Welcome to our series highlighting the exceptional watches available through Perpetual, Phillips’ boutique service offering immediate access to the world’s rarest and most desirable timepieces. You can view all currently available watches by stopping in at our London headquarters at 30 Berkeley Square, or by visiting Phillips Perpetual online. Our new "Buy Now" button makes acquiring the watch of your dreams easier than ever.
– ˜By Logan Baker
Diamonds in watchmaking don't have to serve as shorthand for excess.
They can also be design tools, and in two of the most recent arrivals at Phillips Perpetual in Hong Kong, they're used very differently by two brands that sit at the very top of modern watchmaking.
The first watch could only come from F.P. Journe.
The élégante began life as a ladies’ model, but its appeal quickly outgrew any gendered framing. The "men’s" version, measuring 48mm by 40mm, sounds imposing on paper. On the wrist, the effect is more architectural than aggressive, helped by a titanium case that stays feather-light and a thickness of just 7.95mm. The diamond setting follows the contours of the tonneau case closely. Nothing feels ornamental for ornament’s sake.
What makes the élégante genuinely special, though, is what you cannot see.
Inside is Journe’s electro-mechanical calibre 1210, a movement that remains one of the cleverest modern reinterpretations of quartz-based timekeeping. After 35 minutes of inactivity, the hands pause, conserving energy while an internal microprocessor continues to track the time. Pick the watch up again, and the hands snap back to the correct time automatically. In daily use, that translates to roughly eight to ten years of battery life – and in standby, it's closer to two decades.
Add a fully luminescent white dial that glows evenly in low light, and you have a watch that is radical, playful, and deeply thought through. In this execution (above), the diamonds frame the élégante's idea rather than distract from it.
If Journe's élégante is discreetly cerebral, Richard Mille takes the opposite approach, leaning into spectacle.
The RM023, introduced in 2009, refines the brand’s familiar tonneau case into something slimmer and more wearable without losing any of its presence. At 45mm by 38.3mm, and just over 11mm thick, it sits in a sweet spot between earlier Richard Mille references, offering everyday comfort with unmistakable identity.
This example showcases the RM023’s skeletonized dial and diamond-set case in full force.
The gems emphasize the case's tonneau geometry rather than softening it, highlighting the design language that defines Richard Mille. Beneath the dial is the automatic calibre RMA02, complete with the brand’s variable-geometry rotor. The system adjusts winding efficiency based on the wearer’s activity, a typically Richard Mille solution that blends engineering logic with real-world use. The movement is completely visible, intricately layered, and unapologetically mechanical. The diamonds simply turn the volume up.
Seen side by side, these two watches make a compelling argument for diamond setting as something more nuanced than pure decoration.
In the F.P. Journe, the diamonds frame one of the most imaginative quartz movements of the past 20 years. In the Richard Mille, they amplify a design language built around exposed mechanics and performance-driven thinking.
These are two watches that will be acquired by savvy collectors, not because they sparkle, but because they say something about how far contemporary watchmaking has come.
Diamonds, in this context, are forever not because they last, but because the ideas behind them do.
You can learn more about these two watches and view all the currently in-stock watches online at Phillips PERPETUAL.
Phillips PERPETUAL offers a boutique experience to clients for the sale and purchase of fine and rare watches in London’s Berkeley Square, Hong Kong's Pedder Arcade, and the Gstaad Palace in Switzerland.
About Logan Baker
Logan has spent the past decade reporting on every aspect of the watch business. He joined Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo at the start of 2023 as the department's Senior Editorial Manager. He's based in Geneva.
Visit Phillips PERPETUAL /
30 Berkeley Square, London, United Kingdom, W1J 6EX (map)
Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM – 17:30 PM
Contact & Consignment Enquiries /
00 44 207 901 7916
perpetual@phillips.com
@phillipsperpetual