Andrew Grima was a British jewellery designer, not primarily a watchmaker, but his 1970 collaboration with Omega produced one of the more unconventional ideas in watch design: a gemstone in place of ordinary watch glass. William Grant’s Andrew Grima: The Father of Modern Jewellery, published in 2020, tells the broader story of Grima’s work; the Omega watches are a distinctive chapter in a career-spanning jewellery monograph.
Who was Andrew Grima?
Grima was a British jewellery designer whose work crossed into watches and other objects. JCK places him in the postwar British jewellery-design scene and reports that his Jermyn Street shop opened in 1966. That context matters: his watch designs grew out of a jeweller’s approach to materials and form, rather than a conventional watchmaker’s focus on the movement alone. JCK’s account of British jewellery designers provides the shop reference.
ACC Art Books says Grima won the Queen’s Award for Export, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design, and 11 De Beers Diamonds International Awards. The publisher’s description does not state the years for those awards, so the count is best understood as the publisher’s account rather than a dated award chronology. ACC Art Books’ book description also frames him as a major figure in modern jewellery.
What is the 2020 book about?
Andrew Grima: The Father of Modern Jewellery is a career-spanning monograph by William Grant, published by ACC Art Books in October 2020. The hardback has 336 pages, 401 color illustrations and 52 black-and-white illustrations; its ISBN is 9781788841061. ACC describes it as the first major monograph on Grima and says it draws on archival sketches, designs and photographs, with Grant having access to the Grima family history and archives. Those are the publisher’s descriptions of the book’s scope and material.
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The book is about Grima’s jewellery and broader design work, not solely about watches. Its direct relevance to watch readers is the Omega project, which shows how a designer known for jewellery approached the watch as an object to be adorned and rethought. The publisher lists the book and its specifications at ACC Art Books.
How did Grima change the look of an Omega watch?
Omega commissioned Grima in 1969 to create the About Time collection, launched at Goldsmiths’ Hall in London in 1970. The central idea was to replace ordinary watch glass with a gemstone, allowing the dial to be viewed through the stone. In effect, a functional part of the watch became its principal decorative material: the watch could be read as timepiece and jewellery at once.
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- Used Book in Good Condition
The project required a departure from standard watch design expectations. Grima reportedly took experimental wooden models to Switzerland and encountered a muted response. Revolution Watch quotes him recalling, “The first time I went to Switzerland with the experimental wooden models, I was greeted with dead silence, then a series of polite questions. The Swiss are not inclined to go mad.” The anecdote captures the contrast between his exploratory, jewellery-led design approach and the cautious reception he describes. Revolution Watch’s history of About Time gives the fuller account.
How many About Time pieces were made?
The accounts agree that the collection included 55 watches, but they differ on the number of matching jewellery pieces. The Omega Museum text reproduced in a visitor PDF says there were 30; Revolution Watch gives 31. The discrepancy should be kept visible rather than treated as a settled combined total.
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- By Fabienne Reybaud (Author)
- 324 Pages
- Over 250 Illustrations
- Silk Hardcover
- Imported
| Source | Watches | Matching jewellery pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Omega Museum text reproduced in an Omega Forums visitor PDF | 55 | 30 |
| Revolution Watch | 55 | 31 |
The Omega Museum account appears in A Visit To Omega Museum; the other count comes from Revolution Watch’s feature.
What came after About Time?
Grima also designed a later gold digital LED collection for Pulsar. It offers a useful contrast with About Time: the Omega project made the stone over the dial the defining feature of an analogue watch, while the Pulsar work used a digital LED display in a gold design. The exact production count for the Pulsar collection is not established by the cited accounts, so it should not be inferred from descriptions of the watches.
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- Elegant Book-Style Jewelry Organizer - Travel-Friendly & Compact. Designed like a chic notebook, this ultra-slim jewelry case slips effortlessly into your handbag or luggage. Perfect for travel, it keeps your favorite earrings, necklaces, and rings neatly stored and tangle-free on the go
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Why the book matters to watch readers
About Time is a notable watch-design story precisely because it came from outside the usual watchmaking frame. Grima treated the crystal area not as a transparent barrier to conceal, but as a place for a gemstone to shape the experience of reading the dial. The book places that experiment in the context of his larger jewellery practice, which helps explain why the collection looks less like a conventional watch line and more like a jeweller’s answer to the question of what a watch can be.
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