Boucheron Quatre Classique Ring (three-tone gold)

Four motifs from the archives

"In 2004, it all began with a ring," Boucheron says of the Quatre. The idea was to take four motifs from the house archives that seemed to have nothing in common, combine them in a single band, and make something urban and graphic out of a jeweler whose roots go back to the Second Empire.

Each band honors a different part of the house's history. Grosgrain, a ribbed silk used for ribbons, has appeared in Boucheron's archives since the 1860s and recalls the family's background in drapery. The line of diamonds has been part of Boucheron work since 1892. The clou de Paris, a hobnail pattern, nods to the cobblestones of the Place Vendôme and has appeared in the house's creations since 1911. The double godron, an architectural gadroon motif, dates to the 1860s; two rings fused into one, it stands for the love that unites two people.

Sources differ slightly on the launch year. Boucheron and most accounts give 2004; one encyclopedia entry lists Quatre among the lines launched in 2005.

From a draper's son to Kering

Frédéric Boucheron, a draper's son, opened his first store in 1858 in the Galerie de Valois at the Palais-Royal in Paris. In 1879 he created the Question Mark necklace, a claspless design that let a woman put it on herself, and in 1893 he became the first of the great contemporary jewelers to open on the Place Vendôme, at number 26, where the house remains.

Boucheron was acquired by the Gucci group in 2000; Gucci was in turn bought by PPR, the group now called Kering, in 2004, the year Quatre appeared. Claire Choisne has been the creative director since 2011, and Hélène Poulit-Duquesne the chief executive since 2015.

"You can't create an icon," Poulit-Duquesne has said. "Icons are wrought over time, and they gain that status because they strike a chord with people."

2004

Quatre arrived in a year of upheaval. On March 11, bombs on commuter trains in Madrid killed at least 192 people. On May 1 the European Union took in 10 new members, its largest expansion, weeks after seven countries joined NATO.

In August the Summer Olympics returned to Athens. In November George W. Bush won a second term as U.S. president, and on December 26 an earthquake off Sumatra set off one of the largest tsunamis ever observed.

Four rings that click into one

This entry is the Quatre Classique Small Ring, reference JRG00627, in yellow, pink and white gold with a band of brown PVD. Boucheron describes the Quatre Classique as the emblem of the collection, with four bands and a line of finely set diamonds, designed to coordinate with any other piece in the line.

The ring is not cast in one piece. It is made of four distinct rings, each worked separately and then assembled by hand with a press, with no glue or solder; Boucheron says a gentle click marks the moment the assembly is complete. Digitally controlled machines turn the gold to tolerances of a hundredth of a millimeter, inside and out, a precision the house says hands alone cannot reach.

Boucheron says the Quatre's gold weight of 13.88 grams makes it the largest ring among the Place Vendôme jewelers. The brown band is colored by PVD, physical vapor deposition, a vacuum coating process; the same technique produced the all-dark Black Edition in 2011.

In October 2026 the maker's U.S. prices for the Quatre Classique ring ran from $5,150 for the XS to $8,850 for the small and $12,500 for the large.

Twenty years of reinvention

The single ring of 2004 has grown into a collection of rings, stackable bracelets, sautoirs, collars, earrings and, from 2023, a hair jewel. A White Edition with a white ceramic clou de Paris band and a Black Edition followed in 2011, and later Blue and Red Editions used Hyceram, a hybrid of ceramic and polymer.

Under Choisne the Quatre has also become a test bed for materials: glass components developed with Saint-Gobain in 2021, Cofalit made from vitrified industrial waste, a resin and aluminum capsule, and in 2023 a Quatre 5D Memory ring holding a recorded sound of ocean waves in nanostructured glass.

For the 20th anniversary in 2024, the house reworked the four codes into a supple, articulated seven-piece collection, with links assembled by hand from more than a hundred parts.

The numbers

Metals

18k yellow, white and pink gold, brown PVD

Stones

A line of diamonds (carat weight not published on the maker's page)

Gold weight

13.88 g, per Boucheron's Quatre page

Reference

JRG00627 (small model)

Construction

Four rings, press-assembled by hand, no glue or solder

Origin

Boucheron, Paris

Production

Current model; no production figures published

Timeline

1. 1858

   Frédéric Boucheron opens his first store at the Palais-Royal in Paris.

2. 1879

   Boucheron creates the claspless Question Mark necklace.

3. 1893

   Boucheron opens at 26 Place Vendôme, the first great contemporary jeweler on the square.

4. 2000

   The Gucci group acquires Boucheron.

5. 2004

   The first Quatre ring combines four archival motifs.

6. 2011

   Claire Choisne becomes creative director; the Quatre White and Black Editions appear.

7. 2021

   Quatre pieces with Saint-Gobain glass components are introduced.

8. 2023

   A Quatre hair jewel and the Quatre 5D Memory ring are introduced.

9. 2024

   Boucheron marks 20 years of Quatre with an articulated anniversary collection.

10. Oct 2026

    The Quatre Classique Small Ring retails for $8,850 in the U.S.

The world in 2004

• Mar 11, 2004

  Train bombings in Madrid kill at least 192 people.

• Mar 29, 2004

  Seven countries join NATO in its largest expansion.

• May 1, 2004

  The European Union expands by 10 member states.

• Jun 28, 2004

  The U.S.-led coalition transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

• Aug 13, 2004

  The Summer Olympics open in Athens.

• Nov 2, 2004

  George W. Bush is reelected president of the United States.

• Dec 26, 2004

  The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami strike.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Boucheron Quatre Classique Ring (three-tone gold) is number 69 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (80 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The four bands are held together by pressure alone: no glue, no solder.
• Boucheron says a gentle click signals the ring has been assembled correctly.
• The clou de Paris band refers to the cobblestones of the Place Vendôme.
• Grosgrain is a nod to the founder's roots in the drapery trade.
• One Quatre ring stores a recording of ocean waves in nanostructured glass.
• The 2024 anniversary collar repeats the four bands about 50 times.