David Oscarson 25th Anniversary Art Nouveau.
Watch and pen companies love to celebrate, and we love to celebrate with them— particularly when it means new products. Following are a couple of milestones of note: Penmaker David Oscarson is celebrating 25 years, and watch and jewelry virtuoso Piaget is commemorating 150. So, too, Montblanc’s famed Meisterstuck is noting its 100th birthday in 2024, and Swiss watchmaker Oris is remembering 120 years as of June 1.
So in a seeming blink of an eye, time moves forward—with watches to mark the hours and pens to write the poetry.
David Oscarson 25th Anniversary Art Nouveau
David Oscarson has been creating luxury fountain pens since 2000, when he launched his eponymous brand with the limited edition Henrik Wigstrom Trophy pen collection. Since then, he has created nearly 40 limited edition pen collections and has launched other finely crafted accessories, including cufflinks and folding knives.
The use of hand-rendered guilloche and enamel, traditional art forms also seen in watchmaking, are emblematic of the brand, and Oscarson takes great care in keeping their quality pure. For example, he makes it eminently clear that the metal parts of his pens are guilloched, as opposed to stamped, since the resulting pattern reflects light in just the right way. Similarly, he uses specific enameling techniques to enrobe his pens as opposed to more cost-effective methods whose results do not meet his standards.
This year’s 25th Anniversary Art Nouveau is crafted from .925 sterling silver, in honor of this traditionally silver anniversary, and the pens incorporate both translucent and opaque hard enamels over guilloche engraving. The motif of the cap and clip are an homage to René Lalique’s Dragonfly-woman corsage (1897) made for French actress Sarah Bernhardt and shown at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900. The artwork on the barrel references Alphonse Mucha’s “La Plume” from 1899. The gripping sections feature inlaid opaque hard enamel, while a cabochon onyx decorates both the top and bottom of each piece in the collection.
The Art Nouveau collection is available in eight color variations, and each is limited to just 25 pieces, fountain pen and rollerball.
From Piaget's 150th Anniversary Collection.
Piaget 150th Anniversary Collection
Piaget was established by Georges-Edouard Piaget in 1874, and it has since become a grail in the domains of watchmaking and jewelry. The Swiss luxury brand’s story brought forth another chapter in 1969, when the company launched its 21st Century Collection of jewelry watches that emphasized avant-garde style and enduring motifs. So in celebration of its 150th anniversary this year, Piaget is referencing those golden years of the late 1960s and 1970s with new designs.
Crafted at Piaget’s high jewelry workshops in Geneva, the Anniversary Collection comprises 96 watches and jewelry pieces that focus on the maison’s exceptional artistry and unique point of view. Shown here is a one-of-a-kind yellow gold jewelry watch decorated with baguette-cut emeralds and diamonds, with each element artfully mounted on a different level to accentuate its volume. The diminutive green enamel dial complements the adjacent 26.11 carats of Colombia-sourced emeralds. A ring, whose centerpiece is a 2.53-carat emerald, is also part of this suite.
