Jewels for the Silver Screen Siren
Revered in the annals of history for her profound affinity for jewels, Elizabeth Taylor’s name is indelibly linked with legendary gems and the venerated houses that crafted them. In 1969, a deluge of admirers thronged Cartier’s New York boutique, driven by zeal to glimpse the 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond acquired by Richard Burton for an astonishing $1.1 million—today’s equivalent of 7 million British pounds. Burton’s fervor for winning this gem was such that he professed to have become a fanatic. Upon its acquisition, the stone was meticulously set upon a necklace and delivered to Taylor, then in Monaco, under an operation akin to a cinematic thriller, where armed escort met subterfuge over a three-week journey. The Taylor-Burton diamond shone as a crowning jewel among her storied collection, largely auctioned in 2011 at Christie’s—including treasures from Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels, such as La Peregrina, a 16th-century pearl once held by Spanish royalty.
An Unseen Watch Collection
While Taylor’s watch collection may be somewhat overshadowed by her vast trove of jewels, Gislain Aucremanne, Asset Manager for Bulgari, asserts that for the star, watches and jewels were unified. The narratives surrounding her exquisite collection of timepieces indeed read like Hollywood scripts.
In 1962, while filming “Cleopatra,” Taylor acquired a Bulgari Serpenti watch, complete with a gold serpent head and coiled band. Amidst clandestine rendezvous within the bejeweled confines of Bulgari’s Rome boutique, the affairs of the married ‘Queen of the Nile’ with Richard Burton transpired. Simultaneously, the film’s skyrocketing costs nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Aucremanne noted that this particular watch wasn’t a gift from Eddie Fisher, her husband at the time, nor Burton, but rather a token from the film studio. Furthermore, Taylor procured a second, more understated Serpenti watch during a 2010 revisit to Rome.
Yet not all her jewels were kept; prior to her tumultuous romance with Burton, Taylor gave Eddie Fisher a Cartier Tank watch inscribed with “When time began…” Her Cartier collection also featured a noteworthy 1920s Art Deco barrel-shaped watch, likely an antique acquisition sold at Christie’s in 2011 for $80,500.
The Queen’s Couture: A Timeline of Treasures
Francesca Cartier Brickell, author of “The Cartiers,” remarked on Taylor’s ability to secure Cartier watches with judicious compliments. Her golden Cartier cache also housed numerous styles, including an ultra-thin Tank Louis with a black satin band. Perhaps the most distinctive piece was an art deco pocket watch hanging on a chain of diamonds, its dial concealing a crystal elephant—an item documented in her book “My Love Affair with Jewelry,” a comprehensive account of her awe-inspiring jewelry collection.
Even further, her collection featured three hand-carved gold Piaget watches—a staple of ’60s and ’70s fashion. Yves Piaget himself sold one such Swiss timepiece to Taylor and Burton during a holiday at their Gstaad ski chalet; it bore a gold bracelet and an oval-shaped jade dial. Jean-Bernard Forot, Piaget’s Head of Patrimony, recollects a day when a call from Taylor’s secretary spurred Yves to journey to snowy Gstaad with a selection of fine pieces.
Reflecting Upon Time and Timeliness
One wonders if the jewel-obsessed star truly cared for time. Tim Mendelson, Trustee of the Taylor Family Trust, contends that Taylor’s watch collection was a celebration of all that glimmers, albeit with a reservations about punctuality. “Elizabeth always valued time, never taking her fame as a license to tardiness.”
