Swiss luxury watch brand Hublot unveiled a diamond-covered $5 million timepiece Wednesday at Baselworld—the world’s largest and most important watch and jewelry fair, in Basel, Switzerland. The company released professionally photographed images of the timepiece Friday.
The watch is covered with 1,282 diamonds, including six square stones that weigh more than three carats each, according to media reports. Jean-Claude Biver, Hublot president, said it will be difficult to make a more expensive timepiece because of the size limitations on the surface of a watch.
The company said in a statement that “a completely different approach was used for its creation.” Normally, the design and technical characteristics of a haute joaillerie piece are created to match the gemstones that were selected. For the making of this timepiece, the diamond cutters started with a design and then found the diamonds that best matched the construction of the case, dial and bracelet.
“Cutters and setters then employed all of their expertise to resize them to ensure a perfect fit,” Hublot said.