The day I tried on $30 million worth of Cartier jewellery

The Dioscures set which comes with earrings, is believed to be upwards of $30 million. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CARTIER

Amanda Chai

UPDATED Jun 06, 2025, 03:19 AM

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SINGAPORE - It is not everyday you get to wear millions of dollars of Cartier jewellery.

For many of us, diamonds are a once-in-a-lifetime affair - usually stuck to a gold band and accompanied with paperwork for a Build-To-Order flat.

So when, in the name of work, I am offered the chance to preview and try on high jewellery pieces from Cartier, I jump.

The French luxury house launched its new high jewellery in phases starting from June. There are several priceless precious gems and some new additions to the Panthere de Cartier line (easily identifiable from the house’s iconic spotted feline).

Previews for the travelling collection are by appointment only, mostly for VIP clients, and I am here on one of its last few days in Singapore.

After oohing and aahing from behind glass cases, a colleague and I are ushered into a private room to try the goods for ourselves.

We begin with the creme de la creme: the Dioscures necklace, part of Cartier’s Magnitude high jewellery collection. Earlier, this beauty of perfectly laid diamonds caught everyone’s attention - for the pair of 26.35- and 26.37-carat, Type IIa diamonds anchoring the necklace.

Type IIa diamonds are some of the world’s rarest stones. Less than two per cent of natural diamonds meet the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) criteria to be classified as such.

These two are a GIA colour grade D - the highest on the scale - and a clarity grade of Internally Flawless; certified colourless rarities.

Cartier does not disclose prices of its high jewellery, but the Dioscures set, which comes with earrings, is believed to be upwards of $30 million.

Up close, the necklace is hypnotising, catching light at every angle. I suddenly recall the scene in the 2018 heist film Ocean’s 8, where Anne Hathaway tries on a $150 million Cartier necklace.

Any minute now I am expecting guards to bring in a special magnet to unclasp it - or arrest me.

I arch my neck this way and that, like Hathaway did, to admire it. The diamonds sit cold on my skin, but it cannot beat the icy realisation that my net worth will never come close to this. Is this how it feels to be weighed down by wealth?

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Brilliance aside, the Dioscures necklace is a marvel in craftsmanship. The 107 smaller diamonds (totalling 93.93 carats) lining it are laid to cascade naturally without a single piece being obscured.

Dubbed a “transformer piece” or modular jewellery, the necklace’s two pear-shaped diamond drops can be removed and transferred onto the earrings.

The necklace is a bit too rich for my blood, but the earrings I could get behind. When it comes time to unclasp them from my ears, I actually feel wistful.

The next set quickly distracts me from pining.

This year’s Panthere de Cartier additions include pink-gold bracelets (left) and a choker inspired by the lines of the Eiffel Tower. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CARTIER

The Panthere de Cartier has been a fixture in the Cartier universe since the big cat first graced a wristwatch in 1914. Over the years, it was reinvented to suit changing tastes, taking on increasingly three-dimensional and graphic silhouettes - like today’s necklace in front of me.

Inspired by the industrial lines of the Eiffel Tower, the massive choker is set with white gold, emeralds, diamonds and cheeky accents of onyx as the twin panthers’ noses - to bring out the brilliance of the diamonds in contrast.

As Cartier’s high jewellery community manager Eugene Wong proceeds to unlock and clasp it around my neck, I bite back the urge to shout “Wakanda forever”.

This year’s Panthere de Cartier additions include pink-gold bracelets and rings in the same detailed make - estimated at a cool $1 million or so.

Finally, we try another set of modular jewellery - the Varantia set from the Magnitude collection. Comprising a necklace, earrings and ring, the set spotlights untreated, pigeon-blood Burmese rubies.

To have a precious stone fulfil those three criteria is extremely rare, Mr Wong tells us. And the Varantia necklace contains seven of these cushion-shaped rubies (totalling 17.61 carats), which glow seductively from among the white gold, onyx and diamonds.

Contrasting red and the black of onyx has been a Cartier colour combination since the beginning of the 20th century.

The Varantia set from the Magnitude collection comprises a necklace, earrings and ring. PHOTOS: COURTESY OF CARTIER

Gently inspired by the multi-layered jewellery of maharajas, the long and short necklaces can be worn together or separately. The long necklace is also transformable into a bracelet and a shorter necklace - for, you know, everyday wear.

The hours fly by, and I leave the store in a daze, somehow a changed woman from an afternoon of play-modelling bling.

There is something escapist about gingerly handling jewellery which I can never afford in this lifetime.

It’s my one last Crazy Rich Asian fantasy to end the dreary year on a high. After all, a little sparkle during the holidays never hurt anyone.

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