Genius At Work: Top Of The Rock

Tiffany & Co takes its high jewellery to new heights with an extraordinary necklace celebrating the house’s Manhattan roots.

Words: Paige Reddinger THERE’S BEEN NO shortage of jawdropping jewels coming out of the workshop of Tiffany & Co during its 184 years in business. Notable among them is the company’s 128-carat yellow-diamond necklace worn by Audrey Hepburn, Lady Gaga and, most recently, Beyoncé. But sadly for collectors and celebrities alike, the piece has never been for sale. Poised to rival that bijou’s fame, however, is the new World’s Fair Necklace, set with more than 175 carats of diamonds. Valued at a skyscraping US$20 million to US$30 million, it’s the most expensive and elaborate creation the jeweller has offered to prospective clients.

The company honours its 1939 version in the design of the contemporary edition. Created, as its name suggests, for the World’s Fair in Queens, New York, during the art deco era, the original was set with an over 200-carat aquamarine at its heart. The necklace’s release also coincided with the debut of Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue boutique, which opened its doors for the first time in 1940.

In a full-circle moment, the 2022 version will make its entrance this autumn (assuming it doesn’t sell to a collector before it arrives), timed to the reopening of the jeweller’s New York City flagship after a three-year-long renovation to the space. This time around, the piece has been reconceived with an 80-carat, D-colour, internally flawless diamond, dubbed the Empire Diamond, at its centre. And for the first time, the stone can be popped out of its cage and put into the setting of an accompanying ring. According to the company, the original necklace’s whereabouts are unknown, making the 2022 edition an even more valuable slice of high-jewellery history.

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The original 1939 necklace, pictured in sketch, was not transformable, unlike today’s version. Small adjustments were made to the unique shapes of the baguette diamonds where the collar meets the centrepiece basket, offering a lighter, more modern feel.

2. Fitting the Mould

A model of the new version was made via CAD and a handmade design that was then 3D-printed in green wax, allowing jewellers to play with the fit and sizing. Here, a jeweller assesses how the emerald-cut setting of the ribbon collar will fit and slide into the carriage that holds the Empire Diamond.

3. Carat Cradle

The jeweller takes the platinum setting that will hold the Empire Diamond and cleans its casting with a tool tipped with a rubber wheel before the metal gets prepolished and the stones are placed.

4. Base Camp

The setting for the platinum base of the ring, which accompanies the necklace and will also hold the Empire Diamond, is prepared using an engraving tool.

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5. Perfect Placement

The jeweller has laid out the round brilliant-cut diamonds and is starting to arrange the round jewels on the bottom. Work has also begun on one side of the setting that will surround the Empire Diamond. The necklace is about 60 per cent complete at this stage.

6. Crowning Glory

The 80-carat, D-colour, internally flawless oval diamond is set into its cage at the heart of the necklace. It was responsibly sourced from Botswana and is part of Tiffany & Co’s fulltransparency programme that traces the origins of its stones of 0.18 carats and larger. The World’s Fair Necklace’s end client will receive a full report detailing the stone’s every step from the mine to the cutting floor to the Tiffany vault.

7. Sticky Fingers

Custom-cut diamond baguettes will fall on either side of the basket of the oval diamond. They are carefully set in an initial rough layout using a tool with a sticky wax that enables the jeweller to pick up each gem one by one.

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8. Chain Reaction

The back of the necklace is carefully inspected to ensure that the diamonds have been set correctly, that the prongs don’t obscure the jewels and that each stone is securely in place.

9. Ring in the New

Unlike its predecessor’s, the centrepiece of today’s World’s Fair piece can be removed from its carriage on the necklace and placed inside a ring, for a solitaire that will rival almost any other finger bijou.

10. Fringe Factor

One design element from the 1939 original that Tiffany & Co felt strongly about preserving was the cascade of baguette diamonds at the tip of the necklace. “We thought they were a great nod to New York, the art deco empire and the Empire State Building,” says Victoria Reynolds, Tiffany & Co’s chief gemmologist. “We wanted it to very much feel from that era, but it’s much lighter, and the fit is spectacular.”

11. The Masterpiece

The completed necklace is adorned with 504 diamonds, including 353 round brilliant stones, 150 custom-cut baguettes and, of course, the ultra-rare Empire Diamond.

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