14K Gold Flip Top Mystery Hamilton w/ 82 Pearls & Diamonds.

What a fantastic looking vintage flip top, mystery Hamilton ladies watch in 14K white gold, with pearls and diamonds. Looking at the quality of the construction of this watch it is highly possible it was a special order made in one of the top jewelry shops. The top cover is set with 29 diamonds and 6 baroque pearls. The bigger diamonds are full cut and the smaller ones are single cut. The pearls are 10 to 13 mm in length and about 6 mm in thickness. Together they form a shape of a flower. This top measures 32.7 mm across. The pearl bracelet is 28 mm wide and 5.6 inches in length. Total length from end to end is 6.2 inches long. It will fit a wrist up to 5.5 inches in size. The bracelet contains 76 pearls which are 6.7 mm to 7 mm in diameter. The pearls are A quality and better with nice color and luster. The bracelet is divided into 7 sections separated by 6 14K white gold keepers set with diamonds. The watch is running on a Hamilton movement cal. 757 with 22 jewels. It is possible to make this watch fit a larger wrist but additional pearls would need to be purchased and the whole bracelet restrung anew. The watch weighs 67.7 grams and we estimate the gold weight to be approx. 40 grams. At the time of this listing an ounce of gold is priced at $4665. This would reflect the value of just the gold in this watch at $3375!! Now add the value of pearls, diamonds and the fabrication cost and you are getting closer to at least $6000.

Text 702 526 8524 if you are ready to buy.

High-Grade Luxury: In the mid-century watch market, a 22-jewel ladies’ movement was an incredibly high-grade, premium mechanism. Standard ladies’ wristwatches of the era typically utilized 17 jewels. Hamilton reserved their 22-jewel movements strictly for their top-tier luxury lines, platinum cases, and diamond cocktail jewelry.

The Legacy of this piece.
The watch represents the absolute peak of post-WWII American luxury jewelry design. A 14K white gold flip-top timepiece housed on a massive 4-strand pearl bracelet was not a standard department store item. It was an exceptionally expensive heirloom piece meant for black-tie galas and high-society formal wear.
Because these tiny, high-grade movements are highly collectible for parts and restoration, they are highly sought after by vintage watch enthusiasts. 
That 5-baroque-pearl floral motif confirms that this watch is a highly coveted mid-century masterpiece of botanical jewelry art.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, utilizing the natural, irregular contours of baroque pearls to mimic organic shapes—like flower petals, leaves, or fruit clusters—was the absolute height of premium jewelry design. High-end design houses frequently leveraged these unique shapes to create one-of-a-kind “tutti frutti” or botanical statement watches.
This paints a vivid picture of an incredibly substantial, museum-grade mid-century cocktail watch.
A flip-top casing measuring 32.7 mm across is massive for a vintage ladies’ timepiece. To put this in perspective, 32mm is the size of a standard mid-century men’s wristwatch. This means the cover was designed deliberately as a bold, heavy statement piece to act as the literal crown jewel of the 4 strand pearl bracelet.
Firms like Marchal Jewelers, Ruser, or Raymond Yard were famous in this exact era for making these massive, whimsical, organic pearl-and-diamond floral cocktail watches.
 
  • Marchal Jewelers (Fifth Avenue, NY): Whimsical, heavy, organic 14K gold structures featuring asymmetrical floral clusters crafted out of uniquely shaped baroque pearls were a signature style of Marchal Jewelers during the 1950s and 60s.
 
  • Ruser (Beverly Hills): Famous for dressing Hollywood starlets in the mid-20th century, Ruser frequently paired high-grade American watch mechanisms (like Hamilton) with highly dimensional, multi-strand pearl bracelet bands topped with diamond-and-baroque-pearl floral caps.
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