Welcome to the special 2018 Chinese New Year edition of Watches Wednesday (I know, I know, it’s only Tuesday, but do bear with me here as there’s another beauty coming up tomorrow!), featuring the Dior’s Special Edition Grand Bal timepiece created specifically for this festive season. Called the Fête du Printemps, this translates into “Spring Festival”, which is precisely what the Lunar New Year is referred to as, in China.

This Fête du Printemps Grand Bal model comes with an automatic movement, the Dior Inversé 11 1/2 calibre. The white mother-of-pearl dial on this 36mm timepiece features an oscillating fan-like weight  on which a swirl of yellow gold stems and petals of diamonds, rubies, and gold, seem to “grow” on. I don’t know about you, but this motif reminds me of the cherry blossom flowers that we usually put into vases as decorative blooms during the Lunar New Year.

And here’s where it gets interesting: the shiny alligator strap in not any other colour, but red. At this point, you may be wondering, “why red?” Culturally, the colour red is significant to the Chinese, because it is considered as the colour of good fortune and joy. One is therefore encouraged to wear red to ward off any evil spirits and bad fortune, so that they may attract good luck for the coming year. There are also just 88 pieces – in Chinese, this signifies “double prosperity” – of these Limited Edition pieces available globally.  Yep, the Chinese are culturally very superstitious, especially during the Lunar New Year.

Image courtesy of Dior