San Francisco based jewelry outfit Brilliant Earth is jumping into the watch game with the release of two original designs dubbed the Solstice collection. Known for their ethical approach to sourcing jewelry, Brilliant Earth is admittedly a little outside of the wheelhouse of most watch enthusiasts. In bringing the Solstice collection to life, however, they’ve partnered with the folks at Louis Erard. The result is a pair of watches that fall broadly inline with formal watch trends in the independent brand space, featuring textured dials inspired by the summer and winter solstices.
There is deeper connective tissue between Brilliant Earth and the independent watch brand scene. Stepping back to 2010, there existed a sparse landscape of small independent brands setting the stage for what you might call the micro-brand boom that would follow. Some of the brands were short lived, some still thrive today, but they served an important purpose of laying the creative groundwork that would entice a new generation of enthusiasts.
One of these brands was Xetum, founded by San Francisco based designer, Jeff Kuo. The watches featured a unique lugless case, with clean, almost clinical dial design and ETA movements. The Tyndall and Stinson collections would see a variety of configurations come and go, with the eventual release of the Kendrick representing the final expression of the idea prior to being sold off in 2014. Xetum was a brand that made a strong impression on a market eager for original designs, and while we never got new generations of these watches, Kuo now serves as the CFO at Brilliant Earth.
The Solstice collection is not the return of Xetum inspired designs. The watches are more of an extension of Louis Erard design language, which is certainly not a bad thing. A new collection of watches from a jewelry brand might be easy to dismiss, but there are some compelling bona fides here that merit an earnest look. That said, the Solstice watches will likely find their audience within Brilliant Earth’s existing clientele.
There are two designs at work here, the Summer Solstice, featuring a deep green moss colored dial; and the Winter Solstice, which features a snow white textured dial with four baguette lab diamonds at the cardinal positions. Both watches use a Sellita SW260-1 automatic movement which places a subsidiary seconds hand at the six o’clock position. There is an exhibition caseback on both watches, but the dial is the real draw here.
Both watches use a 39mm steel case that measures 12.8mm in thickness, and yes there is a lug here which is fit to calfskin leather straps. One of the more interesting details is the crown, which gets an intricate sol motif design, which looks quite beautiful, though may present issues when winding and setting with the sharp edges. Overall, the design of each is quite handsome and the textured dials and sharp handsets are right on trend.
At $3,995 (Summer Solstice), and $4,995 (Winter Solstice) pricing feels slightly aggressive in comparison to something like Louis Erard’s own 2340 collection, which gets a whole integrated bracelet design, but the Solstice collection is limited to just 100 examples across both references. As such, the watches feel more like a proof of concept that will set a broader relationship with Louis Erard, and the watch space in general for Brilliant Earth.
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