Independent watch designer, Fiona Kruger, designed the dial of the new Faberge’ Lady Libertine III Dalliance watch.
With its foray into high watchmaking over the past few years, the great house of Faberge’ has commanded the attention of watch lovers around the world. Its timepieces are a deft blend of the brand’s historical legacy, technical prowess and visionary design — thanks in great part to the partnerships the brand has made with watchmaking’s greats such as Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and Agenhor. This year, for its much-loved Dalliance collection, the brand partners with independent watchmaker Fiona Kruger for a stunning new dial design in the Dalliance Lady Libertine III.
The dial design of the newest Lady Libertine III Dalliance watch — which focuses on using Mozambique rubies — was conceived of by Scottish designer Fiona Kruger, who at one point in her life lived in South Africa. She was inspired by the essence and vibrance of the rubies, and used the color palette of the Mozambique landscape to accent the rich red jewels. Kruger, best known for her own eponymous brand of bold and intriguing skull-shaped timepieces, focused on the blue oceans, the white sand and white capped waves for the double dial watch. The dials were then executed in hand-painted enamel by renowned enamel artist Anita Porchet. While more than half the dial recalls the oceans, the remaining portion is masterfully set with vivd red rubies and complementary pink sapphires.
The making of the Faberge Lady Libertine III Dalliance watch
The 36mm watch is cased in 18-karat white gold and is accented with 1.84 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds on the bezel. The hours and minutes are indicated via two white gold wave-shaped hands that move around the central domed dial. This watch houses the AGH 6911 caliber used in all of the Faberge’ Dalliance watches. Created by Agenhor, it offers 50 hours of power reserve from a single barrel, and features the AgenPIT regulator styes with implied balance wheel adjustment. The fine finishings of the movement are visible via a sapphire caseback.
The Gemfields Mozambique rubies on the Faberge Lady Libertine III watch are individually snow set and are complemented by pink sapphires, as seen in this drawing.
As mentioned, the rubies used in the timepiece are from Mozambique — from the mines owned by Gemfields, the parent company of Faberge’, In fact, Gemfields owns mines around the world. The first Lady Libertine watches, Lady Libertine 1 and Lady Libertine II, unveiled at Baselworld 2016, were a study in emeralds from the Gemfields Kagem mine in Zambia. We had the pleasure of visiting the Kagem Mines with Gemfields, and will bring more news of this soon.
