Piaget’s creative director, Stéphanie Sivrière, is still haunted by the headaches that went into the painstaking construction of one of the pieces that features in the maison’s 2024 high-jewellery collection – a long necklace known as a sautoir with a timepiece attached.

Set in yellow gold with a cushion-cut 29.24-carat yellow sapphire from Sri Lanka, a six-carat aquamarine, yellow sapphires, malachite beads, turquoise beads and diamonds, it morphs into a wristwatch when detached and a green satin strap is attached.