Cafayate necklace | Cartier
Unveiled on the red carpet at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, the Cartier Cafayate necklace embodies the Maison’s En Équilibre philosophy through a dialogue of color, cut, and tension. Worn by actress Riley Keough, the necklace is crafted in a warm interplay of yellow and rose gold, and is said to have demanded 1,460 atelier hours from conception through execution.
Gemstones & composition
Centerpieces | a pair of opals weighing 5.64 ct and 4.59 ct. Both display a strong play-of-color with red, orange and yellow flashes that set the chromatic theme of the jewel.
Accent stones | 51 Umba sapphires from Tanzania’s Umba Valley, each fashioned in a bespoke half-moon cut. The palette ranges from lemon-yellow through honey and tangerine to soft pink, creating a graduated halo around the opals and extending into the line of the necklace.
Metalwork | yellow and rose gold are interwoven to echo En Équilibre’s equilibrium between symmetry and asymmetry, warmth and light.
Cut, setting & structure
The bespoke half-moon cut – rare in high jewelry – allows the sapphire accents to read as colored ribbons rather than discrete stones. The flat edge of each gem aligns precisely with its neighbors, while the curved edge amplifies light return along the design’s contours.
The two opals are paired in pattern and response so that their chromatic “conversation” remains consistent under changing lighting. Gold elements are engineered into alternating modules, ensuring visual harmony without rigid bilateral symmetry.
Craftsmanship
Over 1,460 hours were devoted to stone selection, custom cutting, calibration, matching and assembly.
Each sapphire was chosen for hue, saturation and transparency, then recut where necessary to achieve a smooth chromatic gradient and millimetric alignment with the opals’ curves.
The gold framework integrates micro-tolerances so the necklace lies fluidly at the clavicle while retaining structural integrity around the heavier centerstones.
Throughout the 1,460 atelier hours, Cartier’s artisans engaged in meticulous processes: selecting and recutting sapphires for hue consistency, calibrating gem shapes for seamless transitions, and machining gold modules with micro-tolerances so the necklace lies fluidly across the clavicle while supporting the weight of its center stones.
For Gem Enthusiast
Opals | The 5.64 ct and 4.59 ct cabochons display warm spectral fire, calibrated in pair to ensure matching pattern, tone, and brilliance.
Umba Valley sapphires (51 stones) | Known for their delicate yellow-to-pink palette, these sapphires were custom shaped into half moons to allow seamless transitions of color.
Gold interplay | The duo of yellow and rose gold accentuates the warmth of the palette, frames the opals’ fire, and reinforces the visual equilibrium of the design.
The Cafayate necklace distills Cartier’s En Équilibre into a single, confident expression: two luminous opals in chromatic dialogue, cradled by a sculpted flow of sapphire ribbons and enveloped in golden harmony.
Photography to be confirmed by Cartier press.
Gem Exploring Editorial.
