Lynda Bahr

Lynda Bahr Jewelry
San Gregorio, California

When my husband and I started working on this piece in 2008, it was going to be a watch. We were making watches at the time, and the owner of a gallery we worked with requested a special piece. We created the mosaics for the side bands and the back of the piece, but the gallery owner was…persnickety and wanted to wear the watch in the shower. We’re not machinists, we can’t make a waterproof watch. We were also getting fed up with trying to design for someone who was going to keep up-ping the ante, so we were going to scrap the project.

In the middle of all of this, my younger brother David died, and I wanted to make a memorial to him. I was looking at different stones we had on hand and focused on a large lemon beryl. We wound up creating a panel for it that would fit into the original watch band. It looked like a portal, which, to me, was a symbol of my brother leaving this world and going into the next. Although it’s surrounded by a chiseled rose gold bezel, the beryl is actually backset, which gives it the appearance that it’s floating when viewed from the side. The beryl is also backed with a piece of 22k bimetal on sterling, which gives it a golden glow and symbolizes the idea of people going into the light. 18k yellow gold columns topped with blue diamonds and granules in all colors of gold surround the beryl. And on either side of the panel are wide-striped columns that swing, further emphasizing the idea of passing through an entryway.

This watch-turned-bracelet has so much special meaning to me that when we would take it to shows, I priced it at $36,000 because I didn’t want to sell it. And I’m so glad I never did. It’s very, very special to me and I’ll never make another one like it.

Next: The Lost Year