The high-jewelry Boucheron Sheherazade Tourbillon features lots of gold, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts, and other precious stones that I wasn’t able to recognize. With its large case measuring in whole 42 millimeters in diameter, it takes a lot of wrist real estate, too.
Established in 1858 by a wealthy French family, Boucheron has a long history of making jewelry watches. Since the company doesn’t make its own calibers, it usually outsources them from serious Swiss Manufactures, sometimes with extra modules if the design of a future product demands so.
The Sheherazade Tourbillon is a variation on the theme set with the Boucheron Bestiary Tourbillon model that was revealed almost three years ago.
Like the aforementioned model, the Sheherazade Tourbillon features a flying tourbillon regulator at 7 o’clock and a tiny hours and minutes indicator at 1 o’clock.
Judging by bits and pieces of information that Boucheron cared to spill here and there, the watch most probably features a version of the Girard-Perregaux GP V97 hand-wind movement with a custom-added module that puts the hour and minute hands from the center to an upper-right position on the white mother of pearl dial.
Both the dial and the timekeeper’s bezel are heavily ornamented with dazzling diamonds, yellow and orange sapphires, spinels, and rubies.
Not sure whether I like it or not, but I must admit that the Sheherazade Tourbillon will look great if worn with the other members of the Sheherazade collection: white gold earrings, pendant, and ring, each of them set with sapphires, diamonds tourmaline, and amethysts.
With its white gold case being 42 mm in diameter and whopping 16.6 mm thick the case may be not particularly comfortable to wear, but it still looks like a perfect timepiece, especially if your name is Lady Gaga.
As usual for jewelry brands (and this is especially true when it comes to particularly expensive models,) Boucheron is secretive about the trinket’s price simply asking to “call for price,” but I think -taking into account the sheer mass of gold and precious stones, as well as the quality of the movement that makes it work- I won’t be too far away from the truth if I guesstimate the cost of this thing as “well north of USD 100,000.”
See also: Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 4897 R for Ladies
Photos: Boucheron
Boucheron Sheherazade Tourbillon specification
Movement: Hand-wound, Swiss Made
Functions & Complications: Hour, minutes, seconds, flying tourbillon
Power reserve: 100 hours
Case: White gold
Shape: Round
Size: 42.00 mm
Case height: 16.60 mm
Dial: White Mother of Pearl
Hands: White gold, polished
Water resistance: 50 meters
Strap: Satin strap with Boucheron’s signature pointe de diamant buckle
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective
Back: Sapphire