“Diamonds are happier when they’re free”. That’s the brilliant idea behind the name “Happy Diamonds”
IN 1976 CHOPARD launched the clever collection “Happy Diamonds”, inspired by the intuition of its designer who realized that diamonds sparkle in full dazzling radiance when they are free from their settings. Today, 40 years after that vision, the maison celebrates and revisits the iconic model which at that time won the prestigious Golden Rose of Baden-Baden for the invention of moving diamonds. The Free Diamond idea was born during a walk in the Black Forest. In 1976 Ronald Kurowski, the Chopard designer at that time, was entranced by the sight of a waterfall. The thousands of tiny water droplets bursting out from it, reflecting the daylight and sparkling with all the colours of the rainbow.
From that vision he created the first sketch of moving diamonds, which then gave birth to the first “Happy Diamonds” watch. The last timepiece presented by Chopard pays tribute to the cushion shape of the first model for men, yet exclusively designed for ladies with a contemporary feel. A jeweled watch, where past and future actually co-exist and the prong-set diamonds enrich the dial whilst they whirl feely across a textured white mother-of-pearl background. For the first time in a Happy Diamonds watch the gems emphasise their brightness circling the dial being more than ever, bigger and of different sizes. Inside this area, a mini dial, also edged with diamonds, bears the watch hands.
(Happy Diamonds, happy and free – Barchemagazine.com – June 2016)
