2016 is the year to celebrate women at DeWitt. The Swiss manufacture will unveil a new collection of jewellery watches throughout the year, adding a softer look to its widening ladies’ repertoire.

Spring has arrived early this year. That is, if you ask Swiss watchmaker DeWitt. The manufacture has announced two new releases to start a yearlong celebration of women. The first models pay tribute to Japanese artistic crafts. They are the DeWitt Golden Afternoon and Classic gem-set watches, which were selected to receive a special embellishment.

The Golden Afternoon jewellery watch is well-known for its floral dial in mother-of-pearl marquetry. It features a delicate design of butterflies and flowers, with hour and minute hands, shaped like finely sculpted angel wings. Its blue and violet tinted dial adorns a white-gold case set with round diamonds and enhanced with a shiny blue alligator wristband.

The Classic jewellery model, on the other hand, comes in a 18-carat rose gold case, which pairs well with the dial’s springtime shades tinged with yellow, orange and green.

Their exceptional new dials were produced in partnership with a Japanese artist trained in the ancient Japanese arts of calligraphy and painting. The delicate decoration is produced through an artistic technique that involves combining precious pigments with Indian ink. However, no paint is actually used on the dials.

They are formed using only dots of powder fixed by hand, anywhere up to 50,000 individual dots in order to decorate one dial. The powdered diamond, platinum, gold, pearl, agate or other gemstones give the dial a particular sheen and subtle, textured effects.

With these first creations, the artist has produced an elegant tribute to the majesty of Emperor Napoleon, who is a direct ancestor of Jérôme de Witt, the founder of Dewitt Manufacture.

The new watches also represent somewhat of a shift in the philosophy of the brand. Known for its strong linear designs usually inspired by the world of architecture (especially in their men’s lines), these watches add a softer touch to their collection.

The release also shows a dedication by the brand to strengthen its ladies’ collections this year, making us look forward to how DeWitt will follow up this feat throughout the year.