"If one day life takes you away from me (...) We will have eternity for ourselves in the blue immensity. In the sky, no more problems. My love, do you think we love each other"
On 14 September 1949, Edith Piaf, already an international star, sang "Hymne à l'Amour" for the first time at "Versailles", a cabaret in New York, putting her heart and soul into the song. While most of you will know that the lyrics of "Hymne à l'Amour", one of the most beautiful French love songs, were written by Edith Piaf in honour of the man in her life, the 1948 World Middleweight Champion boxer Marcel Cerdan, few of you will know that a watch and jewellery brand is intimately associated with this great story.
Which one? Boucheron, the well-named “Joaillier du Temps’, or "Jeweller of the Times".
In French society where men wore (very) traditional watches and women wore (again very) ornate creations, Boucheron surprised everyone in 1947 by launching the "BB" - B for Boucheron and B for Monsieur Bonnet, the watchmaker who patented the invisible clasp for the company - which was later known as the "Reflet" watch. With its masculine rectangular case, its gadroon ornamentation, its secret signature and its invisible strap fastening system, without pin or buckle, the design delighted Edith Piaf with its non-conformism and its understated elegance. She acquired her first piece in 1949: she had just written the lyrics of "Hymne à l'Amour" and was about to perform the song to her first audience. This song, named by Charles Aznavour who, after reading it, exclaimed "This song is a hymn to love! was inspired by the man with whom she had been in a passionate and forbidden love affair for several months - the boxer was already married - Marcel Cerdan. Edith Piaf hung the Boucheron watch on her wrist, the song met with great acclaim, and the Reflet became a talisman that the superstitious performer would keep forever. An object of passion, she gave a "Reflet" to her lover in 1949. On October 28, the "Moroccan bomber" died in a plane crash on his way from Paris to New York, flying to join Edith Piaf at her request. In a cruel double twist of fate, he had planned to travel by boat, but cancelled due at the insistence of his amorous lover, and was only able to take the funereal flight thanks to the kindness of a couple who gave up their seats in the cabin. Overcome by grief, and just a few hours after the announcement of his death, she sang the "Hymne à l'Amour" in his memory before collapsing on stage. Until her death in 1963, Edith Piaf never stopped dedicating this song to Marcel Cerdan at each of her performances.
She remained faithful to Boucheron, buying no fewer than 21 "Reflet" models between 1949 and 1963.
An object of passion, an object of sharing, an object to pass on, the Reflet watch found itself at the heart of one of the most beautiful and tragic love stories of the 21st century; and the iconic model, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2017, remains forever linked to this couple of Ambassadors, one having acquired it out of conviction and the other having received it as a token of love.
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