Six carnelian butterflies flutter across a precious myrtle burl wood background. Photo courtesy Chaumet.

BY LESLIE JORDAN CLARY

In a move to marry beauty with functionality, Chaumet is following a trend of creating watches that are both practical and finely decorated. Mobile indexes, inspired by nature, replace the watch hands in their Attrape-moi… si tu m’aimes  Precious watches line. The self-winding mechanism animates the two hands in a display of flora and insects. A bee or dragonfly might mark off the minutes, while a spider points to the hour. The Attrape-moi… si tu m’aimes collection suggests new dimensions to time, movement, and emotion. Chaumet developed an entirely new complication specifically for these models.

—Nov. 26, 2014