At the end of the sleeve
Cufflinks
and Dress Sets
One-off pieces from my atelier in Munich: hand-raised discs in platinum and white gold, cabochons in bezels, sets for dinner jacket and tails. Five generations of goldsmithing since 1837.
Cufflinks from the MXHM atelier in Munich: hand-raised discs in platinum and white gold with sapphire cabochons, coloured stones in bezels, antique coins, dress sets and dress studs. One-off pieces made to order, following the book „Kostbare Manschettenknöpfe“ (Precious Cufflinks) by Franz Hemmerle and Walter Grasser.
The principle
The only piece of jewellery with a job to do
A French cuff has no button sewn on. It has four holes. Whoever wants to close it needs a piece of jewellery; there is no plain solution.
The cufflink has been part of European men's dress since the 17th century, for a long time as a mark of rank. By the late 19th century gentlemen wore it to play tennis.
Of the few places where a man wears jewellery, the cuff is the most reserved. It shows itself when the hand reaches out, and disappears again.
The link has to go through the buttonhole every time the shirt is put on: narrow enough to pass, solid enough to survive that a thousand times over. Chain, swivel bar and T-bar are three answers to this one question.
Kostbare Manschettenknöpfe. Von Pablo Picasso bis James Bond (Precious Cufflinks. From Pablo Picasso to James Bond; Hirmer, 2015) was edited by my father Franz Hemmerle together with Walter Grasser and Alexander von Württemberg: more than two hundred pairs from the late 19th century to the present day.
The pieces
One-off pieces from recent years
Each of these pairs existed exactly once. None is available.
A favourite
Hand-raised discs in platinum and white gold
Of everything on this page, this is the pair I wear most. The body is not cast: it is raised by hand from sheet, a flat disc whose curve only appears under the hammer. In the centre sits a sapphire cabochon, and that is all.
They are made in platinum and white gold. Side by side you see the difference: platinum sits cooler and a shade darker, white gold lighter.
A hand-raised disc is the most laborious way to build so simple a form, and the only one in which the metal stays evenly under tension to the edge. You see it when light runs across it.
The fitting
A chain rather than a swivel bar
The cabochon links are joined by a fine chain, not by a rigid bar: the link sits loosely in the cuff and does not pull the fabric askew.
Both sides carry a stone, so you always see one, whichever way the cuff falls.
Colour
The stones come first
The face of a cufflink is small, so the stone on it is large in proportion. It decides how the bezel is run, how high the link is built and how much metal remains visible.
Dress set
Dress studs belong with them
A dress shirt has no sewn-on buttons, only holes. A dress set is therefore a set: one pair for the cuff and four shirt studs, all from the same stone and the same setting.
Because the studs are small and the cufflink is large, the stone has to be cut twice: once for the face that counts, and once for the one that only plays along.
The shirt studs have a short post with a backing disc and can be put in with one hand.
I make dress sets to match existing cufflinks or from scratch. Either takes longer than a pair, because the stones have to match.
Worn
On the sleeve a different arithmetic applies
On the shirt what counts is how the stone stands to the fabric and to the watch on the same hand. Three photographs taken on the way, not in the studio.
Something else in mind?
What you see here is a selection
I have made cufflinks from antique coins, from titanium and blackened steel, with a monogram and without, in gold, white gold and platinum. A particular colour, a stone, a motif: it can almost always be done.
The pairs shown are possibilities for a piece of your own. A photograph, a colour or a motif can be the starting point, and you can reach me directly.
Maximilian Hemmerle von HeckelFifth-generation jeweller · Munich
WhatsApp sayhi@mxhm.de +49 89 21 53 60 66
You are writing to a small, personal team, and usually to me directly.
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