Weir & Sons Style Magazine 2018

style MAGAZINE

GIVERS & TAKERS PERFECT PRESENTS FOR EVERYONE IN YOUR LIFE

TAG HEUER & STEVE MCQUEEN SANTOS DE CARTIER

A LEGEND IS REBORN

SHAUN LEANE

JEWELLERY’S MODERN MASTER ARRIVES IN-STORE

A life less

ordinary SPECIAL PIECES TO ELEVATE THE EVERYDAY

DINERS’ CLUB

DUBLIN’S 20 HOTTEST EATERIES

Reine de Naples Collection

in every woman is a queen

B L AC K T I E O R D E E P B LU E

The Seamaster Diver 300M will take you from the bottom of the sea, to the centre of attention and to the top of the world.

SEAMASTER DIVER 300M MASTER CHRONOMETER

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Big Bang Unico Magic Sapphire.

Scratch-resistant sapphire case.

In-house chronograph UNICO movement.

Limited edition of 500 pieces.

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hublot.com

HAPPY SPORT COLLECTION

KYLE TUNNEY

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Welcome

elcome to Weir & Sons Style Magazine, a historic second this year, following closely on from our earlier Watch & Jewellery Special. Bringing together the beautiful and the best from the latest watch and jewellery collections, we are celebrating all the craftsmanship and artistry that reside in our iconic landmark store on Dublin’s Grafton Street, in our store in Dundrum and online at weir.ie.

There are few who sum this up better than the visionary designer Shaun Leane, a jeweller whose Irish heritage has helped fuel a career at the top of the British fashion world, including a legendary creative partnership with the late Lee Alexander McQueen. Now his sleek, timeless and covetable pieces are available exclusively in Ireland at Weir & Sons. Read his fascinating story on page 26.

On page 30, we unravel the gripping tale of the man who provided the inspiration for the legendary Santos de Cartier watch, a pioneer

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whose life was a marvel of its era, and whose spirit continues to be a creative force in the reimagining of this classic timepiece.

There are other legends in our midst. On page 61, we delve into the latest Gucci collection and its groundbreaking campaign featuring eightyeight-year-old Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren at its heart. TAG Heuer meanwhile has drawn on its Hollywood heritage with the newly imagined TAG Heuer Gulf Monaco, now complete with racing stripes and upgraded movements. We look back at its stellar beginnings on the wrists of racing greats such as Joseph Siffert and movie icon Steve McQueen on page 57.

In A Life Less Ordinary (page 34), we celebrate some domestic decadence with a jewellery and watch story that will put the glamour back into those routine tasks, while on page 72 our gifting story is full to the brim with perfect present inspiration for those special people, and moments, in your life.

The Olivia Burton founders talk creating

one of the hottest high-street success stories in recent years with their watch and jewellery label on page 81, while on page 68, we chart the evolution of Montblanc from its early beginnings to its modern, sky-scraping heights. We have the latest watch and jewellery news on page 15, from Omega’s new Seamaster to Swatch’s Art Special Colourshift edition.

As an iconic store in Dublin, we are proud of our ties to the city, and so, on page 93, we give our edit of the top dining spots in the capital right now. Which leaves us with just the promise of what’s to come, as we sign off on page 96 with a dip into our archive. A nod to the past as we prepare to mark 150 years in business next year.

We hope you will join us for the celebrations.

The Weir & Sons team

Follow us on… @weirandsons /WeirsJewellers @WeirandSons

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Style Editor Jessie Collins Magazine Production Aoife Carrigy Art Director Clare Meredith Sub-editing Sharon Miney & Yvonne Gordon Publisher Richard Power, The Content Agency Ltd

Contents 34

61 30

For Weir & Sons Executive Editor Lucinda Andrews Contributing Editor Lisa Freeman Silver Editor David Andrews Jewellery Editor Neville McDowell Watch Editor Paul Broughan Fashion Editor Chris Andrews Assistant Fashion Editor Aoife Doyle Weir & Sons would like to thank all contributors and advertisers for their continued support.

While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information, Weir & Sons accepts no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may arise.

No liability can be accepted for illustrations, artwork or advertising material while in transmission or with the publishers or their agents. Weir & Sons Style Magazine is published by Weir & Sons in association with The Content Agency Ltd, The Park, Ballycrean, Co. Wicklow. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means) is prohibited without prior permission of The Content Agency, please contact richard@thecontentagency.ie.

The reproduction of colours is as accurate as the printing process will allow. Whilst Weir & Sons Style Magazine accepts third party advertising, it does not endorse or take any responsibility for products or services outside those of Weir & Sons. Please contact the advertiser directly.

All terms are subject to availability.

Weir & Sons has made every effort to ensure that product information and prices are correct at time of going to press. Some of these, including price, may change after publication.

Weir & Sons 96-99 Grafton Street, Dublin 2, Ireland +353 (0) 1 677 9678; weir.ie Level 1, Dundrum Town Centre, Dundrum, Dublin 16, Ireland +353 (0) 1 215 7845; weir.ie sales@weirandsons.ie @WeirandSons /WeirsJewellers @weirandsons

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15 WHAT'S IN-STORE

Get up to date on the latest jewellery and watches available in-store and online.

22 COLOUR CREATIONS

30 LEGENDS OF TIME

Make sure you are shopping in technicolour this season.

The amazing relationship that led to the creation of the iconic Santos de Cartier.

24 LISTEN UP

34 OUT OF THIS WORLD

Statement earrings that demand to be seen and heard.

Make the everyday extraordinary with our celebration of domestic decadence.

26 JEWEL PRINCE

46 THE ITALIAN JOB

Master jeweller Shaun Leane on turning nature into art.

Vicenza jewellery house FOPE’s Solo MiaLuce collection takes centre stage.

51 METAL WORK

Weir & Son’s jewellery workshop manager Andrew Meehan talks a life of craft.

57 LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Meet the new TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf, and the motor racing history which inspired it.

61 G-FORCE

Gucci’s latest jewellery collection is fit for Hollywood royalty.

65 LIGHT TOUCH

Panerai’s new Luminor Due 3-Days 38mm ushers in a new era for the iconic brand.

68 PEAK SEASON

Montblanc continues to reach for new heights with its commemorative 1858 watch.

72 TRULY GIFTED

Gifts that make a moment, and last a lifetime.

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51 81 TWO'S COMPANY

High-street watch sensation Olivia Burton’s first jewellery collection is in, and you’ll want everything.

85 ONE FAB DAY

Jewellery to say ‘I do’ to.

93 DINERS’ CLUB

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The twenty Dublin city eateries you need to know right now.

96 LIVING HISTORY

Just some of what's to come as we prepare to celebrate 150 years in business.

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MONACO GULF SPECIAL EDITION CALIBRE 11 AUTOMATIC CHRONOGRAPH

Steve McQueen’s legacy is timeless. More than an actor, more than a pilot, he became a legend. Like TAG Heuer, he defi ned himself beyond standards and never defined cracked under pressure.

News MASTER & COMMANDER

Twenty-five years after its launch, Omega’s new Seamaster Professional Diver 300M (€4,510) has received a high-tech makeover. And in anticipation of the eagerly awaited twenty-fifth outing of its iconic ambassador, it delivers a watch fit for a thoroughly modern James Bond.

Evoking an ingenuity and attention to detail indicative of its calibre, and its most famous devotee, the new Seamaster uses patented technology to ensure that if the new conical-shaped helium escape valve is opened underwater, the watch will remain water-resistant up to 5 bar. The addition of a Master Chronometer Calibre 8800 elevates it into a higher realm of precision, performance and magnetic resistance.

Each redesigned watch is easier to read, even at the darkest depths, thanks to a larger dial of 42mm with raised luminescent hands and indexes filled with Super-LumiNova and a luminescent 12 o’clock dot on the unidirectional rotating bezel. The iconic diving bezel is now made from ceramic with the diving scale in CeragoldTM or white enamel, for longer-lasting brightness and durability.

And because (as any 007 will tell you) a killer look is key, Omega has reintroduced the popular wave pattern of the original Seamaster 300M dial design, now laser-engraved onto polished ceramic in black, blue or PVD chrome colour. That pattern continues onto the caseback edge and sapphire crystal, through which you can see the intricate workings of the METAS-approved movement – resulting in a watch that is not only equal to its pioneering legacy, but reimagined for an even bolder future.

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NEWS

The latest jewellery and watch updates from Weir & Sons.

MOVE WITH THE TIMES New and exclusive to Weir & Sons, the battery-powered three-hand Miyota quartz movement set within a brushed silver stainless-steel case and behind a black dial with gunmetal hands and markers and blue second hand, the MVMT Classic (€110) is a minimalist and versatile choice of timepiece that feels as light and comfortable as it looks sleek and contemporary.

HEAVENLY FRUIT Designed originally by its founder, jewellery master Georg Jensen himself, the Moonlight Grapes collection by Georg Jensen is inspired by early-1900s Art Nouveau, and gives the iconic grape motif a new and contemporary twist. Sculptural, feminine and timeless, the collection (ranging from €160 to €7,400) consists of earrings, rings, bracelets, bangles, pendants and sautoirs, and is available in silver and gemstones or rose gold with diamonds.

MISSING MONEY Sometimes it’s only when you’re on the brink of losing something that you start to appreciate it which explains British artist Justine Smith’s newfound fascination with paper money, that ubiquitous physical phenomenon that is fast becoming obsolete thanks to the advent of virtual currencies like bitcoin. Smith’s explorations are the inspiration behind the new Swatch Art Special COLOURSHIFT (€75), which fuses imagery from physical currencies with digital motifs. “I liked the idea of making by hand something that would normally be created digitally – COLOURSHIFT stands for the changing spectrum and shift we are now experiencing.”

TON-UP FOR THE BOYS Zenith brand ambassadors and friends have once again manned vintage and classic motorbikes in all guises – from scramblers and choppers to vintage scooters and café racers – and joined 120,000 elegant gentlefolk for the annual international Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride (DGR), to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer and male suicide prevention. In a further tip of the hat to the biker community behind this charity event, Zenith has released the Pilot Type 20 Chronograph Ton-Up Black, named in honour of the so-called ‘Ton-Up Boys’ who favour café racer motorbikes that have had all unnecessary weight minimised to maximise on speed. The minimalist Zenith Heritage Pilot Ton-Up watch is equally clutter-free, matching designer vintage allure with a distinctively sporty demeanour. €7,500.

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Elegance is an attitude Kate Winslet

Record collection

NEWS HIS AND HERS With a waiting list the world over and a growing army of fans, Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Pilot Travel Time has been updated with a rose-gold version with a brown and black dial (€44,300), while an all-new ladies' version (€40,080) has also been launched. Coming with a rose-gold case and a brown dial with the same subtle black gradient, the ladies' model is self-winding too, with the second time zone and local time and date prominently displayed. It also features sculpted rose-gold numerals with a white luminous coating as well as broad luminous baton-style hands. The two time zones have day/ night indicators at nine and three o’clock while the vintage brown calfskin strap is secured with a rose-gold clevis prong buckle.

DARK ARTS Breitling’s new Navitimer 8 draws on its rich heritage to create something classic and yet fresh. Coming in a range of options, the top-of-the-line B01 edition (€7,300) is equipped with in-house Breitling manufacture Caliber B01 with COSC-certified chronometer precision and a 70-hour power reserve with a rotating bezel and a triangular pointer. The Navitimer 8 Chronograph 43 (€5,300) meanwhile is available in stainless-steel or carbon-coated stainless-steel, while the Automatic (€3,600) evokes Breitling’s iconic watches from the 1930s and 1940s.

SPLASH IN THE OCEAN

STAR OF THE SEA Rolex’s new Oyster Perpetual Deepsea watch (€11,850) builds on its classic good looks with a new 44mm case with redesigned lugs and sides and a new, broader Oyster bracelet. Equipped for the first time with the new-generation ultra accurate calibre 3235 movement, the professional divers’ watch is made of Oystersteel with a D-Blue dial and with a deep-blue to pitch-black gradient. Designed to be waterproof up to 3,900 metres, it comes too with the Superlative Chronometer certification. The Ringlock System, comprising of a domed 5.5mm-thick sapphire crystal; a high-performance nitrogen-alloyed stainless- steel ring inside; and a case back in Oystersteel and grade 5 titanium means it can withstand immense pressure even at the most extreme depths.

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Renowned for its use of rare pearls, Yoko London has been creating exquisite jewellery since the early 1970s, a legacy now passed on to a third generation.

Each pearl is individually chosen by the family-run team which consists of some of the world’s finest pearl specialists. This Trio dress ring in 18k white gold (€6,125) features the signature high-quality, lustrous South Sea and freshwater pearls in natural pink hues, with diamonds set in 18kt white gold, and is created in Yoko's London workshop by expert designers and craftsmen.

TRAVELLING LIGHT Rado’s latest release is an exercise in dynamic design, with the HyperChrome Ultra Light (€3,150) weighing no more than 56g on your wrist and coming in durable, ultra-light high-tech ceramic. Taking its inspiration from 20th-century pocket watches, the cool simplicity and clarity of the brown sunray ceramic dial gives it an instantly classic look.

Coming in bronze and brown, the brown version sports a vintage-style NATO strap while the bronze version comes with a brown aged leather strap.

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NEWS LIVING HISTORY

CROWN JEWELS Handmade in Ireland, these Celtic Princess Tiara rings by Fadó draw on Ireland’s rich Celtic heritage to create a unique collection. With intertwining hearts – the symbols of love, friendship and strength – the three hearts can also symbolise past, present and future. With no beginning and no end, the Celtic heart knotwork is indicative of continued life and eternal love. Coming in a range of precious metals, there are rings in silver from €49, while 14k yellow gold or 14k white gold set with diamonds are both €1,245. Every piece is made in Co Wicklow by master craftsmen to owner John Condron’s exacting specifications.

Starting from €99.95, Solvar’s History of Ireland collection captures Ireland's sweeping story with bracelets and brooches, cufflinks and earrings, high-cross and disc pendants – each crafted from sterling silver or 14k gold and engraved with a suite of symbols marking iconic moments in Irish history. Through raids and battles, risings and partitions, wearers of these contemporary pieces can trace a story punctuated by comings (of St Patrick, the Vikings, the Normans and the English) and goings (in infamous Famine ships) right up to the many chapters yet to unfold.

CLASSIC BOND Channel some Irish heritage with these statement Celtic knot and engraved gents’ pieces by Solvar, all available at Weir & Sons.

Clockwise from top right: Silver oxidised Celtic ingot pendant, €165; silver Celtic knot band, €135; silver heavy Celtic knot bangle, €420; silver Celtic knot leather bracelet, €250

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PICTURE PERFECT How better to honour those precious moments than within a classic Irish silver frame? Starting at just €74, at Weir & Sons we have a range of styles, from classic and Celtic through to contemporary cool, or the period panache of our series of garlanded Edwardian frames. And for that extra-special element, most of our silver frames are engravable with your message of choice for that unique personal touch.

ROCK OF AGES Time, tradition and family values are inherent in each and every part of Solvar’s Connemara Marble collection. No two pieces in this Irish-crafted range are the same, thanks to the truly unique nature of the treasured green marble, formed 600 millennia ago and handselected from Connemara’s Twelve Bens mountain range. Each piece of sterling silver and gold jewellery, including this ring (€70), is created by third-generation family-run Irish jewellery manufacturer, Solvar and also comes hallmarked by the Dublin Assay Office.

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Allegra pendant, €11,650, Bvlgari

18k white gold blue topaz pendant, €1,605, Weir Collection

18k white gold, diamond and pink sapphire bracelet, €10,070, Weir Collection

Rainbow nation Channel a multicoloured world with a kaleidoscope of hues in every shape and size.

18k white gold, diamond and rainbow gemstone pendant, €695 (pendant only), Weir Collection Parrot charm, €129, Thomas Sabo

18k white gold, pink sapphire and diamond ring, €2,220, Weir Collection

18k yellow gold, diamond and multicoloured sapphire bracelet, €8,095, Weir Collection an de m er

tion Collec Weir 55, 7,8 t, € ele ac br

18k gold, amethyst and topaz earrings, €415, Weir Collection

White gold diamond, r uby , sa pph ire

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18k gold, diamond, emerald and sapphire tree brooch, €1,540, Weir Collection

18k mul tico lou red sa pp hir

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tion ollec eir C W , 30 5,2 t, € e l e ac br

Platinum, sapphire and diamond oval cluster ring, €6,970, Weir Collection

Sync watch, €550, Gucci 9k gold leaf brooch with coloured stones, €470, Weir Collection

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18k yellow gold, ruby, sapphire and emerald earrings, €570, Weir Collection

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18k yellow and white gold diamond seashell earrings, €6,822, Weir Collection

18k three-tone gold diamond leaf drop earrings, €2,395, Weir Collection

Roman oman Barocco earrings, €4,825, Roberto Coin

18k white gold and coloured gemstone earrings, €962, Weir eir Collection

9k yellow gold three-colour gemstone earrings, €275, Weir Collection

18k yellow gold, pearl and gemstone flower earrings, €2,585, Weir eir Collection

18k rose gold and diamond loop drop earrings, €2, €2,790, Weir eir Collection

Drop p dead gorgeous

18k gold star drop earrings, €255, Weir Collection

From spirals and stars to drop shapes and clusters, these are the earrings to covet right now.

18k white gold and amethyst drop earrings, €780, Weir Collection

Double round drop earrings, €280, Carat* London

Valencia earrings, €99, Dyrberg/Kern Mercer earrings, €255, Michael Kors

9k yellow gold hoop earrings, €190 €190, Weir eir Collection

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18k gold gemstone cluster earrings, €515, Weir Collection

Platinum, diamond and sapphire earrings, €29,572, Weir Collection

18k white gold, sapphire and diamond earrings, €1,664, Weir Collection

9k gold and amethyst stud earrings, €130, €130 Weir Collection

9k yellow gold and pearl drop earrings, €99, Weir Collection

Bow earrings, €49, Olivia Burton

18k yellow gold and diamond set cluster earrings, €4,015, Weir Collection

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Made by hand for those who value perfection.

This Spring Drive chronograph comprises over 400 precisely engineered parts. It is made exclusively by our own watchmakers. In the glide motion hands, you see time measured precisely, not merely to the nearest fraction of a second. Every detail on the immaculately honed surfaces of the dial expresses the subtle aesthetics of Japanese craftsmanship.

Dedication to perfection pursued for more than half a century. grandseiko.com 9R86 Spring Drive Chronograph GMT Accurate to + / - 1 second per day.

The

Alchemist Shaun Leane’s jewellery has been described as collectibles of the future. Aoife Carrigy talks to the master craftsman about fusing nature and form, working with Alexander McQueen and summers spent roaming the Kerry mountains.

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“W

hen I go back up those mountains, it frees up my mind so much and gives me such renewed energy.” British jeweller du jour Shaun Leane is chatting to me on the line from his home city of London, of which he is an honorary Freeman, having just returned from visiting his other ‘home’, the Kingdom of Kerry. “My nana lived on the foot of Carrauntoohil mountain – in the third-highest house in Ireland! – and I spent my childhood roaming around in such nature and beauty.”

As an only child with “a very vivid imagination”, Leane’s connection with nature ran deep in those formative days. “I always was creative as a child, always painting and drawing, and always digging things up in the garden. I wanted to be an archaeologist. I had a real love of objects that had a history and mystery to them.”

Born in Finsbury Park, Leane was schooled in Milford, Co Cork, before returning to London in his teens. He adapted fast: the voice on the phone is pure London (“I wish I had kept my Irish accent”) and in many ways the world that he now inhabits couldn’t be further from those wilds of Kerry.

After all, this is the classically trained goldsmith who, by the age of 18, was creating diamond tiaras in London’s Hatton Garden while apprenticing with English Traditional Jewellery.

In the early 1990s, he embarked on his famous collaboration with fashion’s enfant terrible, the renegade designer Alexander McQueen.

Over the next two decades, they brought some of the most provocative and iconic objets d’art to the haute couture catwalk. These ranged from a headdress of porcupine quills and earrings of stuffed pheasant claws clutching Tahitian pearls to a mouthpiece entitled Repression, a spine skeleton corset complete with aluminium tail, and the Coiled Corset that recently sold for €807,000 (over three times its estimate) at an auction of Leane’s couture archives in Sotheby’s New York.

But the older he gets, the more Leane believes that his childhood spent roaming the Kingdom gave him a connection that he has been mining ever since. “People often ask me, ‘Why is nature

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such a big part of your inspiration?’… and when I look back now, I realise I was surrounded by such beauty.”

His muse, longtime friend and fellow designer Daphne Guinness describes Leane’s instantly recognisable artistry as being “at once tenacious and bold and technically intricate”, hinging in that finely balanced paradox that he achieves “between alpha and omega, tribalism and sleek modernity… simultaneously conjuring fairy tales and science fiction”. Growing up with two wildly different homes fostered this ability of Leane’s to occupy two opposing worlds, fusing classically trained craftsmanship with fearless creative expression.

“McQueen said, ‘Shaun: you can do anything.’ He changed my life” Today, in the heart of London’s Mayfair, the Shaun Leane atelier creates exquisite bespoke pieces of fine jewellery alongside elegantly crafted collections from what has become one of Britain’s best-loved jewellery houses. But whether it’s a one-off pair of 18-karat White Gold, Amethyst, Sapphire and Diamond Deco Fringe Earrings created for a bespoke client like Carol Woolton, Jewellery Editor of British Vogue, or the quietly powerful curve of his latest Rose Thorn Collection, contained within the sleek, sculpted lines of each Shaun Leane piece is a lifetime of experimentation and several centuries of inspirational mastery.

Just as McQueen began his training in Savile Row, Leane credits his excellence of craft to the Hatton Garden training he achieved thanks to a seven-year apprenticeship from the age of 16.

This is as high-end as jewellery gets, working on commissions for royal families the world over.

“It was a very traditional, very strict, very Victorian environment,” Leane recalls. “You sat there with your head down and the clock ticking.

I was a rebellious kid but when I was sat between two masters, well, I took to it like a duck to

water. They taught me so much: they taught me detail, they taught me speed, to be innovative.”

Leane always had a hankering to create his own jewellery house, and was on course to continue in that classical fine jewellery tradition. But something else happened. Alexander McQueen happened. And that changed everything.

What began as an early-twenties, party-fuelled friendship blossomed into the most influential and rewarding relationship of Leane’s fascinating career. “We used to go out drinking and we became best of friends, but in my eyes, our worlds of work were so far apart. But he came up to see my atelier one day and to my surprise he identified with everything I was doing.”

Recognising Leane’s finely skilled talent, McQueen asked his friend to work with him on his upcoming post-college show.

“At first I said no,” Leane laughs. “I said, ‘We don’t have the funds to make diamond jewels and gold.’ And he said: ‘No, not diamonds, we’ll work in brass, aluminium, feathers, pheasant claws.’

“I was really daunted! I argued that I wouldn’t even know where to buy aluminium.

“And he said, ‘Shaun: you can do anything’.

He changed my life.”

Working with McQueen afforded Leane a period of absolute creative freedom, the permission to think outside any one tradition but draw from many, and the remit to experiment with other materials – those quills and feathers and claws – that still today inspire his sculpturalstyle goldwork.

“When I was training and working on highend pieces, I was always drawn more to the floral pieces, to fluidity, to decorative Art Nouveau with their bold use of materials.” Leane now brought that fusion of elegance, fluidity and boldness to his interpretation of the ideas that McQueen presented him with.

“That reference to nature was very much there for Lee too, from the beginning,” Leane recalls.

For one particular show, McQueen had an idea for a silver stag horn laid across a girl’s skirt. “So I came up with the idea of the tusk earrings, with this elegant, refined, simple line. They were the most difficult things we ever made, because with that simplicity you have nowhere to hide.”

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“My goal is to create beautiful objects that inspire and provoke. It should be enticing with its beauty and captivate the viewer” What he achieved in those powerful earrings was to prove an endless resource. “They sum me up as a person,” he says today. “Every piece of mine has that silhouette – and the power is in the simplicity. For me, nature has strength and fragility, it has detail, formidable structures and also a softness and vulnerability.”

A glance through Leane’s catalogue of collections reveals that refined line reappearing in every rose thorn ring or serpent’s trace bracelet, every earring modelled on a talon, quill, cat claw or cherry blossom branch.

“My goal today, as it was then, is to create beautiful objects that inspire and provoke. It should be enticing with its beauty and captivate the viewer but then when you look deep, it makes you question,” he says. “What I love about the hook earrings is they do all of those things. They make the person feel elegant and confident, they provoke a curiosity but also a note of caution. I love that contradiction – that a piece of jewellery can do all that.”

Shaun Leane’s jewellery is as much about the

wearer of each piece as it is about the beholder of its beauty. “In Hatton Garden, I created some of the most beautiful objects, but they really stood for wealth and status. The jewellery I create for myself is more about the person and her elegance.”

When designing new pieces, Leane will wear the jewellery himself to test its weight, how it makes you hold your head or walk a little differently. “It’s a bit weird with my beard,” he admits, “but I need to test how they move and feel.”

That question of how jewellery makes the wearer feel is central to his designs, which act as both armour and as empowering objects of elegance. And while he has many muses who inspire him – some valued collaborators such as Daphne Guinness, others fearless women like Wallis Simpson, who he has admired from afar – when creating his collections, Leane designs less for any specific woman than for “a feeling of a person”.

“Those hook earrings I have sold to 18-yearolds and 80-year-olds,” he says with quiet satisfaction. “They put them on and feel, ‘Oh my God, aren’t they elegant!’ They even stand up taller. It’s amazing to see.”

We suspect that his nana would be proud. And Leane’s achievements show no sign of slowing down, both within the world of jewellery and beyond its traditionally understood limits.

SHOP THE COLLECTION exclusive in Ireland to Weir & Sons

Rose gold vermeil cherry blossom earrings, €365, Weir & Sons

Silver talon hook earrings, €210, Weir & Sons

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Silver cherry blossom ring, €325, Weir & Sons

Gold vermeil arc bangle, €790, Weir & Sons

Silver and diamond crossover tusk earrings, €600, Weir & Sons

The experience of auctioning his couture archives at Sotheby’s New York proved cathartic.

Spanning works from the mid-1990s up to 2011 – the year after McQueen’s untimely death – the auction featured 46 of Leane’s bespoke works for Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Daphne Guinness, Kate Moss, Isabella Blow and Sarah Jessica Parker, many of which had previously been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert.

Most iconic – and most personal to Leane – of these covetable relics of fashion history was the Coiled Corset. “It was one of the first pieces to springboard me into being more of a sculptor than a jeweller,” he says. It was also the only piece ever signed by both Leane and McQueen, who sought him out in the height of the post-show excitement to say, “Shaun, your piece blew me away.” The next day they both signed and engraved the piece.

As well as helping to answer “the questions these objects put forward at the very beginning: Is it art? Is it fashion? Is it jewellery?”, the 2017 auction opened up the Shaun Leane house to a different clientèle, and gave him one of his proudest accolades: for his work to be described

by Sotheby’s, whose catalogues he used to collect, as “collectible antiques of the future”.

Today he is reinvigorated and ready to continue pushing the boundaries between distinctions such as jeweller, goldsmith, designer, sculptor and artist. This summer, Leane debuted in the world of architecture and public art with the opening of the 21 Young Street apartment building in Kensington, for which he designed and built an extraordinary exterior embellishment of 1,850 bronze sculpted leaves and three-dimensional branches woven across the building’s façade – the largest-scale commission in the UK by a jewellery designer.

Besides continuing to work in his atelier, designing collections and bespoke creations, Leane says he would love to exhibit in a sculpture gallery and to incorporate the world of jewellery into that work.

“Fundamentally I am a goldsmith and I am a designer. I know my material, I know metal, so I can apply my skills to any scale. But jewellery is my passion and always has been.”

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MASTER OF MATERIALS

RADO TRUE OPEN HEART PLASMA HIGH-TECH CERAMIC. METALLIC LOOK. MODERN ALCHEMY.

The new Santos de Cartier watch

Golden

Age

A design classic, the Santos de Cartier has remained true to its pioneering roots since its creation in 1904.

While its most recent imagining sets new standards in watchmaking, its beginnings are equally as compelling.

Mei Chin charts the making of a masterpiece.

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ith its rectangular face and sapphire-tinted steel sweep, the Santos de Cartier has come to embody all that is groundbreaking and iconic in watchmaking. The Roman numerals on its dial evoke the dramatically changing skyline of the era in which it was created, which included the 1889 Eiffel Tower. Its inspiration, the Brazilian-born Alberto Santos-Dumont – a pioneer, a fearless provocateur and an early 20th-century adventurer – is perhaps less familiar. Yet his life was daring and historic, encapsulating the spirit of the time. A testament to two obsessive men whose work encapsulated the spirit of their world as it hovered on an exciting cusp.

It is a story which begins in December 1903. Alberto SantosDumont was in conversation with his friend Louis Cartier. The two men were at a Christmas party in Alberto’s apartment on the Rue Washington in Paris. Alberto, who was a feted socialite of the Paris party set at the time, believed that every experience should be aerial; and so they were sitting at his table, which was suspended from the ceiling, perched on chairs that guests had to reach by clambering up ladders, sipping absinthe with a touch of water.

Alberto was most celebrated for flying his hot air balloon around the Eiffel Tower in 30 minutes, for which he had received the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize. Unfortunately, timing it with his pocket watch had almost cost him his life. Alberto’s point to Louis Cartier was that while you are trying to break a record in aeronautic history while operating a huge flying machine, it could be strategically difficult to rifle for your pocket watch.

It would be more convenient, Santos Dumont suggested, to have a timepiece that he could keep on his wrist. Something lightweight, with easily read numbers, which he could glance at. Louis made his friend the wristwatch, and to this day, Santos Dumont remains the only person to have his name attached to anything made by the House of Cartier.

People have always been fascinated with the notion of flight. More than a thousand years before da Vinci drew his flying machines, the Egyptians – who had no means of getting to the sky – were transfixed by the Egyptian god Ra. In early 20th-century Paris, aeronautics was a hobby that was both fashionable and dangerous. More than 200 men had died before Santos-designed his first hot air balloon. It was a perilous pastime.

Alberto SantosDumont Louis Cartier, along with his two brothers, had inherited the Cartier business that their grandfather had begun in 1847. His brothers Pierre and Jacques were in New York and London, cementing an international presence, but Louis remained in Paris. It has was here that Louis created the

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Cartier ethos which still exists today. He was enamoured with the Paris intellectual buzz, which was at its headiest since the Enlightenment, with mechanics, architecture, motion pictures and surrealism all creating an age of non-stop, infectious motion. It was fitting that of the three brothers, Louis Cartier was the most dedicated to creating clocks and watches.

Crucially, Louis Cartier also loved flight. He first met the aeronaut Alberto Santos-Dumont at the Aero Club de France.

He had become Paris’s dandy and darling; rings on his fingers, his black hair slicked back in a coif. The son of Brazilian coffee plantation owners, Alberto had come to Paris when he was eighteen.

They met in 1891, two years after Gustave Eiffel had constructed his tower of steel; its Deco aesthetic and all it represented would become imprinted into the Santos de Cartier watch face where it remains to this day. At the time, a decade before the Hindenburg Zeppelin, everyone in the world was mesmerised by SantosDumont and his magnificent flying machines that soared along the Paris horizon. Alberto was one of the turn-of-the-century’s most famous figures, a household name. The London Times said that his was a name never to be forgotten. When a singer at the Met sang Lucia di Lammermoor in 1908, the title role notorious for its high soprano, The New York Times praised her “flute-like, Santos-Dumont notes”.

Alberto was also an aristocrat, who, before he ascended in one of his daredevil flights, ordered lunch from the Parisian establishment Maxim’s. There was a famous story about his first encounter with a hot air balloon. Nineteen years old, newly arrived in Paris, he considered the price (120,000 francs), balked and bought himself a Peugeot car instead.

He would eventually get his balloon ride but three years would pass (after he had bought a motorbike) before he became enthralled by an account of a failed balloon expedition to the North Pole and asked the engineers who were involved to build him one.

Alberto harboured ambitions to go head-to-head with the American Wright brothers to create the first viable flying machine. They succeeded in 1903, the same year Alberto approached Louis Cartier. It was also the year in which Alberto trained a woman to fly.

Aida de Acosta was the dazzling nineteen-year-old debutante daughter of a wealthy Cuban-American family. After three lessons, she powered his precious No. 9 aircraft from Paris to the Château de Bagatelle and back again, while he followed in a bicycle, shouting advice.

Few people knew about her flight. Aida’s family hushed up the incident, because they did not want it to damage her marriage prospects. But as she clambered out of the basket of No. 9, Alberto declared, “Mademoiselle! You are the first female pilot in the world!”

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Santos-Dumont with one of his early flying machines

Before the Santos de Cartier watch, the wristwatch was seen as an adornment for women. Queen Elizabeth I famously had one; but they were decorative objets and not meant to be anything of real weight.

The male wristwatch had enjoyed brief popularity for a period in the late 19th century, during wars like the Franco-Russian, Boer and Sudan. Army commanders like Santos-Dumont recognised the danger of trying to fumble for your pocket watch while riding a horse through the mud with people firing bullets at you. However, these first wristwatches for men were essentially a pocket watch attached to a leather strap. They were bred out of necessity, and not a thing to covet in and of itself.

Alberto Santos-Dumont, who stood at 5’4” and 100 pounds, was a slight man who wore a ruby stick pin in his cravat. Yet Alberto had also crashed into various Paris buildings, and every time he went into one of his machines, he risked exploding into flames. In short, he was the perfect intersection of the feminine (a word used by many papers of the time to describe him), the flamboyant and the dangerous.

The watch that Louis Cartier designed for his friend in 1904 was explicitly a man’s watch. The watch, which eventually debuted on the market in 1911, had its practical aspects. There were screws exposed around the watch face, there to enhance its relationship

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with the world of mechanics, science and engineering. Crafted of gold and leather, the watch was a work of beauty that fit the man who gave it its name, and for whom money was no object – an easily worn object to be treasured, with its leather strap and dial attached to a sapphire.

Men like Santos-Dumont believed that science and exploration should be dictated by curiosity alone. Here was a watch that expressed these urges and was therefore distinct from the wristwatches worn in the Boer trenches. This was an emblem of intellect and also one of fashion.

The Santos de Cartier was not officially updated until 1978, by which time both Louis Cartier and Santos-Dumont had passed away. There had been small changes: a Bakelite version had been issued in the 1920s, and during the two World Wars the pilot watches were round-faced, as opposed to the square that Cartier had proposed. And yet throughout those wars, the Santos de Cartier had endured. During the 1930s and 1940s, it was taken up by a new generation of devotees, including actors Cary Grant and Clark Gable.

By the late 1970s, times had dramatically changed. The air race that had dominated Cartier and Santos-Dumont’s lives had become the Space Race. With it came a new aesthetic, and so the Santos de Cartier’s leather strap was replaced by a bracelet studded with screws, the weight of which imbued the wearer with a sense of gravity, of strength.

The iconic Art Deco face prevailed unaltered. On the Roman numeral X of the watch was etched ‘Cartier’, in letters too fine to be detected by most human eyes. The hands were still steel, heated to the highest temperature to achieve that signature cobalt hue. Cartier

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also released an entry-level version of the watch, making it one of the first jewellery houses to reach out to a new clientèle.

Every other luxury watch up to this time was still made of precious metals, but in 1978 there was a Santos de Cartier watch that was made of steel. A beautiful piece, it retained all the hallmarks of the original, reimagined in an updated, modernised form.

Most importantly, 1978 hailed a new generation of pioneering, aeronautic women, like the astronaut Sally Ride. There were women all over the skies now, a feat that Santos-Dumont helped engender when Aida de Acosta finished her flight in his machine with her full skirts and her hat topped with flowers. Although the Santos de Cartier watch had originally been intended for men, in 1978 the Santos de Cartier became unisex and, while still luxurious, more readily attainable for all bold and curious men and women from all walks of life.

Which brings us to 2018. The newly imagined Santos watch has been upgraded to its most refined iteration yet, with new design elements and technology that have renewed it for another generation. Remodelled for extra comfort, the square shape remains unchanged. There are still eight screws on the bezel too, a miniature tribute to the proliferation of mechanical steel structures associated with a golden age of urban architecture from where its famous design first came.

The design of the bezel has been updated, increasing the synergy between the lines of the case and the strap, and Above: The new accentuating the natural dynamics inherent in its original Santos de Cartier groundbreaking architecture. large model in steel, €6,800 The watch has been precisely weighted and measured to Below: In yellow maximise its comfort on the wrist while a new innovative strap is gold and steel, now available in steel, gold, calfskin or alligator skin, all of which €10,300, Weir & Sons

are interchangeable thanks to Cartier’s latest creation, the Cartier QuickSwitch system. The invisible mechanism blends into the structure of the case seamlessly. All the wearer has to do is press it to release the strap before attaching a new one.

Added to this is the SmartLink self-fitting technology which adjusts the length of the metal bracelet to the nearest link without the use of a tool. At the touch of a button located on each SmartLink, the attachment bar is unlatched and one of the brushed metal links with screws can be added or removed.

The calibre 1847 MC features anti-magnetic nickel phosphorus components in the escapement and movement mechanisms, as well as a shield made from a paramagnetic alloy. These make the calibre effectively resistant to the powerful magnetic fields which watches can encounter on a daily basis, the kind of scientific invention you imagine Santos-Dumont would have surely appreciated were he alive today.

Its new screw-down assembly design also means that the latest Santos de Cartier is water-resistant up to 100 metres yet still retains its slimness and dexterity.

There is a beauty in how the watch that bears the Santos name both reflects modern technology and remains the same. The face, with its Eiffel Tower-like Roman numerals, for instance, the blued hands and the screws. In the end the face of the Santos de Cartier watch reflects the marvellous exuberance of the two men – Alberto Santos-Dumont and Louis Cartier – who brought it into this world. They both loved change, curiosity and flight. And when you wear it, you can gaze into its face and remember them and their courage, and become part of their lasting legacy.

CARTIER AND SANTOS IN TIME 1847 Louis-François Cartier takes over the jewellery business from his mentor and employer, Adolphe Picard, and the House of Cartier is born.

1873 Birth of Alberto Santos-Dumont in a coffee plantation in Brazil.

1875 Birth of Louis Cartier, grandson of Louis-François.

1888 The first mention of a wristwatch in House of Cartier accounts, but it is for ladies.

1889 The Eiffel Tower is completed.

It is said that the Roman numerals on the Santos de Cartier watch and also

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the screws on the watch face evoke this structure.

1899 Louis Cartier moves the headquarters to the early modernist centre of Rue de la Paix. Alberto Santos-Dumont wins the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize for flying his balloon from Saint-Cloud to the Eiffel Tower in 30 minutes.

1903–1905 Santos-Dumont supervises the first flight by a woman, Aida de Acosta.

1904 Cartier designs a wristwatch for his friend Santos-Dumont, the first

purpose-designed wristwatch and also the first original pilot watch.

1911 Cartier releases the Santos watch to the market.

1924 Cartier commissions a Santos watch to be made in black Bakelite, the first non-precious metal the Cartier house has used for a watch.

1978 The Santos watch is re-released as Santos de Cartier, with a metal bracelet replacing the leather one and a steel version. Although it remains a man’s watch, women begin sporting the Santos de Cartier, an emblem of a

changing age.

1978–2004 Celebrities who sport the Santos de Cartier include Michael Douglas and Michelle Rodriguez.

2004 Release of the Santos 100 XXL, a chunkier model of the original Santos.

2018 The new Santos de Cartier is launched. Heavier than the 1978 version and with a bracelet that can be exchanged for a leather or alligator strap, it is similar to what was worn

by Alberto Santos-Dumont over 110 years ago.

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A life less

ordinary

At Weir & Sons, we believe beautiful accessories are made to be loved, and to be worn. Put a little magic into the mundane with the finest pieces from our watch and jewellery collections.

Photography TREVOR HART Art Direction ELEANOR HARPUR

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Clockwise from top left: Happy Hearts bangle, €2,595; Happy Sport watch, €20,400, both Chopard; Treillage bangle, €4,125, Fabergé; Bvlgari Bvlgari bangle, €4,950, Bvlgari; Happy Hearts bangle, €2,595, Chopard; 18k white gold diamond and amethyst ring, €1,725; 18k white gold diamond and amethyst ring, €2,455; 18k gold diamond and tourmaline ring, €3,985, all Weir Collection

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Clockwise from top: Vendome Flex’it necklace, €7,140, FOPE; 4 square necklace, €9,160, Roberto Coin; 18k rose gold morganite ring, €2,595, Weir Collection; Chopardissmo 18k gold ring, €2,400, Chopard; Délices de Cartier watch, €18,200, Cartier; Flex’it bracelet, €2,650, FOPE 36 WEIR & SONS

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FALLING IN LOVE, Teddy

wears, clockwise from bottom left: Carrera Heuer-02T Tourbillon watch €14,300, TAG Heuer; wedding band, €995; 9k white gold palladium wedding band, €785, both Weir Collection; Clifton watch, €4,100, Baume & Mercier, Luna wears, clockwise from bottom left: Symphony diamond bangle, €4,320; 18k rose gold and diamond Symphony bangle, €2,350; 18k gold Symphony bangle, €4,225, all Roberto Coin; Imperial watch, €12,850, Chopard; B.zero1 ring, €4,700, Bvlgari; Fusion ring, €3,865, Georg Jensen; rose gold and white ceramic B.zero1 ring, €1,350; Zaha Hadid B.zero1 Design Legend ring, €2,295; 18k white gold B.zero1 ring, €2,080; yellow gold B.zero1 ring, €1,450; rose gold and black ceramic B.zero1 ring, €1,790; rose gold and green marble B.zero1 ring, €1,450, all Bvlgari; Equestrian watch, €2,900, Longines; 18k white gold and diamond Symphony bangle, €2,660; 18k gold Symphony bangle, €2,350, both Roberto Coin; B Zero bangle, €5,500, Bvlgari

Clockwise from top: Shaving set, €1,123, Bernard Richards; 9k rose gold wedding band, €245, Weir Collection; 9k rose gold court wedding band, €435, Weir Collection; Complications 5961R-010 watch, €124,450, Patek Philippe WEIR.IE

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Clockwise from top: 18k rose gold diamond and Tibetanite necklace, €23,160, Weir Collection; Totally Hooked 18k gold long necklace, €910, Moi by Weir & Sons; 18k rose gold Treillage bracelet and charm, €5,000, Fabergé; Elite Moonphase watch, €20,500, Zenith; 18k rose gold Treillage bangle, €3,750, Fabergé; 18k gold ruby and diamond ring, €7,230; 18k rose gold oval rubellite ring, €8,200, both Weir Collection

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Clockwise from top left: Planet Ocean watch, €10,660, Omega; B.zero1 ring, €2,000; B.zero1 ring, €1,100, both Bvlgari

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Clockwise from top right:18k gold Flex’it bracelet, €4,450; 18k gold Flex’it bracelet, €2,195; 18k gold Narciso bracelet, €2,060, all FOPE; 1954 silver cake stand, €1,825; 18k white gold diamond and sapphire flower ring, €4,435; platinum sapphire and diamond ring, €7,620; 18k white gold diamond and sapphire ring, €2,220; 18k white gold diamond and sapphire ring, €1,735, all Weir Collection; Elite ultra thin watch, €7,700, Zenith

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Clockwise from top: Egg cup and spoon, €315; 1780s silver tray, €6,700, both Weir Collection; yellow rectangle cufflinks, €190, Gemmoro; Santos de Cartier watch, €6,925, Cartier; 9k white gold ring, €565, Weir Collection WEIR.IE

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Clockwise from top left: Leather Celtic bracelet, €53, Solvar; Forma knife, €55, Georg Jensen; palladium classic court wedding band, €605; 2 bar rose gold and white gold diamond wedding band, €1,145, both Weir Collection; Big Bang Black Magic watch, €15,500, Hublot; 1920s silver trophy cup, €1,150, Chester Silver

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Clockwise from top right: 1898 silver salt and pepper set, €265; platinum ring, €1,350, both Weir Collection; Datejust 41 watch, €10,750, Rolex; lapis cufflinks, €147; Irish silver gilt plate, €1,120, both Weir Collection

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Photography Trevor Hart Assisted by Marcus Cassidy Styling and Art Direction Eleanor Harpur Hand models Caoimhe O'Dwyer & Michael Hannon at AR Agency Wardrobe Brown Thomas

Clockwise from top right: 1930s silver dressing table hand mirror, €385; platinum three-stone 3.02ct diamond ring, €30,600; platinum halo 0.91ct diamond ring, €8,620; platinum 0.75ct diamond line band, €3,730, all Weir Collection; Reine de Naples watch, €35,900, Breguet; Flex’it bracelet, €12,875, FOPE; 18k white gold and diamond necklace, €21,460; platinum princess cut 3.54ct diamond ring, €39,690; platinum 1.00ct diamond line band, €3,750; platinum 3.50ct solitaire diamond ring, €67,930, all Weir Collection

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La

Dolce Vita For four generations, FOPE has created masterful jewellery. Jillian Bolger explains why its Solo MiaLuce range is the essence of all that makes this Italian brand great.

T

here’s nothing average about a piece of FOPE jewellery. No intricacy is spared, no detail overlooked. FOPE’s signature look is bold and opulent, luxurious and distinctive – and unmistakably Italian. Like all of Italy’s great fashion stories, this one too begins with a family and a brilliant idea.

Umberto Cazzola opened his first goldsmith workshop in 1929 in Vicenza, close to Venice in northern Italy. A perfectionist and an innovator, he taught his son, Odino, how to be a master

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craftsman and together the Cazzolas put their skills to good use, handcrafting watch straps from gold and other metals, and supplying them to the biggest watchmakers in neighbouring Switzerland.

Today the FOPE brand (FOPE stands for ‘factory gold for export’ in Italian) is internationally recognised for its elegant statement jewellery, especially its cutting-edge Flex’it collection, but this clever range of patented flexible 18-karat gold jewellery would never have happened without the brand’s watch strap heritage.

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The Solo MiaLuce multi-strand gold rope lariat made of 18-karat yellow, white and rose gold with diamond pavé in white gold, €13,475, Weir & Sons A piece of FOPE jewellery being created in the factory in Vicenza

When the third generation of Cazzolas joined the family firm, FOPE turned its focus towards goldsmithing, creating its own standalone gold jewellery collections. Researching the flexibility system that was used on its watch straps, the jewellers applied it to bracelets, developing tiny gold springs with the same mechanical characteristics as stainless-steel springs. The result? A jewellery and engineering masterpiece that was to become the centrepiece of the FOPE collection.

The innovative mesh chain collection saw the creation of a world first: a flexible clasp-free gold bracelet crafted entirely from 18-karat gold, with minuscule gold springs hidden between each link. Perhaps its greatest triumph though was how it looked magnificent and seamless, and the family could complete the whole process, including all the goldsmithing, in-house in Vicenza.

Unique and original, the mesh collection is as clever as it is beautiful. It brought FOPE success in Italy and, later, around the world, counting notable celebrities and top female pro golfers amongst its fans. While it remains the signature collection of the brand, there’s plenty more from this Italian jeweller to seduce gold lovers.

The full FOPE collection comprises dazzling necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings in 18-karat yellow, white or rose gold. Many pieces are combined with the finest diamonds for added luxury, but FOPE’s solid gold pieces are equally opulent, their block colour exuding a chic, everyday glamour that’s made the brand so beloved.

For something extra special, MiaLuce is a stunning multistrand collection that builds on the brand’s Italian heritage, combining sheer opulence with contemporary cool. The ultimate statement pieces, the MiaLuce collection marries three precious metals, each dazzling in colour, offering complete wearability and an investment piece that will always suit your favourite outfit, no matter what’s in season.

The distinctive bracelet combines the smoothest link strands of yellow, white and rose gold that sit smartly alongside each other. Featuring FOPE’s patented technology, the Flex’it bracelet is clasp-free, allowing the delicate links of the chain to mould effortlessly around your wrist for a snug

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The Solo MiaLuce multi-strand flexible bracelet made entirely of 18-karat yellow, white and rose gold with diamond pavé in white gold, €12,875, Weir & Sons

and comfortable fi fit, t, while never revealing the tiny 18-karat gold springs hidden inside.

For a fi final nal fl flourish ourish of luxury, the bands are kept together by a full fi five-row ve-row twist of gorgeous white diamond pavé in white gold, which wraps around the golden chains and dazzles in the light.

Stylish and striking, it’s also prized for its comfort on the wrist.

FOPE’s classic 18-karat rose gold rope lariat, also from the MiaLuce collection, is a long, ribbon-like necklace that entwines at a full diamond pavé-set central twist and drops into three rose, white and yellow gold tasselled ends, each fi finished nished with diamond-set rondel. Undeniably lavish, it has the kind of cool, contemporary styling that’s perfectly balanced.

Balance is key to FOPE’s appeal, and while each piece from each collection is bold and dramatic, there’s nothing brash or over-the-top about these considered collections. The perfect embodiment of craftsmanship and high fashion, they stand out at fi first rst sight for all the right reasons.

Building on a brand that’s synonymous with elegance, craftsmanship and originality, the family continues to invest in cutting-edge technology to ensure FOPE stands as one of Italy’s edgiest jewellery houses today. Production and administration are still based in a single building in Vicenza, not far from the original premises. This is where FOPE started out and from where it still moves proudly forwards, blending the skill of expert goldsmiths with the precision of leading-edge technologies.

In its quest for excellence, FOPE is also a proud holder of RCJ certification. The Responsible Jewellery Council is an international not-for-profit standards and certification organisation with more than 500 member companies and it covers the whole jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail.

FOPE has been a member since 2013 and received its first certification in 2014. Founded on excellence in 1929, it’s fair to assume that FOPE’s founding father Umberto Cazzola would applaud this ethical direction for the luxury company, ninety years after he set out goldsmithing in Vicenza.

Today this international jewellery brand is led by the fourth generation of Cazzolas, who have helped evolve the jeweller’s distinctive aesthetics while respecting its impeccable heritage. While FOPE’s collections have evolved through the decades, the chic Italian house has always remained true to its founders’ impeccable core values: working with the finest materials, using the most talented individuals, constantly innovating and, most importantly, delivering incredible jewellery that’s unmistakably Italian in style.

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Time makes its mark.

A fact we celebrate in this revival of an iconic Oris watch from 1965.

A watch born of our long diving heritage, with a bronze bezel ring that will become more beautiful with age.

Divers Sixty-Five

Dream

CATCHER

From restoring and repairing 100-year-old jewels to creating that perfect, everlasting engagement ring, the jewellery workshop is where much of the magic at Weir & Sons happens. Here, newly appointed jewellery workshop manager Andrew Meehan tells Jessie Collins why passion and a personal touch always guide what they do.

Photography KYLE TUNNEY

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T

here is something deeply fortuitous about how Andrew Meehan found himself heading up the jewellery workshop at Weir & Sons. As a young apprentice goldsmith, he used to walk up Grafton Street and press his face into the glass of the Weir & Sons windows, admiring the beautiful craftsmanship within. ‘One day’, he would think to himself, ‘I will work there’. And so, a few decades later and having acquired an extraordinary amount of skill and knowledge, Andrew’s dream was realised.

This year saw Meehan become the jewellery workshop manager at Weir & Sons, ushering in a new era at the historic century-old workshop.

Above the hustle and bustle of the store, in the midst of antique cabinets and drawers filled with timeless tools of the trade, there now sits state-of-the-art machinery as the finest materials become hewn into adornments that will last generations. It is here that Meehan fashions masterpieces out of metal, or brings vintage treasures back to life. It was always meant to be, he says. “I suppose from a very early age, I knew whatever I’d do would involve working with my hands.” As a cycling enthusiast from boyhood, a job delivering packages for Fields jewellers combined two loves and led to an apprenticeship in the workshop. He immediately knew this was for him.

Taken under the wing of one of the senior goldsmiths there, he quickly learned that being good largely came down to consistency and attention to detail. Above all though, it taught him about the core principles of producing fine work. “A lot of it boils down to personal pride.

You have to want to do the best,” he says. Starting out by making pieces of souvenir jewellery for export to the US market (“There’s nothing I don’t know about Claddagh rings,” he says), being one of five silver and goldsmiths producing weekly batches of 600 pieces was an early test of skill. “When you are making large volumes from scratch, you have to remember that the customer is only buying one, so each one has to be perfect.

So it gives you that focus.”

As time went on the challenges grew, with new metals such as white gold, rose gold and platinum becoming more commonplace, as well as the introduction of cut stones and new

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settings. He began to carve out a niche as an expert maker and restorer, talents that at Weir & Sons – with its unique offering of bespoke jewellery, especially engagement rings and wedding bands – have been given full rein.

Over the years styles have changed, says Meehan, but the responsibility of creating something that is to last at least one lifetime has remained the same. “There’s nothing else in life that you wear every single day. Everything is so disposable now. Yet the first thing that people put on are their engagement rings and their wedding rings.” The demanding nature of modern life has meant jewellery has to be even more durable too. “Everyone is so busy now, so the rings have to be able to take that. There is an awful lot of responsibility on our part. The jewellery industry is based on sentimentality.

That’s the key thing. Whenever there’s a significant milestone, it is genuinely a piece of jewellery to commemorate that.”

Apart from making and creating the perfect ring, a good deal of what they do in the workshop is repairing and resetting where necessary. No day is ever the same, from vintage restoration to brand-new rings needing to be sized or altered. “We got a ring in the other day,” recalls Meehan. “It was from 1910. The customer wanted it repaired and unfortunately it was just too far gone. But what we offered to do was to remake it in exactly the same way, take the stones out and remount them, and it would be like the day it was bought.” Which is what he did.

It is now reborn for generations to come. “And please God,” he smiles, “it’ll last for another 100 years.”

He cites the goldsmith Ron

Andrew Meehan at work in the Weir & Sons jewellery workshop

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#ThisIsYourTime

TISSOT seastar 1000 AUTOMATIC. TISSOTRESISTANCE chrono xl.

WATER UP TO 30 BAR (300 M / CASE. 1000 FT).

A 45MM

TISSOT, INNOVATORS BY TRADITION

Top and below: Cleaning and repairing in the jewellery workshop Far right: Paul Hartigan, goldsmith at Weir & Sons

Elliott as a real hero in terms of his craft. “He has the best pair of hands I’ve ever seen. You talk to anybody in the trade, they all say the same thing.

He’s seventy. The knowledge he has is second to none.” Russell Lord (owner of Lord of London jewellery) is someone he rates highly also.

“Next to Ron, he would be the best goldsmith I’ve ever seen. You’re proud to call these people your friends. And you only hope one day that you will be classed as good.”

If he has any advice, it is to treat your jewellery with respect. The key word, he says, is ‘precious’.

“You wouldn’t do the gardening in your wedding dress. So it’s the same when it comes to jewellery.

Treat it accordingly.” Bringing vintage pieces back to life is something that gives a particular satisfaction though. “It’s a wonderful feeling, because whether it is someone’s grandparents or their great-grandparents, they still walked into a jewellers one day as a young couple with the same hopes, dreams, aspirations. They were setting off on their journey. And it could be left to a mother who has left it to a daughter, and the cycle is starting all over again. The names may be different, but the journey is the same.

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AT YOUR SERVICE “That’s why this is an industry that caters for sentimentality,” he continues. “It’s very precious to people.” It’s the gift that keeps on giving for Meehan too, that opportunity to make someone’s dream come true. “Everybody has a picture in their head of what their perfect engagement ring is. It’s our job to try and make that for them, so when they walk out the door, for the rest of their days when they look at their finger, they’re still in love with the band. It is a big ask, but it’s what we do.”

At Weir & Sons, as well as creating our own bespoke pieces and designing the perfect ring for you, we carry a wide selection of engagement and wedding rings with diamonds ranging from D in colour and flawless clarity. We also provide a complete jewellery reparation service with a dedicated team of goldsmiths delivering expert jewellery repairs, silver repairs, engraving, polishing and pearl restringing as well as jewellery and antique silver valuations.

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RAF LOGOS ARE TRADE MARKS OF THE UK SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE AND USED UNDER LICENCE.

Awesome Performance

RED ARROWS

LIMITED EDITION S K Y H A W K A •T As unique and distinctive as the Red Arrows themselves – this new Limited Edition Eco-Drive Skyhawk A•T timepiece features radio-controlled atomic clock synchronisation for superior accuracy, world time in 43 cities, 2 alarms and 1/100th second chronograph.

An engraved Red Arrows Diamond Nine formation Limited Edition design features on the caseback.

Steve McQueen in the 1971 film, Le Mans

TRACK & TIME For many, the TAG Heuer Monaco represents the epitome of cool in watchmaking. Now, a new collaborative special edition has made it even cooler. Ross Golden-Bannon charts the making of a perfect partnership.

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hen you slip the TAG Heuer Monaco onto your wrist, the first thing you’ll notice is how gorgeous it is. The distinctive square face speaks of selfassured confidence of both the creator and the wearer. Even in 1969, when the watch was first launched, this new look was a radical challenge to the traditional aesthetics of the time. Those looks were matched by unrivalled technological advancement, as it became the first square-faced water-resistant watch on the market.

The next thing you’ll notice is how such an impressively sized watch wears so lightly, especially given its array of precision functionality. The date window sits at six o’clock; flanked on each side are the chronographs, 30 seconds at nine o’clock and 60 seconds at three o’clock, and the watch is water-resistant to 100 metres.

A new limited-edition piece, created in collaboration with Gulf Oil International to mark its new partnership with TAG Heuer, has taken all of those hallmarks and reimagined them to create the TAG Heuer Gulf Monaco. This is built on a racing and watchmaking pedigree that would be hard to beat.

The TAG Heuer Monaco was originally created to honour the Monaco Grand Prix in 1969. As well as being the first first square-faced watch that was water-resistant, it boasted the first first automatic winding mechanism, signified signified by the placement of the crown on the left. With its straight lines, metallic blue dial and domed Plexiglas crystal face, it was not long before it gained iconic status.

The 1971 film Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen, told the story of the famed French car race over twenty-four hours and featured footage of the race from the previous year. This attention to detail was mirrored by McQueen’s desire to accurately reflect reflect his racing driver role so he sought the help of his friend, the Swiss racing driver Joseph Siffert. As Siffert was a spokesman for both TAG Heuer and Gulf Oil, his racing suit sported the Gulf Oil logo as well as the words ‘Chronograph Heuer’.

McQueen asked to borrow the suit and then insisted on wearing the Heuer Monaco 1133 to complete the look. The association with the Hollywood legend was born and the Heuer Monaco 1133 gained the nickname the ‘McQueen Monaco’.

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The TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf 2018 Special Edition, €5,250, Weir & Sons

Although McQueen passed away in 1980, his name became indelibly linked with the iconic watch. Film stills from Le Mans were used in advertising campaigns featuring the legendary star wearing his TAG Heuer Monaco watch.

Countless kids’ bedroom walls featured posters of their hero Hollywood star and his iconic Monaco watch. In 2001, a TV advert used CGI technology to pit McQueen against the McLaren Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton, using footage from the Le Mans movie. McQueen loses to Hamilton, offering him the Monaco as a prize, but Hamilton, sporting his own TAG Heuer Monaco LS, tells him he can keep the watch as he’s living in the future now.

By 1974, the world economy had undergone a radical change, putting pressure on the Swiss franc and driving up costs and pricing. The market of style trailblazers who previously demanded the distinctive square watch suddenly contracted. Yet the 4,000 or 4,500 Monaco watches produced between 1969 and 1974 quickly became covetable collectors’ items. The final watch of this iteration became a legend all of its own.

The black TAG Heuer Monaco became known as the Dark Lord. According to Jack Heuer, great-grandson to TAG Heuer’s founder, some 100 or 200 may still exist. An apocryphal tale suggests that Jack Heuer was inspired to create the black Heuer Monaco after spotting the King of Spain wearing a black-coated watch. In the 2000s, the famed watch aficionado aficionado Jonathan Scatchard, having twice failed to purchase the TAG Heuer Monaco Dark Lord, contributed to the design of a tribute watch created by Bamford Vintage Heuer and approved by TAG Heuer Monaco.

By 1998, the unique look of the TAG Heuer Monaco was in its ascendency again and the model was reissued as a limited edition of 5,000 watches.

This celebration of TAG Heuer’s classic heritage was an immediate success and new variations were launched. By 2004, the creative evolution of design and technology had earned the TAG Heuer Monaco an enviable position as a leader in innovation.

The 2004 Baselworld trade show saw another first first with the Monaco V4 prototype featuring ball bearings and

“Countless kids’ bedroom walls featured posters of their hero Hollywood star and his famous Monaco watch” WEIR.IE

Clockwise from left: Zytek 07S Gulf TAG Heuer racing car; celebrating a win at Le Mans, 1968; the new TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf; the Mirage M1 racing car

belt drives instead of traditional wheels and pinions. Inspired by the car engine and designed by Jean-François Ruchonnet along with the renowned watchmaker Philippe Dufour, it was refined over five years. In 2009, marking the 150th anniversary of the foundation of Heuer, 150 platinum TAG Heuer Monaco V4 watches were launched.

Then, in March of 2018, a new partnership was forged between TAG Heuer and Gulf Oil International. In reality it was the continuation of an old friendship, celebrated with the launch of the TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf 2018. The specialedition colours reflect this iconic partnership – the original petroleum blue dial and two white counters contrasting

with an asymmetrical light blue and orange stripe, easily recognisable as Gulf ’s distinctive racing colours, as well as being a classic colour contrast. This is followed through in the petroleum blue calfskin strap topstitched in orange. The open-case or skeleton back reveals the mechanical artistry of the watch’s flawlessly calibrated inner workings.

The square-faced watch has lost none of its iconic styling from its launch forty-nine years ago. Fads, after all, come and go – style, however, endures. The TAG Heuer Monaco Gulf represents a maturation of its self-image, a recognition that a watch is one of just a few wearable items you can still invest in. The Monaco Gulf ’s bold European sizing is a world away from the daintier men’s watches of old and it makes an unambiguous statement about a man who eschews the fickleness of fad for the longevity of style.

CLASSIC IN THE MAKING THE TAG HEUER MONACO TIMELINE 1969 – BIRTH OF AN ICON The ‘Heuer Monaco’ is launched simultaneously in Geneva and New York on 3 March, 1969. It is a historic first from Switzerland with its unique square face, waterresistance and automatic rewind.

The straight angles and distinctive blue dial, protected by a domed Plexiglass face, are an instant hit.

In another challenge to tradition, the crown is placed on the left, an indicator that the watch is wound automatically.

1971 – THE ‘MCQUEEN MONACO’

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Steve McQueen insists on wearing the Heuer Monaco throughout the filming of Le Mans. Told over twenty-four hours, McQueen plays the lead role in the story of the world’s oldest sports car race, in the town of Le Mans in France.

Few images sum up the soul of the Heuer Monaco better than that of Steve McQueen behind the wheel of the famed Gulf-Porsche 917K with the distinctive square-faced watch on his wrist.

1974 – THE DARK LORD TAG Heuer creates a small run of a black PVD-coated Heuer Monaco

watches, a model which is never included in catalogues. The striking looks of the black version earn it the nickname 'The Dark Lord'. Only 100 or 200 are ever made, making it rare, covetable and collectable. One sells in Geneva in 2016 for 62,500 Swiss francs, roughly €55,000.

1998–2003 THE RENAISSANCE A renaissance of interest in Steve McQueen results in the TAG Heuer Monaco being reissued with a new design in 1998. It is upgraded and reintroduced again with an entirely new mechanism in 2003.

2004–2009 NEW INNOVATIONS The 2004 Baselworld trade show sees the launch of the TAG Heuer Monaco V4 concept watch.

Inspired by the inner workings of a car engine, it is another world first with belt drives, linear mass and ball bearings instead of traditional wheels and pinions.

2018 – THE GULF IS BORN In March 2018, TAG Heuer and Gulf Oil International announce a global partnership which includes the TAG Heuer Monaco Calibre 11 Gulf Special Edition.

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#KINGDOMSBYTS

When Stars

Align

Under its new creative director, Gucci is experiencing a renaissance that is taking the fashion world by storm. Its latest campaign is just one sign of the exciting future ahead of it, writes Ruth O’Connor.

Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren, now eighty-eight, stars in Gucci's latest campaign

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“If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then it’s safe to say that everyone wants to be a Gucci girl”

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enowned for creating beautiful and desirable fashion, timepieces and jewellery, Gucci is one of the world’s most iconic and recognisable names – and one which is readily associated with design-led craftsmanship worth investing, partying and luxuriating in.

A longtime favourite with the jet set, since the appointment of Alessandro Michele as creative director in 2015, the Gucci brand has become one of the defining design houses of our era – one which sets the fashion agenda globally and which is adored by aesthetes, collectors, fashionistas and cultural heavyweights alike. If you don’t already own a piece of Gucci jewellery or a Gucci watch, the question is – why not?

Alessandro Michele worked for the company for many years before taking the helm as creative director. He is passionate about the brand and the business. And under his guidance, Gucci has become known not just for its unique aesthetic, but also for the creativity of the company’s advertising campaigns.

In parallel with Michele’s rise as a groundbreaking leader, the past three or so years have also seen an increasing trend towards

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In the new campaign, Hedren plays a mysterious fortune teller visited by young strangers as she practises the art of palmistry and crystal ball reading greater age diversity in advertising. This cultural shift has not been lost on Gucci, which revealed iconic Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren as the new face of Gucci timepieces and jewellery earlier this year.

The star of such iconic films as The Birds and Marnie, Nathalie Kay “Tippi” Hedren, aged eighty-eight, follows in the glamorous footsteps of her granddaughter, Fifty Shades of Grey actress (and daughter of Melanie Griffith) Dakota Johnson, who has previously starred in campaigns for Gucci’s Bloom fragrance – Michele’s first fragrance for the house.

Prior to her acting career, Tippi Hedren worked as a fashion model during the 1950s.

Signed to the Eileen Ford Agency, Hedren appeared on the covers of magazines such as Life and Glamour, so it’s no surprise that her turn in Gucci’s new film and corresponding photo campaign is an arresting one.

“I see something shining, glimmering like gold,” says the iconic actress as she raises her eyes from her crystal ball in the opening scene.

Outside, neon signs declaring the words ‘Palm’ and ‘Tarot’ glow, while heavy Los Angeles traffic snakes on by. The scene is set, the lamps are low and candles burn down as we are led into the fascinating, mysterious and opulent world of Gucci magic.

Four curious young clients, played by models Victoria Schons, Emily Unkles, Tom Atton Moore and Tex Santos-Shaw, and dressed luxuriously in Gucci (what else?), await their fateful readings in the vicinity of a cornucopia of curios and (in Michele’s characteristic blend of the normal and the extraordinary) a treadmill – this is LA after all.

We spot glimpses of the brand’s watches and jewellery – try the Gucci G-Frame red and green wrap strap watch (€750) and the Gucci G-Timeless bee tan watch (€750) or the sterling silver Boule bracelet with Gucci logo detailing (€230) and the Gucci Marina bracelet in 18-karat gold (€2,840) to attain similar stylish insouciance.

The curtains are drawn back by two of the young female customers and we see Hedren ensconced as a Gucci-dressed, glamorous, if

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slightly aloof, fortune teller employing a crystal ball and palmistry as her methods.

The room she sits in is draped luxuriously with opulent fabrics and replete with flickering candles, gold chairs and fringed tablecloths.

Hedren’s fingers are coiled about with snake-like rings, while those of her young clients are adorned with the house’s trademark Interlocking G signet rings and lion-head knuckle dusters. Her young questioner passes over an opulent jewelled ring and suddenly – pop! – the magic happens. “All of your dreams will come true,” intones Hedren and the viewer is left believing that, in the company of Gucci, this may very well be the case.

For a similar magical impact, the Gucci Icon Stardust ring in 18-karat yellow gold and diamonds (€1,290), the Gucci Horsebit cocktail ring in 18-karat white gold with amethyst and diamonds (€4,510) or the Gucci Love Britt signet ring in sterling silver (€165) are standout pieces. Wear them individually or wear them all at once – more is definitely more when it comes to the Gucci aesthetic.

Look around you and you’ll see the Gucci effect, in every fashion editorial and every highstreet store. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then it’s safe to say that everyone wants to be a Gucci girl. In the Lyst quarterly index of fashion’s hottest brands and products, Alessandro Michele’s “blockbuster brand” took the numberone spot in the second quarter of this year, ahead of Balenciaga, Givenchy and Dolce & Gabbana as well as other contemporary movers and shakers such as Off-White and Vetements.

Gucci-branded items also top the polls in both women’s and men’s accessories with the now classic Gucci GG logo belt and the brand’s Web Stripe pool slides coming in as the world’s two most wanted products – filtered down from a list of six million items by volume of searches, page views, interactions and sales across thousands of online stores.

So how has Alessandro Michele taken the fashion house from its early fame to one of the most desired brands on the planet? Part of it is his commitment to and inherent knowledge of the brand for which he worked for thirteen years before assuming the role of creative director – and his deep understanding of Gucci’s DNA.

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SHOP THE COLLECTION Our pick of some of the best of Gucci's latest watch and jewellery pieces, available in our store and online.

Clockwise from top left: GG Running necklace, €1,495; G-Timeless watch, €980; Gucci Anger Forest necklace, €390; Interlocking G bracelet, €320; GG Running stud earrings, €275, all Weir & Sons

Part of it is that he is a polymath – his designs draw on a myriad of inspirations from Tudor England to the 1970s era in which he was born, from Disney to dinosaurs. There is an extraordinary sensory overload when looking at his fashion designs yet, at the same time, a tautness and a balance – everything is considered, nothing is by chance.

Then there’s the return of 1990s fashion, which has suddenly made logos cool again and proves that if something is a design classic to begin with, it never truly goes out of fashion.

There’s also Michele’s desire to democratise the brand – to move it on from its more niche audience to an aspirational brand, one that every consumer desires to be a part of, so that they too can tap into Michele’s coolness and that of the brand’s fans and ambassadors – people as wideranging as actor Tom Hiddleston, icon Vanessa Redgrave, model, photographer and muse Petra Collins, and musicians and singers Florence Welch and Harry Styles.

When Gucci president and chief executive

Marco Bizzarri announced Alessandro Michele as creative director three years ago, he stated that he wanted the brand to appeal once more to the aspirational customer, for it to become a brand that would speak to “opinion leaders” and “fashion people”. With the Gucci effect in full swing worldwide, it’s safe to say that Alessandro Michele has delivered – under his direction, the brand is reporting its highest revenues in almost twenty years.

“When Gucci started, it was another age. If you bought a Gucci bag, you belonged to the jet set,” Michele has previously said. “The jet set doesn’t exist anymore. I’m trying to speak to the world, to everyone.”

So whether you’ve €150 to spend on a sterling silver ring, €890 to spend on a pair of logoembellished leather boots or €2,000 to spend on a solid gold bangle, whether your taste is classic or wildly adventurous, this is a brand that speaks to the design-savvy customer at any age. Gucci is defining modern luxury right now. As Tippi says, with Gucci, “All of your dreams will come true.”

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WHEN CLASSICS RETURN:

COUNT ON ME

LIGHT FANTASTIC

Panerai has always pioneered in the watchmaking world. And its latest innovation, the neatly sized 38mm Luminor, could be its finest creation to date, writes Jane Gleeson.

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hat do most people think of when they hear the name Panerai? Luxury fittings, Italian design, expert craftsmanship and a watchmaking pedigree that has harnessed some of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Many people would also recall its distinctive cushion-shaped cases, the sandwich dials, the ‘nude’ dive watch look. They also probably think of its classic chunky size. That standard 45mm watch face has become synonymous with Panerai as a statement piece, both inside and out.

Yet, true to its pioneering roots, Panerai has not rested on the laurels of its innovations and design distinctions. For the first time in its history, the brand has launched three new watches under 40mm, challenging and wowing the watch industry and the devoted ‘Paneristi’ in equal measure.

Unveiled earlier this year, the new Luminor Due 38mm collection has ushered in a new era for the brand, one that has

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maintained its exceptional quality, design and attitude with a unique offering that has refined the strengths of its previous classics while upgrading them to new heights.

The Luminor Due 3 Days Automatic watches combine classic minimalism with a ready-to-wear versatility. All are water-resistant at a depth of 30 metres, fitted with the manufacture OP XXXIV automatic calibre with that allimportant power reserve of three days. The dial design is trademark Panerai, with its large luminous figures, a small seconds counter and, for the first time in the Luminor range, the date window. Consistent with its heritage, strength and durability are still foremost, with each of the new Luminor Due 3 Days Automatics coming with the bridge device and lever which protects the winding crown from accidental shocks.

The Luminor Due case, at 38mm in diameter, is the smallest ever produced by Panerai and, at only 11.2 mm thick, is also the slimmest. Made entirely of a special stainless steel alloy, its anti-corrosion properties ensure its durability. In

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looks too, the new Luminor breaks new ground. Coming in four different styles, the Acciaio Pam 0755 boasts an anthracite dial, satiné soleil finish and pistachio strap – a first for the brand. It is followed by the Acciaio Pam 0903 with its ivory dial, luminous dot markers and burly blue figures, complete with complementary blue leather strap and saffiano finish.

The Acciaio Pam 0904 meanwhile bears the familiar anthracite dial, satiné soleil finish and an untreated brown leather strap complete with contrasting beige stitching.

Last but not least, the Acciaio Pam 00906 completes the quartet, with an ivory dial and a blue leather strap with a saffiano finish.

While the Oro Rosso Pam 0756 flaunts an ivory dial and luminous dot markers with chunky blue figures and a strap fabricated from light blue alligator skin, the Pam 0908 features a black dial and matching alligator skin strap for an extra luxe feel. Everything within the watch has been maximised for performance, while being refined for lightness and dexterity.

The Luminor’s innovations build on a well-established history of pioneering and bold design. In 1860, at the time of the great Industrial Revolution, Giovanni Panerai first opened the doors of his watchmaking workshop, studio and school on Ponte alle Grazie in Florence, Italy. Later moving to its current location in Piazza San Giovanni, it is here that Panerai produced and supplied high-precision instruments to the Royal Italian Navy and where the first illuminated radiumbased dials and devices came to be.

In 1916 ‘Radiomir’ became the first of many patents for Panerai, marrying design and aesthetics with current advances in science and technology. In 1936, Officine Panerai was commissioned to create ten prototype watches for the commando frogmen of the First Submarine Group Command of the Royal Italian Navy. What became known as the Radiomir was to lay the template for the now famous large cushion-shape and steel case, there to embrace the radiumlit numerals and indices. Wire lugs were held intact with mechanics wound by hand while the treated leather strap was just long enough to fit comfortably over a diving suit.

Throughout the years, the Radiomir would evolve.

Modifications were made, additional features added, including the use of overlapping plates for the dial, hour and minute hands, plus a steel half-moon design to stop water infiltration and four large Arabic numerals at each cardinal point. Many of these original features are retained in today’s contemporary collections.

On 11 January 1949, Panerai introduced its latest device, the Panerai Luminor, which combined self-illuminating

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technology, reinforced lugs and an external bridge to encase and protect the crown. During this time, it supplied a large 60mm, called the Egiziano, for the Egyptian Navy and the Mare Nostrum – only two or three of these are known to have been produced.

It was also in the 1950s that the patent for the crownprotecting bridge was filed and became arguably the most iconic design feature of the Panerai watch. Officine Panerai would develop this exact prototype to ensure that each iteration would surpass the next. The watch would need to withstand extreme pressures and conditions and shine even Panerai Luminor Due brighter than any predecessor.

3 Days Automatic Then in 1993, under the management of former Italian 38mm Acciaio, €5,900, Weir & Sons Navy officer and engineer Dino Zei, Officine Panerai unveiled its first consumer collection, consisting of three limited editions of the now historic models created for the underwater commandos of the Royal Navy – the Luminor, the Luminor Marina and the Mare Nostrum. This trio would become 1860 Giovanni Panerai opens the highly desirable and greatly sought-after, not first Officine Panerai watchmaker’s just by watch lovers, but by design experts and shop at Ponte alle Grazie, supplying a sportsmen. selection of handcrafted watches, and Panerai also became beloved of Hollywood Florence’s first watchmaking school. royalty. Glimpses of Panerai on screen have been 1916 Radiomir is filed and patented seen as far back as 1953, where in the Italian

by Panerai in France. The next twenty movie I Sette Dell’Orsa Maggiore we see a diver years are spent perfecting prototypes wearing precision instruments made by Panerai. for their debut customer, the Royal Sylvester Stallone, after wearing a Panerai Italian Navy.

Luminor Marina Submersible in the 1996 film 1936 The First Submarine Group Daylight, was rumoured to have become such Command of the Royal Italian Navy as fan that he invested in a selection of engraved are equipped with Panerai’s debut models which he gifted to his nearest and timepiece, allowing for increased dearest including Gérard Depardieu and Arnold visibility and 100-metre waterSchwarzenegger. resistance.

In an exchange of gratitude and appreciation, 1949 Panerai’s latest innovation Panerai released the Slytech Submersible begins with the introduction of the influenced by Stallone’s role in the movie. self-illuminating Luminor 1950.

While the original 44mm models may have 1993 Panerai is made available to the been associated with bold masculinity, they have general public. also had their loyal female fans, including Heidi 2001 141 years after first opening its Klum, Elizabeth Hurley and Salma Hayek. The doors, Officine Panerai returns to the new Luminor Due 3 Days Automatic models Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. lend themselves equally well to either gender, 2016 The new Panerai Luminor Due as does the new range of colours for the dials watches officially launch at the ‘Dive and straps. The updated models retain Panerai’s into Time’ exhibition in Florence. devotion of form aligned with function, adhering 2018 Panerai debuts its smallest to a clean and crisp aesthetic combined with timepieces to date, with a range of utilitarian features, welcoming in a new era for 38-42mm wristwatches. one of watchmaking’s greatest brands.

PANERAI’S DESIGN EVOLUTION

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Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Limited Edition, â‚Ź5,400, Weir & Sons

Mountain

High

The stroke of an iconic pen secured Montblanc as a symbol of refinement and skilled craftsmanship.

Now the snow-capped logo adorns not only fine writing instruments, but watches, luxury leather goods, jewellery and accessories, writes Orla Neligan.

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“T

he mindset was like a contemporary start-up,” quips a suave Hugh Jackman, referring to Montblanc’s humble yet pioneering beginnings, as he takes viewers through the history of the company in a film for the luxury brand. The Montblanc story began 112 years ago in Hamburg when three businessmen set out to redesign the fountain pen, the result being the Rouge et Noir, a safety pen designed to avoid leakage with its retractable nib. The ads played up the safety angle with images of a man in a white tux placing the Rouge et Noir in his white breast pocket – risky business in 1906.

It’s ironic that a brand synonymous with taking risks could have coined the ‘safety’ fountain pen. But then fortune, as they say, favours the brave, and Montblanc, named after Europe’s highest peak, became known as a protagonist of the luxury goods market thanks to its technical excellence and skilled craftsmanship. Soon, the brand was known not just for its writing instruments but beautifully crafted watches, jewellery and refined leather goods.

Despite its universal appeal, Montblanc is still very much a ‘local’ business, driven by the subtle charm of its traditional classics. The fountain pen, unchanged since 1924, is a classic example of this. “May I help you, Mr Adenauer?” were the words of John F Kennedy as he handed his fountain pen to German chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1963. Montblanc pens have also been used by great authors to write groundbreaking novels and great leaders to sign important treaties for more than a century. The pen even made its debut as a lethal weapon when used by James Bond to defeat his enemies in The Man With the Golden Gun. Soon after being taken over by Richemont in the 1980s, the company opened its first watch manufacturing workshop in Switzerland. Since the first edition of watches, the Meisterstück collection, was debuted, the brand has been on the critics’, and collectors’, must-have lists.

The company’s watchmaking tradition actually began nearly a century earlier when Charles–Yvan Robert founded a watch workshop in the Saint-

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Imier valley. Saint-Imier village, just a few miles from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss Jura, was expanding at a spectacular rate: the number of watch workshops had increased from seventy-three to 121 in just forty years. Most were établisseurs, specialists in movement assembly. Robert Frères Villeret was one of the biggest, with ambitions to match.

The company quickly outgrew its role as a subcontractor, becoming first a full-fledged movement-maker and later a brand, Minerva. Now part of Montblanc, it celebrates 160 years of continuous production. Over the years, it would produce professional measuring instruments and timers for just about every trade and sport. In the 1920s, Minerva invented one of the first manually wound monopusher chronographs specially developed for wristwatches, marking a new chapter in the manufacturer’s history.

This was possible thanks to the smaller size of the movement, the calibre 13.20, featuring the iconic V-shape bridge. In addition to the calibre 13.20, the calibre 17.29 was produced during the 1930s and was one of the slimmest monopusher chronographs of the time, measuring a mere 5.6mm in height. These developments symbolise the level of mastery and innovation reached by Minerva over the years. Montblanc CEO Nicolas Baretzki describes the “very systematic approach” as a key to its success. “We also have this amazing tool – the Minerva manufacture and the whole archive – to give all our collections the spirit of Minerva.”

The legacy of Minerva and its 160 years of watchmaking history has recently become the inspiration for the development of the new Montblanc 1858 timepieces – a collection that references the world of mountain exploration

Montblanc's #MY4810 luggage collection, €595, Weir & Sons

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Montblanc's Writers Edition Homage to Homer Limited Edition fountain pen, €1,015, Weir & Sons

and harnesses a recent trend towards adventure-inspired pieces, an approach that Baretzki describes as telling “the story of the outdoors, nature and our journey”. Combining materials such as a special alloy of bronze that evolved over time with innovative and useful in-house complications, like the Worldtime Geosphere, these timepieces are designed for modern-day explorers who like to set their own challenges.

The Montblanc 1858 Geosphere is dedicated to the world’s Seven Summit mountaineering challenge, the holy grail of mountaineering adventures where climbers set out to ascend the highest mountains from each continent. The Seven Summits challenge is recognised as the most difficult mountaineering quest worldwide and only 500 athletes have achieved it to date.

This timepiece features two turning domed hemisphere globes, which make a full rotation in twenty-four hours. The northern hemisphere at twelve o’clock turns anticlockwise, while the southern hemisphere turns clockwise. In addition to this display of the earth’s rotation, the Geosphere features a second time zone display at nine o’clock and a day/ night indicator, and comes in a striking bronze case – making it a useful participant in the everyday adventurer’s global travels.

Minerva’s principles of quality, style and skilled workmanship can be seen, too, in the vintage-inspired 1858 Automatic Chronograph and Monopusher Chronograph Limited Edition 100, the latter based on a Minerva wristwatch from the 1920s with a smoked green dial, cathedralshaped hands, luminescent Arabic numerals and a vintage Montblanc logo.

The Automatic Chronograph combines a strong vintage aesthetic with technical detail and chronograph function. The domed sapphire crystal glass box is a nod to the vintage style of previous wristwatches. The bronze model has a smoked Champagne dial and bi-compax counters positioned at three and nine o’clock, which take their inspiration from Minerva’s historic chronographs.

The Montblanc approach is always innovative, perfectly positioned with the collection’s 1858 Pocket Watch Limited Edition 100. Designed for mountain explorers, it’s sleek and versatile with an in-built compass that can be accessed by opening it up to lay flat on a map or a table. The pocket watch honours the 160th anniversary in its reflection of the first historical wristwatches made by Minerva and can be transformed into a wristwatch with a unique brown sfumato aged calfskin strap. It can also be held in the

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hand thanks to a dedicated brown aged calf strap with cover.

Special attention has been paid to the dial to offer excellent visibility and performance, day or night.

It is ironic that, despite its horological achievements, the company was never conceived as a watch brand. Transforming a luxury pen brand into a credible and respected watchmaker is no mean feat. But then, only a few ateliers in the world know how to produce a luxury watch, and even fewer how to transcend the luxury goods market to include leather bags, jewellery and accessories – and with aplomb. Cufflinks, tie bars, bracelets, desk accessories, luggage, wallets, writing instruments, belts, eyewear: these are all products that reflect the company’s ongoing mission to create, in Baretzki’s words, “fine lifelong companions”.

The Meisterstück leather collection, which took its name from the iconic fountain pen, is still a firm favourite.

Handcrafted in Montblanc’s own pelletteria in Florence, Italy, they are designed to endure, to be handed down from generation to generation, just like the original pen. As is the Meisterstück jewellery collection, with its refined engravings and gold and platinum finishes.

No matter how diversified the collections, the same tenet runs throughout: tradition, elegance and the premise that every piece is part of the bigger Montblanc story. The latest #MY4810 luggage collection, like the 1858 timepieces, is inspired by the spirit of exploration. It consists of five different sizes that are both sturdy and sleek. It is the first full luggage collection for the brand, crafted to fit in with the lifestyles of those on the go. Lightweight materials, high-performance technology and German mechanics make it the perfect accessory for the modern, connected traveller. The collection forms part of the My Montblanc Nightflight, the maison’s most extensive line of leather goods that includes twenty-four new bags, thirteen new wallets and pocket accessories, and five trolleys.

With every innovation, the company offers new functionalities and designs. The Montblanc Writers Edition pen Homage to Homer is based on the story of the Trojan Horse from Homer’s Odyssey. The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the most influential works of literature – it seems fitting that the famed bard would be honoured with a notable Montblanc pen collection. Available as a fountain pen, rollerball, ballpoint and mechanical pencil, the pens have a distinctive equine silhouette with a gold-coated inlay on the cap inspired by the armour of the legendary warrior Achilles.

Fine stationery and a new special ink colour complete the Writers Edition collection and, as a final nod to Homer’s epic poem, the lined leather notebook is finished in Greek blue.

Yet again, Montblanc has chosen a classic story for what is yet another timeless piece in its collection.

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Wedding Days

BY THE OCEAN

Photo: www.seandkate.com

FOR ENQUIRIES CONTACT

SYLVIA WALLNUTT

WEDDING CO-ORDINATOR

PHONE +353 65 905 5692 Email swallnutt@trumphotels.com w w w. t r u m p h o t e l s . c o m / I r e l a n d

T R U M P I N T E R N AT I O N A L G O L F L I N K S & H O T E L D O O N B E G DOONBEG, CO. CLARE, IRELAND

& Takers

Givers

There’s an art to giving and receiving. At Weir & Sons, finding those treasures to give is our speciality. From the perfect ring to that forever keepsake, all our memories come wrapped in a bow.

Photography TREVOR HART Styling & Art Direction ELEANOR HARPUR

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He wears: Radiomir 1940 watch, €35,000, Panerai; 9k rose gold court wedding band, €435, Weir Collection; ruby and diamond cufflinks, €15,425, Fabergé She wears (right to left) : Platinum ruby and diamond ring, €97,500; 9k gold diamond bangle, €2,175; 18k white and yellow gold diamond bangle, €2,620; 18k gold diamond bangle, €6,435, all Weir Collection

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He wears: 9k rose gold and palladium wedding ring, €975, Weir Collection; PRC 127 watch, €370, Tissot; Sidecar stitch cufflinks, €230, Weir Collection She wears: La Grande Classique de Longines watch, €2,980, Longines; 18k white gold aquamarine ring, €7,550, Weir Collection On the table: Pearl necklace with 18k gold clasp, €13,175, Mikimoto; Peerless rolling ball pen, €305, Cross

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She wears: Nuit Doree watch, €70, Swatch; Forest morganite ring, €2,720; Forest amethyst ring, €1,015, both Alex Monroe He wears: 9k gold court ring, €435, Weir Collection; AR11123 watch, €305, Emporio Armani; Headlamp cufflinks, €260, Dunhill On the table: Coil bracelet, €108, Calvin Klein; Prezzo wallet, €120, The Bridge; Royalty star and moon earrings, €198, Thomas Sabo; Bumblebee necklace, €175, Alex Monroe WEIR.IE

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FALLING IN LOVE, Teddy

wears, clockwise from bottom left: Carrera Heuer-02T Tourbillon watch €14,300, TAG Heuer; wedding band, €995; 9k white gold palladium wedding band, €785, both Weir Collection; Clifton watch, €4,100, Baume & Mercier, Luna wears, clockwise from bottom left: Symphony diamond bangle, €4,320; 18k rose gold and diamond Symphony bangle, €2,350; 18k gold Symphony bangle, €4,225, all Roberto Coin; Imperial watch, €12,850, Chopard; B.zero1 ring, €4,700, Bvlgari; Fusion ring, €3,865, Georg Jensen; rose gold and white ceramic B.zero1 ring, €1,350; Zaha Hadid B.zero1 Design Legend ring, €2,295; 18k white gold B.zero1 ring, €2,080; yellow gold B.zero1 ring, €1,450; rose gold and black ceramic B.zero1 ring, €1,790; rose gold and green marble B.zero1 ring, €1,450, all Bvlgari; Equestrian watch, €2,900, Longines; 18k white gold and diamond Symphony bangle, €2,660; 18k gold Symphony bangle, €2,350, both Roberto Coin; B Zero bangle, €5,500, Bvlgari

He wears: Diving Helmet cufflinks, €385, Deakin & Francis; Prospex PADI Automatic Divers’ Watch, €495, Seiko; palladium classic flat ring, €735, Weir Collection She wears: 18k gold iolite ring, €2,215; 18k gold amethyst and peridot ring, €2,525, both Bvlgari; Rendez-Vous watch, €36,300, Jaeger-LeCoultre On the table: Gold diamond dome ring, €11,495, Georg Jensen; flask, €110, The Bridge WEIR.IE

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Photography Trevor Hart Assisted by Marcus Cassidy Styling & Art Direction Eleanor Harpur Hand models Caoimhe O'Dwyer & Michael Hannon at AR Agency Wardrobe Brown Thomas

She wears: Eco-Drive watch, €185, Citizen; 18k gold green tourmaline ring, €5,430, Vera Wang He wears: 9k white gold wedding ring, €410, Weir Collection; Highgate watch, €135, Henry; teddy bear cufflinks, €340, Deakin & Francis On the table: Serpent's Trace bracelet, €605, Shaun Leane; 18k white gold black opal necklace, €13,230, Weir Collection; Marilyn Monroe ballpoint pen, €715; #146 notebook, €65, both Montblanc

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WEIR.IE

The world is watching #SWATCHTHIS

TWO'S A

Charm

Vintage-inspired brand Olivia Burton is the biggest success story in British watchmaking this century. The kitchen table start-up has become a household name thanks to a coveted jewellery line, and there are lifestyle accessories on the horizon, writes Orla Neligan.

I

t all started at a kitchen table seven years ago when two friends, Jemma Fennings and Lesa Bennett, decided to pool their resources, the sum total of £15,000, and create their own watch company. Last year, the same two women sold that watch company to major luxury watchmaking conglomerate Movado for a suave £60 million. Working with your best friend on a dream you both shared, creating a world-renowned luxury brand and making millions?

It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Becoming friends while studying at London College of Fashion, they went on to become fashion buyers for major

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brands ASOS and Topshop. Well versed in the area of high fashion, they admit to having ‘seen it all before’ – the same uninspiring styles with nothing pretty, fresh or feminine that they themselves would want to wear.

“While working as a watch buyer for ASOS, I noticed a gap in the market for affordable, fashionable feminine watches,” notes Jemma. This insight became their inspiration, and in 2011 they decided to quit their jobs to launch their own line of fashion watches. A stark departure from the chunky masculine brands that dominated Rose gold bee the market, they took a risk creating fun watch with lilac and elegant designs that play on feminine felt strap, €169, florals and nature, with butterflies butterflies and bees florals Weir & Sons a strong theme throughout their designs,

plus a nod to vintage. While they faced plenty of criticism and negativity, it was the voice of Lesa’s great-aunt, who championed their abilities, that spurred them on to create the business. Her name? Olivia Burton.

Buyers were impressed, as were customers, who soon fell for the quirky-yet-elegant aesthetic.

Harvey Nichols was the first to snap up the debut collection, which instantly sold out. With starting prices of £60, the watches soon became a musthave affordable fashion accessory. “We wanted the watches to be accessories that you can change, along with your outfits or your mood. The price point allows customers to treat themselves rather than wait to be treated,” explains Jemma, whose ideal customer is the fashion-conscious woman who appreciates individuality and good design.

Inspired by vintage finds and the latest catwalk trends, the label launches collections of directional styles every two months. As well as creating

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innovative timepieces, Jemma leads a small, talented team of designers to create beautifully made jewellery. The brand’s expansion into jewellery sees a modern take on vintage pieces.

Built upon the iconic animal and floral motifs used in the watch designs, the jewellery designs recast flowers, bees and butterflies on stackable bracelets, pendants and rings in gold, rose gold and silver. The latest addition to the collection is honeycomb-inspired styles – necklaces and rings with interlinking circular and hexagonal motifs featuring the brand’s signature bee, a symbol of brightness and personal power.

Launching new styles every few months means being reactive to catwalk looks and micro-trends on a daily basis. Lovers of nature, antiques and vintage markets, Jemma and Lesa are always sourcing ideas from the everyday. Seasonal palettes and new style directions, people they spot in the street, visits to the park and curiosities they find are all considered in the design process.

Jumping on the health-food trend, their range even includes vegan-friendly watches with PETA-approved straps. “Our aim is to offer our customers constant choice. We pay close attention to small details, from our watches and events to our contact with customers. We like to put a personal touch in everything we do.”

“We wanted the watches to be accessories that you can change, along with your outfits or your mood” The range of watches – coming in three sizes, Midi, Demi and Big – display an obsessive attention to detail. Other than the vegan line, all are made with genuine leather, while each watch has its own unique look and feel. All are available with a small ‘midi dial’ or large ‘big dial’, with the intention of giving customers the choice between a statement piece that makes an impact and one that adds a subtle detail to an outfit.

The Celestial collection is inspired by starry nights and shimmering skies, with iridescent metallics creating galaxy-like sparkles. The signature floral motifs are never far away, popping up as case-cuff diamante daisies or dial decoration.

And being ‘bold’ is a design pre-requisite, with watches that sidestep pastel palettes in favour of dark faces and striking designs. The Twilight Demi Dial watch with lilac mother-of-pearl is a classic example of how the two have managed to fuse their vintage and modern aesthetic with brave design choices. It features a vintage floral motif on

a dark face with shimmering mother-of-pearl dial that catches the light, a signature 3D bee motif in gold and a dusty-pink strap – feminine, innovative and elegant in one. For a pretty, alternative look, they also have more subtle ranges that include beautiful white-dial watches in gold and rose gold with minimal detail.

When it comes to their own personal favourite, Lesa is drawn to florals, in particular the 3D daisy styles, which she feels are real “conversational” pieces, while Jemma admits to owning just about every bee style they have ever made, in every metal colour.

At the moment, it’s all about watches and jewellery but the duo is committed to developing Olivia Burton into a lifestyle brand. Could there be some men’s watches on the horizon also? “We’re open to all possibilities. Our mission is to become the world’s number-one accessories brand for women. There’s so much more we can do in terms of product extensions, so we’d really love to put the Olivia Burton stamp on everything from homeware to stationery.” Movado CEO Efraim Grinberg, who beat stiff competition to acquire the brand, agrees, believing it to be “truly different”. For him, Olivia Burton “has true DNA and a true identity that is expandable into a lifestyle brand. It is almost a collectible, which makes it really special.”

SHOP THE COLLECTION Rose-tone bee-motif dial leather-strap watch, €179, Weir & Sons

Honeycomb bee necklace in rose gold, €95, Weir & Sons Silver bee pin, €15, Weir & Sons

Bee open-end bracelet, €99, Weir & Sons

Rose gold-plated engravable disc necklace, €65, Weir & Sons

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Rose gold-plated bee mesh watch, €199, Weir & Sons

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swiss made

#ckminute

Audrey applies the ďŹ nal touches before her wedding to Daire Cullen at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg.

Love

Story On a windswept September day, Audrey Murphy and Daire Cullen sealed their love with a dream wedding. What did the bride wear? Weir & Sons, of course.

Photography NICOLA WEBSTER

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Clockwise from top left: Daire watches the weather turn as he gets ready for the church; the wedding car outside Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg; Audrey arrives with her father at the church; with her bridesmaids; Audrey's bouquet by The French Touch

T

here are certain occasions that improve the more dramatic the conditions and the wedding of Audrey Murphy and Daire Cullen was certainly one of those. Against the stunning backdrop of Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, in the crescentshaped Doughmore Bay perched on the edge of the Atlantic, stormy climes only served to elevate the romance and beauty on 23 September last.

“We chose Doonbeg because we’d just absolutely fallen in love with the place,” recalls Audrey. “It’s just the most incredible backdrop with a real authentic feel – it’s the perfect balance between five-star and local. There wasn’t one thing that was out of place over the weekend.” On the morning of the big day, Audrey could hear the wind gathering pace as her four bridesmaids readied her into her Watters Couture gown from Myrtle Ivory.

Undeterred, her expert glam squad of hair stylist Glen Cullen and make-up artist Derrick Carberry made sure her look was complete. Carrying a bouquet made by The French Touch, all that

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remained were the final details, which came courtesy of carefully chosen pieces from Weir & Sons.

The groom for his part had already performed a feat of amazing stealth in finding the perfect engagement ring for Audrey – a platinum diamond set with a radiant cut diamond, surrounded by forty-two diamonds, from the Weir & Sons collection, which he chose with the expert help of jewellery manager Neville McDowell – and for the wedding itself, Audrey again used the services of the store for her finishing touches.

Wanting to keep things minimal yet special, Audrey chose a pair of wreath earrings in 18k white gold and diamonds to complement her A-line princess sweetheart floor-length gown. “I kept everything quite simple, but the leaf detail on the earrings reflected the jacquard print in my dress so I really loved how that brought it out.”

This was accompanied by an 18k white gold tennis bracelet by Swarovski, also from Weir & Sons.

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THE WORLD’S FIRST • Automatic manufacture caliber • Connected smart functions • Analysis of the mechanical caliber

WATCH Limited Edition exclusive to

The happy couple Audrey's 18k white gold and diamond wreath earrings, €8,105, Weir & Sons, were her statement piece on the day

GET THE

Detail Emily tennis bracelet, €89, Swarovski, Weir & Sons

Wreath earrings, €149, Swarovski, Weir & Sons

9k yellow gold wedding band, €385, Weir & Sons

Platinum diamond wedding band, €1,755, Weir & Sons

Sterling silver oval cufflinks, €150, Weir & Sons

18k white gold and diamond wreath earrings, €8,105, Weir & Sons

The only thing not from the store was her “something old” – a vintage ring that belonged to her grandmother. “My grandad always said he never bought her the engagement ring he wanted, so in their seventies he bought her a new engagement ring, a few years before he died. I just love that they still had such emotion for each other that he would do something like that. I really wanted to have that sentiment with me.”

Sourcing both their wedding bands from Weir & Sons, Audrey chose a slim ring decorated with a row of diamonds while Daire chose a

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yellow gold band. And in true reciprocation, Daire also wore a gold signet ring, bought for his thirtieth birthday by Audrey the week after they got engaged, and once again chosen under the careful guidance of Neville McDowell. “I love,” says Audrey, “that we both had a ring to mark the occasion.”

The day itself, though stormy and wild, proved all the more magical for it. “It was such an incredible feeling to know that everyone was there supporting us and celebrating with us. That will stay with me forever.”

3-stone platinum engagement ring, from €6,950, Weir & Sons

8k white gold tennis bracelet, €18,575, Weir & Sons

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GREENWICH GS05354/04 | SAPPHIRE GLASS | AUTOMATIC SKELETON

THE GREAT

ESCAPE

From its dune-lined beaches and rolling golfing greens to its award-winning food and luxurious interior, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg is a destination like no other.

L

ooking out over magnificent, everchanging Atlantic views, the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Co Clare, sits on 400 acres and is just twenty minutes’ drive north of Kilkee, thirty minutes south of Lahinch and one hour from Shannon International Airport.

Perched on the picturesque shores of the crescent-shaped Doughmore Bay, Doonbeg’s extensive grounds include a links course, 185 suites and cottages, the White Horses Spa and two award-winning restaurants headed up by executive head chef Greg Budzyn.

Recognised among the best championship links courses in the world and named Best Golf Resort in Ireland 2017 (by Golfers Guide to Ireland), the course was redesigned in 2014 under the supervision of the renowned architect Dr Martin Hawtree and now comes with eighteen stunning golf holes, sixteen of which have ocean views.

At the heart of Trump International Golf

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Links & Hotel, Doonbeg sits the Lodge, boasting one of Ireland’s leading seafood restaurants, Ocean View Restaurant (named Good Food Ireland’s Best Hotel Seafood Restaurant 2017), where you can drink in the spectacular views over the sea and soak up the rugged landscape stretching all the way to the Cliffs of Moher.

The hotel’s accommodation incorporates a wide range of suites, all designed with hand-selected antiques and reclaimed woods.

Trump International Golf Links & Hotel’s White Horses Spa has been given the five-star treatment with Irish-made products and expert therapists on hand, plus a steam area and sauna and deep soaking whirlpools with thermal mineral salts. There are three dry treatment rooms for a range of indulgences including facials and massages, while a wet treatment room focuses on body therapies with a splash shower. Wellness is also to the fore at Doonbeg with custom workouts and healthy dining options on offer.

With numerous resort activities including

horseriding on the beach, clay shooting and falconry, for the younger VIPs the Junior Clubhouse offers a host of amenities including a twelve-seater private cinema. For a weekend retreat or for a special occasion, Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg caters for a range of important moments, including a once-in-a-lifetime wedding. With its magnificent views of the links course, the signature pavilion comes professionally draped in gossamer ivory fabric, with full catering facilities and a marquee which accommodates up to 280 people. There are private event rooms offering a perfect setting for ceremonies and celebrations large and small.

There are also several churches in the area, including the 175-year-old St Senan’s Church and the intimate Monmore Church in Kilrush, or the 100-year-old Christ Church in Spanish Point.

Whatever your reason for visiting Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, there will be a thousand reasons you will want to stay. trumphotels.com/ireland

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THE RESTAURANT

HOT LIST

New eateries are popping up at a mouthwatering pace in Dublin. Aoife Carrigy rounds up the finest established names and hottest new arrivals for a go-to guide of where to eat now.

ANANDA Dedicated fans travel across the country for the seasonal tasting menus of 25-year-old head chef Karan Mittal at Ireland’s most refined Indian dining destination. This is no wonder – the technical skill with which this talented Delhi native coaxes flavour from superbly sourced Irish ingredients and Indian spices is matched by a real flair for creating beauty on a plate. anandarestaurant.ie

BROTHER HUBBARD Brother Hubbard on Capel Street continues to breathe new life into one of Dublin’s most eclectic streetscapes, expanding next door into a longempty space (formerly Rhodes D7) where it serves singular brunch, lunch

and evening menus with a signature Middle Eastern twist. The original café now houses a general store featuring home-made sauces and spice blends, plus plants and local pottery. brotherhubbard.ie

DAX Chef Graham Neville’s masterful cooking garnered many fans during his tenure at Residence, once one of Dublin’s most exclusive private members’ clubs. As that ivy-clad landmark morphs into a cocktailfuelled party pad (see The Grayson), Neville himself has slipped around the block to Olivier Meisonnave’s understated stalwart of city dining in Pembroke Street. Two quiet masters, one top-notch restaurant. dax.ie

CHAPTER ONE No other restaurant nails that special combination of warm yet unswervingly professional Irish hospitality and exquisite cooking of stellar local ingredients like Chapter One – which is why this Michelinstarred Northside restaurant keeps scooping the top awards for best Irish fine dining. As restaurants go, this is a national treasure, reassuringly refined yet perfectly earthy. chapteronerestaurant.com

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THE GRAYSON Dublin has a swish new party pad, courtesy of the Press Up Group which enjoys a knack for lush kit-outs of sweet spaces. Upending the former members-only exclusivity with an open-door policy, The Grayson team is poised to ply Dublin with well-crafted cocktails from multiple bars throughout this labyrinthian Georgian building, alongside creatively crowd-pleasing dishes from head chef Jacson Reboli. thegrayson.ie

DELAHUNT Marrying one of the city’s classiest Victorian interiors with skilful modern Irish cooking, this Michelin Bib Gourmand favourite was the lunchtime choice of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (who dined on home-smoked salmon with dill-pickled cucumber, horseradish cream cheese and Guinness bread). Don’t miss the Sitting Room upstairs, one of the city’s cosiest cocktail dens. delahunt.ie

ETTO Unbeatable for casual excellence, this critics’ choice is challenging notions of what constitutes ‘Ireland’s Best Restaurant’, having snagged the title at the Irish Restaurant Awards 2018, despite its decidedly cosy and linen-free quarters. But with cooking this sharp and service this savvy, who needs the fuss of fine dining? etto.ie

GLOVERS ALLEY An impressive kitchen team headed up by chef-owner Andy McFadden (previously of London’s Pied à Terre) with pastry chef du jour Aoife Noonan, slick service and a playfully Deco dining room all make for a top-drawer addition to Dublin’s fine dining scene.

Keen cooks can don an apron at the monthly Glovers Alley Kitchen Experience. gloversalley.ie

LOOSE CANON This bijou natural wine and cheese shop serves up inspired lunchtime toasties; come early evening, a hip crowd descends for a glass of

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something funky and platters of lovingly curated Irish charcuterie and cheese. A fresh addition to Dublin’s people-watching spots, from the team behind Meet Me In The Morning (voted Ireland’s Best Café 2017). loosecanon.ie

MASA

Michelin-level training and a passion for hyper-local seasonal cooking, Luke Matthews (formerly of Mews in Baltimore, Co Cork) plays culinary lead at this sunny daytime restaurant within an idyllic 38 acres of working farm and kitchen gardens – all just five minutes from the retail mecca of Dundrum Town Centre. airfield.ie

Cousins Tom and Finn Gleeson nailed great indie burgers at Bunsen Burger, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing food brands. Now Finn’s little brother Shane has convinced them to attempt the same with a Mexican taquería, investing in the technical whizzery to transform masa (nixtamalised corn flour) fl our) into house-made tacos that have the Insta-kids abuzz. masadublin.com

MICHAEL’S OF MOUNT MERRION

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Chef Gaz Smith and his front-ofhouse peers are wowing critics, winning awards and wooing regulars with this Mediterranean-inspired neighbourhood joint where great value extends to the interesting wine list as well as a food offer that includes seafood direct from local boats. Kids enjoy a particularly genuine welcome. michaels.ie

These self-described ‘wood-fired pizza fundamentalists’ have been heralded by many as serving Dublin’s best pizza. The recipe is simple: a three-and-a-half-day slow-fermented dough topped with the likes of Toons Bridge fior di latte, buffalo mozzarella or house ricotta and blasted for 60 seconds in the 500ºC wood-burning oven. Bellissimo! pipizzas.ie

THE IVY Dawson Street has never looked so glamorous as when the long-anticipated Irish outpost of that classic Soho celeb haunt burst onto the scene this summer with a riotous décor that makes Lady Gaga look demure. This is the city’s hottest spot for hobnobbing and late lunching, with an all-day menu of brasserie classics and cocktails. theivydublin.com

wine bar (named Ireland’s Best Wine Experience 2017), this is the place to press your reset button. Let owners Thibault Harang and Enrico Fantasia find just the wine for you as you choose between inspired tapas, serious sharing plates and rib-sticking ragus. pigletwinebar.ie

THE STELLA DINER

PIGLET OVERENDS KITCHEN, AIRFIELD ESTATE An ambitious young chef with

Whether lounging terrace-side on the charming pedestrianised Cow’s Lane or cosying up inside this diminutive

HOST Co-owners Chloe Kearney (front of house) and Niall McDermott (head chef, formerly of Dublin’s Bastible and London’s Barrafina) Barrafina) bring paredback panache to this smart suburban space. A concise à la carte menu and an excellent-value chef’s menu encourage sharing and emphasise provenance and careful sourcing, while a precisely focused drinks list includes several appetite-sharpening apéritifs. hostrestaurant.ie

GOLD BAR AT HANG DAI High above Camden Street, Gold Bar offers a glitzy rooftop counterpart to the sultry moodiness of Hang Dai’s temple to roast duck and dumplings below. Pitched as a stand-alone cocktail bar serving serious Chinese snacks (think chicken feet with black vinegar), its bespoke sound system ensures that good times, shakes and eats come with great tunes, breaks and beats. hangdaichinese.com

THE LEGAL EAGLE This gleamingly restored pub near the

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Four Courts is sweeping up awards for best pub food by combining oldschool favourites with inventive riffs on Irish ingredients (pork scratchings with smoked oyster mayo) and hearty dinners (roasted bone marrow with braised oxtail and Gaelic Escargots) – and a brilliant drinks offer to boot. thelegaleagle.ie

Reopened last year, Rathmines' Stella Theatre became a fast favourite for suburbanites looking for a grown-up date night. Thanks to the cinema’s meticulous period restoration, luxurious seating, well-pitched programming and an extensive cocktail bar, they certainly got it. Now an adjoining all-day eatery serving American diner classics has happily added brunch, lunch or dinner into the equation. stelladiner.ie

VEGINITY Dublin is riding the vegan wagon in fine style thanks to skilled chefs like Mark Senn. Veginity started life as his Southside food truck; you can still sample best-sellers at Eatyard’s street food collective in Portobello, or make a beeline to his full-blown Northside restaurant for an evolving and inventive menu of world-inspired plant-based fare. veginity.com

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A Special Occasion N

ext year, Weir & Sons celebrates a momentous 150 years of business and five generations of family and employees who have helped to create one of Dublin’s best-loved retailers.

Founded by Thomas Weir in 1869, built up by five of his children and headed today by his great-grandson, David Andrews, Weir & Sons has become an icon of the

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city’s blend of tradition and modernity.

Our landmark building on Grafton Street is steeped in history and adorned with antiques, yet remains the go-to source of cutting-edge designs in everything from fine jewellery, watches and silver to leather and glass and, most recently, the best in fashion accessories.

Join us in-store next year for our

calendar of anniversary celebrations and the chance to peruse and purchase our special commemorative book. Drawing from our treasured archives as well as the living memories of those fourth and fifth generations who work at Weirs today, it will bring to life 150 years of unique history.

We look forward to welcoming you back through the decades.

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Where your gifts of today become the heirlooms of tomorrow

www.weir.ie