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All the Details Of the Masterpieces From Paris High Jewelry
Thousands of hours and the world’s rarest gems marry to create the most astonishing pieces of high jewelry in the world.
Published: January 30, 2026
Written by: Sam Broekema
They say that all good things take time, and the art of high jewelry takes this adage to the max. During Paris Haute Couture, the grand Maisons showcase jewelry that is the very apex of craftsmanship. From Boucheron to Cartier to Graff and beyond, the pieces take many hundreds of hours and the efforts of scores of supremely talented craftspeople until they are deemed ready for presentation.
In gilded bois-paneled suites surrounding the storied Place Vendôme, the most important clients, editors, stylists, and ambassadors (read celebrities) receive a lesson in excellence. From the rarest natural diamonds to their artful settings and designs, each piece of jewelry expresses what sets the individual Maison apart from its peers.
Meet the Author
- Sam Broekema is Editor-in-Chief of Only Natural Diamonds
- He has held roles including Fashion Editor, Executive Accessories Editor, and Market and Accessories Director at prestigious publications like Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and InStyle.
Boucheron’s Untamed Garden of High Jewelry
Boucheron’s Untamed necklace references the iconic Question Mark necklace, which not only won the Grand Prix at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris but also freed women to dress themselves with its revolutionary clasp-less design. The necklace is no question the longest piece of high jewelry offered this year, but the ultra-modern design is a direct reference to an archival design never produced, until now. The necklace required 2,600 hours to complete and features rock crystal and white gold, set with natural diamonds.
This being Boucheron, where mutability is Queen, the piece is designed to be worn multiple ways, and much as one propagates ivy, “cuttings” from the monumental piece yield a shorter necklace, a collar, a brooch, and a hair ornament. To truly mimic the natural world, the leaves are individually crafted to tremble in the breeze.
A Perfect Balance for Cartier High Jewelry
The presentation of Cartier’s third and final chapter of the En Équilibre High Jewelry collection served as a master class in brand consistency and heritage. Alongside the new creations, the Maison showcased pieces from the Cartier collection, a legendary trove of masterpieces that span most of the last two centuries. What is most striking is the modernity of the historic pieces, which look as daring today as at their debut. Standing out from this crowd is no mean feat, and the aptly named Splendea set of white diamond necklace and earrings felt unmistakably now.
The necklace took 616 hours to complete, and the earrings 267 hours. 34 perfectly matched white diamonds mimic a ribbon of light gliding along the collarbone. The impeccably set stones in the Cartier style lie perfectly and move in balance with the lucky wearer’s every gesture.
Color Mad David Morris High Jewelry
While David Morris’s high-quality craftsmanship is beyond question, it is how the brand showcases its world-class collection of fancy pink diamonds that sets its high jewelry apart. Creative Director Jeremy Morris has an instinctive passion for rare jewels. The Legacy of Color allowed the Maison to pursue true originality with the zenith of the effort encapsulated in the Queen of the Sea ring and Kismet Earrings.
At 41.38 carats, the ring’s pearl is the largest known near-spherical natural pearl in the world. An astonishingly rare grouping of green, orange, and pink diamonds frames the pearl, capturing the iridescence hues on its surface.
The Kismet earrings comprise two pearls, each weighing over 20 carats, one grayish brown and the other white. The pearls hang from a setting of Fancy blue, gray, orange, pink, yellow, and a red diamond, which is the ne plus ultra of rarity. This collection of fancy-colored diamonds in one suite surpasses anything most collectors could dream of.
De Beers London’s Good Vibrations in High Jewelry
No other High Jewelry house can rival De Beers for its proximity to the source of exceptional natural diamonds, and the latest offering, titled Vibrations, reverberates with energy. Inspired by Namibia’s Fish River Canyon, the Echo necklace showcases a truly extraordinary Fancy Intense blue diamond, sourced directly from Namibia, to mirror the Fish River’s waters and pay homage to the country as a source of exceptional natural diamonds.
Over 193 carats of round and baguette-cut white diamonds encircle the blue diamond and wind around the wearer’s neck, much like a river traverses the famous canyons of Namibia. The modular design comprises a tiara, a first for De Beers London, a rough-and-polished diamond bracelet and necklace, and two removable tassels that become earrings. Lily Allen wore the set while performing hits from her latest album at a high-energy after-party for the brand on Place Vendôme.
Dior High Jewelry Is the Belle of the Ball
Dior’s Belle Dior High Jewelry collection is an example of how a designer’s personal obsessions, such as divination, meet craftsmanship to yield stunning, whimsical results. The Belle Dior Soleil Celeste necklace boldly mixes yellow and white gold, white, fancy orange and fancy yellow diamonds, white opal, and turquoise to evoke a setting sun as the moon rises.
Graff’s High Jewelry Collection Is a Hero
Graff’s hero suite is a perfect name for High Jewelry, as the Herculean efforts to finish their latest masterpiece reach near mythic proportions. Inspired by a droplet of water striking a calm pool, over 200 carats of natural diamonds in emerald and pear-cut splash from a 31-carat central emerald-cut sapphire. Graff’s expertly trained craftspeople spent hundreds of hours perfecting the effect. The entire suite encompasses a necklace with matching earrings featuring 12 carats of matched sapphires and 31 carats of white diamonds set to move almost like a shimmering waterfall from the wearer’s ear.
Milanese Roots Inspire High Jewelry for Pomellato
The iconic Milanese theatre La Scala inspired Scala di Luce, a high jewelry collection that marries the rigor of the theatre’s edifice with the vibrancy of performance on stage. The Milan atelier worked over 240 hours to create the suite, entirely by hand. A line of 266 brilliant-cut diamonds runs along the necklace, the chain inspired by a 1970s model from the archives. The central design features 13 fancy cut diamonds, notably baguette, pear, and princess cuts. The bracelet includes 4 fancy-cut diamonds and 250 brilliant-cut diamonds.
A Blast From the Not-So-Distant Past for Repossi High Jewelry
In a similarly kinetic inspiration, Repossi’s Blast Chapter Two latches onto the current desire for color in the market, mixing brightly hued sapphires, tanzanite, and tourmalines with Gaia Repossi’s signature diamond-paved spirals.
In the spirit of the 1980s, when the Maison established itself on Place Vendôme, the bold colors and volume of the pieces express the house’s codes, mixing references to Berber design with modern art and architecture.
The Blast Spiral hoop earrings in white gold, paved with white natural diamonds, feature 4 pear-shaped sapphires, 4 oval-shaped tanzanite, and 2 pair-shaped indicolite tourmalines.
The Blast ring in white gold, paved in white diamonds, features 2 pear-shaped sapphires, 1 oval-shaped indicolite tourmaline, 1 pear-shaped tanzanite, and 1 cushion-shaped tanzanite.
The Blast bracelet in white gold, set with white diamonds, features 5 pear-shaped sapphires, 1 round sapphire, 2 pear-shaped tanzanite, 1 oval tanzanite, 1 cushion tanzanite, and 2 pear-shaped indicolite tourmalines.
The bracelet alone requires 622 hours to achieve the precise composition.
