One of world's largest diamonds for St Julian's show

One of the largest diamonds in the world will be on display at the Intercontinental Hotel, in St Julian's as part of Diamonds International's exhibition of rare jewellery pieces and vintage watches.

The priceless, 40-carat, cushion-cut, natural fancy-yellow diamond, will be flown in from Belgium under tight security this afternoon and will be flanked with round-the-clock surveillance until its departure on Monday.

The rare diamond is the signature piece of a vast collection of loose diamonds by polished diamond company Backes & Strauss.

Another attraction will be a $2 million, 13-carat, pear-shaped, yellow diamond mounted into an 18-carat yellow and white necklace surrounded with diamonds, part of a set amounting to a total of 40 carats of jewels.

"The exhibition should attract not only jewellery afficionados," says Karl Micallef, director of Diamonds International. "It is a cultural event which brings together some of the rarest museum pieces in the world."

Entitled Timeless, the exhibition will showcase vintage watches by great names such as Van Cleef and Arpels, Audemars Piquet, Christian Dior, Ebel and Ulysse Nardin.

A masterpiece on show is Nardin's Freak, winner of the most innovative watch in the world award. A seven-day tourbillon carousel, the watch has no hands, dial or crown and has a simple novel escapement that needs no lubrication.

Brought purposely from Japan will be an imperial pearl display by Mikimoto, the creator of cultured pearls, including a prodigious strand made of triple A Akoya cultured pearls which took years to mount.

A selection of gold and jewellery items from renowned jewellers as well as custom-made pieces will also be on show.

The exhibition will be launched tonight when personalities, including Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera, Sea Malta chairman Marlene Mizzi and lawyer Joanna Drake, will be parading jewellery in a bid to raise funds for the Malta Community Chest Fund. Guests may contribute towards this good cause by buying a key that could enable them to open a showcase and win one of three prestigious items: a diamond, a string of pearls or a Rado watch.

Piano duo Jennifer Micallef and Glen Inanga will be in attendance.

Expert gemologist Zlata Vororina, from Antwerp's International Gemological Institute, will conduct a seminar on how to make a sound diamond investment and the new developments in fake diamonds tomorrow at 4 p.m. at the Intercontinental. Together with another certified gemologist, she will give customers free evaluation of their diamond jewellery to determine its real market value throughout the exhibition.

Timeless is being held at the Intercontinental's Cettina de Cesare Suite and is open to the public tomorrow and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.