The Hong Kong Watch Auction: ONE | Page 400

The Audemars Piguet Tutti Frutti In the late 1920s, a time of economic expansion and wide spread growth filled creativity in areas of the arts, literature, architecture and design. With the crash in 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, they existed a rather uncertain era and the luxury jewelry houses and watch manufactures tried to encourage new spending by manufacturing exquisitely decorated objects such as the tutti-frutti bracelet watch. included short skirts and cropped hair and a demand for new forms of jewelry existed. The tutti-frutti helped capture the inspiration from these distant lands and the quest for essential. The essence of beauty was illustrated in the stunning colour combinations mixing these multi-colour gems engraved with floral motif. The tutti-frutti overturned the conventional jewellery design. Tutti-Frutti bracelet and watch designs consist of a mixture of rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds that give so much colours and they are often set as undulating vines with craft-gem leaves, flowers and fruits. There are an assortment of patterns and motifs that provide exotic fantasies for their owners. As women sort to expand their social and economic freedom they gained during the war years, hunger for novelty, luxury and frivolity was widespread and there became a fascination with Egypt, which was stimulated by accounts of artists and travellers visiting the region. The 1920s HK WATCHES_NOV15_284-419_bl_CS5.indd 398 22/10/15 11:08