This May, Fabergé and Gemfields celebrate the month’s birthstone, emerald—which is said to symbolise new beginnings, loyalty, hope, peace and security, with the launch of the Lady Libertine I timepiece that is set with responsibly sourced Zambian emeralds.
Lady Libertine I was first imagined when Fabergé and Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, founder of Geneva-based award-winning watch movement creator Agenhor, visited Gemfields’ emerald mine, Kagem, in Zambia. The cohort was enchanted as they watched natural emeralds touch human hands for the first time in 500 million years.
Witnessing the vast, natural splendour of the Zambian landscape from above gave Fabergé and Agenhor an idea: to reproduce that image with rough emeralds, using the gemstones as they are created by nature. The team set about making this vision a reality. The hand-carved rough emerald representing the region’s rivers – with the banks outlined in fine gold filigree, and the land brought to life by cut and polished emeralds and diamonds, depicting the play of light over the African landscape. The result is framed in an 18-karat rose gold case with 1.84 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds adorning the bezel.
“Rough emerald is very fragile and is rarely used in the watch industry,” says Aurelie Picaud, Fabergé’s director of timepieces. “Our work masters hand-carved the stone very carefully, drawing out the beauty of each rough emerald. The result is a unique and fitting tribute to the sweeping savannas, striking earth colours and lush green landscapes that contribute to the glory of Africa.”
This unique portrayal is only possible in a watch face as a result of Fabergé’s exclusive Dalliance movement 6911, which allows the hands to travel around the outside of the watch face, leaving a space for the gems on the dial and central dome to reproduce the timeless splendour of the Zambia landscape.
The naming of uncut emeralds is a tradition reserved for the rarest and most remarkable gems. Gemfields chose ‘Inkalamu’ (meaning ‘lion’ in the local Bemba language) in honour of the work carried out by two of Gemfields’ conservation partners, the Zambian Carnivore Programme (www.zambiancarnivores.org) and the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique (www.niassalion.org). In addition, Gemfields divided 10% of Inkalamu’s auction proceeds equally between these two carnivore initiatives.
Caption: Fabergé’s Lady Libertine I timepiece propped against the Gemfields’ Inkalamu, the 5,655-carat Lion Emerald.