Chaumet unveils new watch and jewellery collection dedicated to Empress Josephine
Chaumet’s new watch and jewellery collection rethinks the classic pear cut

Chaumet’s history has been intertwined with that of Empress Josephine’s since the jewellery house became her official jeweller in the 18th century. She has been the muse for myriad diamond creations since then, with high and fine jewellery collections weaving references to her into intricate patterns of diamonds over the subsequent centuries.
Now, a rethinking of Chaumet’s Joséphine collection celebrates the empress’ chameleon-like love of reinvention. It is a collection crying out to be mixed, matched and made your own. The design centres around her most recognisable piece, the tiara, adapting the pear cut at its centre into earrings, rings, necklaces and a watch.
‘Our key character isn’t Napoleon – it’s Josephine,’ says Chaumet CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt. ‘She’s an interesting character, the central one of the maison. The pure shape is part of her story.’
In the new Joséphine Ronde d’Aigrettes collection, pear cuts form asymmetrical silhouettes, the angular lines of the rings made to be stacked. In the Joséphine Valse Impériale high jewellery collection, pear-shaped diamonds are swept into the curves of a tiara or rest lightly below the collarbone. The simple graphic silhouette of the dial takes centre stage in the the Joséphine Aigrette watch, which is held comfortably in place with an unbroken buckle-free loop of leather or satin. ‘More than ever, we wanted this connection between the jewellery and the watch,’ Mansvelt says.
Next month, Chaumet will be celebrating Josephine and Napoleon in a new Paris exhibition, ‘Joséphine et Napoléon, une histoire (extra)ordinaire’, which marks the bicentury of the emperor’s death and takes a look back through the couple’s life together through jewellery, paintings and works of art. ‘Many institutions will celebrate Napoleon the politician, or the military man. We are highlighting that Napoleon was also a man in love,’ says Mansvelt.
Adds Chaumet director of heritage Claire Gannet: ‘Nowadays, we all want to contemplate and experience beauty. The spring season overlaps with the anniversary of Napoleon’s death – starting to talk about their love story at the blooming season is a nice symbol.’
INFORMATION
The exhibition ’Joséphine et Napoléon, une histoire (extra)ordinaire’ will take place 10 April – 12 June at 12 Place Vendôme, Paris
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 shows
The Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to know
Designing the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spot
Heritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Patridge celebrates three decades of precious wit
A new book illuminates a 30-year career of darkly fanciful high-jewellery design, and a smacker of a semi-precious hit
-
Chaumet’s new book celebrates its most memorable collaborations with photographers
'Chaumet: Photographers’ Gaze' unites jewellery editorials and campaigns captured by major photographers. Co-author Carol Woolton tells us of the ‘addictive' Chaumet archive
-
Wild beauties: high jewellery dripping with drama
The latest high jewellery collections are fantastic and flamboyant, drawing on a wealth of influences, from a Chopin composition and César Ritz to crocodiles and colour refraction
-
Boghossian looks to the palaces of the world for a regal high jewellery collection
Boghossian's new Palace Voyages collection is inspired by royal architecture
-
Chaumet, Cartier and Chanel up their high jewellery watch game for 2024
In 2024's high jewellery watch designs, performance tech and centuries-old techniques combine to brilliant effect
-
High jewellery with dazzling effects
Stand-out gems dazzle against a backdrop of red and black in our high jewellery shoot
-
Paris 2024 and Chaumet unveil Olympic and Paralympic medals
The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medals designed by Chaumet are not just emblems of champions but are storytelling jewellery
-
Chunky chains are given a subversive high jewellery spin
High jewellery houses rewrite the rules by way of 1980s tunes and a blast of emeralds, spinels and diamonds