different it became," says de Laage. "It’s gotten away from the usual."