HARRY WINSTON: A NEW CHAPTER IN THE HOUSE’S LEGACY OF EXCEPTIONAL JEWELS

Harry Winston occupies a distinctive place in the history of modern fine jewellery. Founded in New York in 1932, the House was built around its founder’s fascination with rare gemstones and an unusually discerning approach to sourcing, cutting and setting them. More than nine decades later, that philosophy remains central to the way Harry Winston approaches jewellery and high watchmaking.

The House’s contemporary collections continue to draw from several strands of that history. Some look towards the natural world, translating flowers, foliage and celestial forms into diamonds and coloured gemstones. Others turn back to New York, the city that shaped Harry Winston himself and has remained an important source of architectural and cultural references for the brand. Alongside these collections, its high jewellery continues to place exceptional stones at the centre of the creative process.

That emphasis begins with the gem rather than the finished design. Harry Winston describes its jewellery as starting with diamonds or coloured gemstones selected for exceptional quality, after which its craftsmen develop settings intended to reveal their individual character. The approach reflects the founder’s own reputation as a major dealer and collector of important gemstones.

Harry Winston was born in New York City in 1896 and grew up around his father’s jewellery business. One of the stories most closely associated with his early life concerns an emerald he identified at a pawnshop when he was 12. The shopkeeper believed the green stone to be glass; Winston recognised its value and purchased it for a small sum before later selling it for considerably more.

By 1920, at the age of 24, he had established the Premier Diamond Company at 535 Fifth Avenue. During the following decade, Winston developed a reputation through his acquisition of important estates and exceptional stones. In 1926, for example, he acquired the jewellery estate of Arabella Huntington, whose collection later provided inspiration for the House’s Belle collection.

The establishment of Harry Winston, Inc. in New York in 1932 marked the point at which Winston began creating jewellery under his own name. His business subsequently became associated with some of the most significant gemstones of the twentieth century, including the Jonker Diamond and the Hope Diamond.

The Jonker was acquired by Winston in 1935 as a 726-carat rough diamond and was eventually divided into 12 polished stones. The largest weighed 125.35 carats. In another defining chapter, Winston donated the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958, where it became part of the National Gem Collection.

These episodes help explain why coloured gemstones and diamonds remain so central to the House. Harry Winston’s heritage is not limited to colourless diamonds; its archives also reflect a long-standing appreciation for emeralds, rubies and sapphires. The House describes its relationship with rare coloured stones as one of its founding pillars, extending the founder’s interest in exceptional gems beyond diamonds alone.

Design has evolved alongside that gemmological tradition. One of the House’s most recognisable motifs emerged in the early 1940s, when designer Nevdon Koumrouyan helped develop the Winston Cluster. The arrangement places diamonds of different cuts around a central stone, creating a composition intended to echo the irregular beauty of petals and leaves.

The relationship between jewellery and New York has also remained particularly strong. The House’s New York Collection draws on landmarks and architectural details associated with the city, from Central Park and Manhattan’s brownstones to the Art Deco character of Fifth Avenue. The 718 Marble Marquetry designs, for instance, reference the marble detailing of the House’s Fifth Avenue salon, while the Eagle collection takes inspiration from the cast-iron eagles associated with Grand Central Terminal.

That connection is significant because Harry Winston’s history has always been intertwined with New York. The House opened its first international salon in Geneva in 1955, followed by Paris in 1957, but its Fifth Avenue presence remains part of its identity. The current New York salon is located at 701 Fifth Avenue, reflecting the brand’s continuing association with the city where its story began.

Today, Harry Winston’s offering encompasses fine jewellery, high jewellery, bridal collections and timepieces. Its recent work has continued to balance archival references with new interpretations. In January 2026, for example, the House introduced a rose-gold Harry Winston Moments timepiece for the Chinese Year of the Horse, featuring a three-dimensional horse rendered in red lacquer and gold.

Other recent creations draw upon the House’s longstanding interest in nature. Its Forget-Me-Not designs, for example, interpret the small blue flower through diamonds and sapphires, while newer floral pieces continue to explore the relationship between botanical forms and precious materials.

The House has also revisited its association with aristocratic and historic jewels through Royal Adornments, a high jewellery collection inspired by royal jewels of the past and the gemstones acquired by Harry Winston during his career. Rather than reproducing historical pieces, the collection uses that history as a starting point for contemporary one-of-a-kind suites.

Craftsmanship remains the final link between stone and design. Harry Winston’s approach depends on highly specialised jewellers and setters whose work determines how a gem sits within a composition, how light enters and leaves the stone, and how the finished piece moves with the wearer. The result is a form of jewellery in which technical decisions are closely connected to the qualities of the materials themselves.

The House’s retail presence now extends across a network of official salons, with locations listed in its current store directory. In the United Arab Emirates, the official Harry Winston salon is at The Dubai Mall, Unit GF-132, Ground Floor, Downtown Dubai, while its New York salon occupies 701 Fifth Avenue.

For Harry Winston, heritage is therefore less a fixed aesthetic than an accumulated way of working: identifying exceptional stones, understanding their character and giving them a setting that allows that character to remain visible. From the gem rooms of early twentieth-century New York to contemporary high jewellery, the House’s most enduring idea is remarkably direct. The jewel begins with the stone, and everything that follows exists to let its natural brilliance speak with greater clarity.