“The appeal of using unusual hard stones has always stemmed from a desire to celebrate the raw beauty of the earth,” says Sophie Howard, founder of UK fine jewellery brand By Pariah. “Hard stones — ...

Neolithic people buried hundreds of stones carved with images of the sun about 4900 years ago and they may have done it because a volcanic eruption covered the sky ...

But recently, watches with hard-stone dials have experienced a surge in popularity, spreading far beyond their glam origins to populate every corner of watchmaking, from plucky start-ups to ...