In the middle ages, rings with skull motifs and designs were presented as wedding rings and were also handed over to mourners at funerals, which led to the skulls becoming a symbol of death. By the 18th century, the skull had become associated with piracy and it carries the pirate’s charm to this day.

Temperley London, Autumn Winter 2016

Storytelling has mostly men as pirates, but that has not stopped fashion designers drawing inspiration from pirate iconography for feminine collections. The Autumn Winter 2016 Temperley London collection is inspired by pirates and traders of the spice route, their tattoos of victories, loyalties and loves. It is bold yet very feminine. A watch to match? - Indeed.

FIONA KRÜGER Petite Skull Silver

The woman watchmaker Fiona Krüger became fascinated with concepts of time and mortality, which have played an important role in watchmaking since the 1400s. This journey inspired her to develop the iconic SKULL collection. Drawing inspiration from the 17th century skull watch of Mary Queen of Scots, the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos and beautifully decorated skeleton movements found in today’s luxury watches, Fiona’s artistic re-interpretation of the skull has resulted in a unique timepiece collection. The petite SKULL collection is particularly feminine and it comes as a limited collection of 18. Hand-made in Switzerland and powered by a Swiss mechanical automatic movement, the watch is fully skeletonised with a custom guilloché oscillating mass.

URSO - The Treasure Island collection

Resin and sterling silver hand-engraved
Nib: 18 kt white gold
Filling system: converter or ink cartridges
Limited editions
88 pcs fp - 88 pcs rb. in sterling silver
44 pcs fp - 44 pcs rb. in solid 18 kt gold and diamonds

Moving to luxury accessories, Urso Luxury takes the pirate theme to a whole new level of extravagance by honouring Robert Louis Stevenson fans with a complete Treasure Island luxury pen collection. A feast for the fans, indeed.

Is it safe to say 2016 is the year of the Pirates of Luxury?