Diamond Watches

Setting method is what separates them. Prong or claw setting holds each stone in metal fingers and lets light in from the sides, which is why it sparkles most. Bezel setting surrounds each stone with a rim, more secure and more subdued. Pave covers a surface in small stones set close together, and the quality shows in how even the spacing is and how little metal shows between them.

Applied diamond indices are a different proposition from a set bezel: a small amount of stone doing a legibility job, rather than decoration for its own sake, and usually the more wearable of the two.

Between GBP 460 and GBP 15,200 here with the median near GBP 2,500. At the upper end, from Chopard and Girard-Perregaux, the setting is done in-house and the stone quality is specified rather than assumed.

Diamond Watches holds 99 models across 23 brands, from £30 to £33,500. Half cost less than £2,099, and a quarter less than £865. 40 of 99 are automatic. 50 are stocked by more than one retailer, giving 157 offers in total. Rado lists more references here than any other brand. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.