Boucheron Reflet Steel & Diamonds Medium - c. 1990

Steel that treats itself to diamonds.

Description

A rectangular case, vertical godroons rhythmically lining its flanks, horizontal lines stretching it across the wrist: the Reflet is recognizable from afar, and it is one of the rare silhouettes in women's watchmaking that cannot be mistaken for any other.

Its silvered dial is finely striated, shifting in hue according to the angle and the light: the model certainly lives up to its name. Four diamonds replace the numerals, placed at the four cardinal points, and that is all the ornamentation this watch allows itself. The hands trace the silhouette of the Vendôme Column: a nod from the Maison to its address that one only notices once it has been pointed out.

The steel bracelet picks up the godroons of the case and disappears inside it. This is the Reflet's great innovation: an invisible attachment system that allows you to change the strap in a few seconds, from leather to metal, as the mood takes you.

How to wear it?

This is a watch one never tires of, because you can make it change its mood. The steel bracelet gives it a sporty look, a black leather strap makes it dressy, and a light-colored leather makes it perfect for summer. Françoise readily advises building a small collection of straps: it is the best use one can make of this watch.

The four diamonds on the dial place it a notch above the steel Reflet with baton indices: it transitions to evening wear without looking like an office watch, which is rare for a steel case.

Its quartz movement also makes it a watch you can wear without a second thought, with no need to wind or set it.

Why did Françoise choose it?

Because Boucheron is one of the Maisons that Françoise finds unfairly overlooked, and the Reflet is a model she would like to see more often on her clients' wrists. It is a watch designed in 1947 that has not aged a day, which says enough about the precision of its design.

She was, above all, seduced by this particular version. Steel and diamonds do not often make good bedfellows — one is modest, the other is not — and Boucheron finds the balance here: four stones, not one more, on a dial that remains sober. We are far from steel watches set all the way to the bezel.

Finally, there is the attachment system, which Françoise considers one of the very best ideas in 20th-century women's watchmaking. A watch that can be transformed by the wearer, without tools and without an appointment at the watchmaker, is a watch you keep for a long time.

History

Frédéric Boucheron opened his first boutique in 1858 at the Palais-Royal. It was not until 1893 that he moved to 26 Place Vendôme, becoming the first of the great contemporary jewelers to choose this address: the one that all other Maisons would later join. The column that stands in the center of the Place has since become a recurring motif in the Boucheron vocabulary, right down to the design of this watch's hands.

The Reflet was born in 1947. It was the Maison's first major horological success, and it relied on a simple idea: hide the lugs and house the bracelet inside the case, so that the watch could change its appearance according to the wearer's whims. Nearly 80 years later, the principle remains unchanged, and the Reflet is still in the catalog. Its most famous ambassador remains Édith Piaf, who wore them and collected them. A lineage the Maison still lays claim to today.