Time Out of Mined? Luxury Watch Brands Explore Synthetics
In the last few years, synthetic diamonds have gained ground as a staple in fine jewelry. In luxury watches, experimentation with man-made stones has been far slower. But a recent spike in conversation about their creative possibilities has seen several timepiece brands start using synthetics in their collections — and a select few are phasing out mined stones entirely.
Luxury watchmaker Breitling caught the industry by surprise back in 2020 when it announced that it would be switching exclusively to synthetic diamonds by the end of 2024. The move makes it the first major Swiss watch brand to convert entirely to synthetics.
Chasing sustainability
The transition is part of a wider bid to strengthen the brand’s commitment to sustainability, transparency and traceability in the supply chain. As such, Breitling will be sourcing its synthetic stones from Fenix Diamonds in New York. Fenix, which has been around since 2018, makes the diamonds at its production facility in Gujarat, India, and has accreditation from standards body SCS Global Services, certifying that it has the highest grades of ethical and environmental responsibility.
Beyond the manufacture of its timepieces, Breitling has pledged that for every lab-grown carat it sells, it will contribute to a social-impact fund that supports diamond-producing communities.
“Raw-materials sourcing is one of the most pressing issues in the watchmaking industry, particularly in the area of materials that could potentially originate from areas of conflict or circumstances involving human rights abuses or environmental degradation,” says Aurelia Figueroa, Breitling’s chief sustainability officer. “This particularly concerns materials that have a high environmental footprint for mining or [those that] carry high value, such as gold or mined diamonds.”
Easy to trace
In tandem with the announcement, Breitling also released its first watch with synthetic-diamond embellishments: the Super Chronomat Automatic 38 Origins, an everyday timepiece in a case made of traceable, small-scale-mined 18-karat red gold. Studding its rounded bezel are type IIa chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamonds. By using synthetic diamonds for the bezels, Breitling says, the company can trace the model’s entire chain of custody and keep a record of it in a blockchain-backed non-fungible token (NFT).
“We know that consumers care about the origins of materials, and this is why the lab-grown sourcing decision became clear, especially for the melee diamonds we are using in Breitling products,” Figueroa states. “By taking a serious and committed approach to raw-materials sourcing and moving beyond commodities-based to communities-based value chains, we can make a small but meaningful contribution to many pressing challenges on the local and global level. We do this by working with responsible partners and supporting each other in our efforts to continually improve our ability to have a positive impact.”
A chance to innovate
Breitling isn’t alone in using lab-created diamonds. After unveiling its new synthetic-diamond technology in 2022, Swiss brand TAG Heuer produced several synthetic-diamond watches under its Plasma Diamant d’Avant-Garde range, including two variants with fancy-yellow or -pink specimens.
London jeweler Hatton Labs also garnered attention for releasing the Portcullis, a customized version of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak studded with synthetic diamonds. The design was a collaboration with Paris-based company MAD, which specializes in personalizing watches. Neither Hatton Labs nor MAD has any formal relationship with Audemars Piguet; their aim was to showcase the innovative manufacturing techniques that synthetic diamonds offer.
Other brands, such as independent watchmakers Raymond Weil and Oris, have taken a more commercially-minded approach to the trend, embellishing some of their entry-level timepieces with synthetic diamonds. Oris has set brilliant-cut synthetics onto the dial and bezel of its Aquis Date — a first for the Swiss watchmaker, reimagining one of its most beloved and accessible models for a new generation. Raymond Weil has done the same on the bezels of its ladies’ Freelancer collection, a line of automatic watches it launched in 2007.
With their potential to open new avenues in luxury-timepiece design and to bring prices down for more commercial lines, synthetic diamonds will likely see continued growth in the watch market.