High-end Swiss watchmakers splurge on their jewelry collections – and Vacheron Constantin is no exception. The Kallista series of collections and haute jewelry watches, which include Kalla Duchess, Kalla Lune, Lady Kalla and Kallania, literally bathe in diamonds. The Kallista reveals the naughty side of Vacheron Constantin – celebrating luxury and spending without reservations. The more traditionally oriented jewelry version of the 1972 Cambree and Malte offset the naughtiness with the weight of their names.

But the real luxury in these haute jewelry collections is not the diamonds: it's the amount of time and dedication invested in each and every timepiece. Watchmakers are joined by jewellers who inlay the stones into the case and the bracelet; aesthetics and style emerge as the top priority. As a result, the watches display a quality not to be found even in such jewelry specializing companies as Cartier or Gucci: a touch of authenticity seen only in art.

I won't go into the exact figures, but the number of diamonds in some of these watches approaches a thousand, few bearing over a hundred carats in all. The question that asks itself here is why spend so much on such a tiny watch? Isn't that some kind of decadence? I think that it is, though this hardly answers the first question. There is no reason behind these items – the whole idea behind luxury is that it defies and scorns reason.

Perhaps it's best, instead of wondering about these watches, to wonder at them. A relatively young collection, Kallista started with the more or less conventional design of paving the entire piece with diamonds. These items still looked like watches – something that can be hardly be said about the latest, 21^st century additions. These newest pieces resemble amulets or bracelets with a hidden heart – the watch itself – some being adorned and enveloped by diamonds cut especially for Vacheron Constantin.

Technical specifications, though understandably limited, include the best that Vacheron Constantin has to offer. All watches are manual-winding (probably an intentional move to make the owner touch the piece daily and routinely marvel at it), include a power reserve, hours and minutes hands, and moon phases in the Kalla Lune. Diamonds are cut into trapeze, baguette or flame shapes, and encrusted into white gold cases. Most watches are offered with a matching bracelet or a leather (alligator) strap. 1972 Cambree and Malte collections offer less radical jewelry models, while only the latter includes a tourbillon complication.