Luxury brand Van Cleef & Arpels recite the poetry of time with their new models unveiled at the ongoing Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva.
Jewellery Timepieces
Van Cleef & Arpels display their expertise in elegant watchmaking with their range of jewellery timepieces. Presenting the Perlée and Alhambra collection of bold and contemporary watches.
The Perlée Collection
With five new timeless models, Van Cleef & Arpels' Perlée collection is available in variations of mirror-polished rose gold and diamond-paved white gold. The dials come adorned with either of the three options: pavé-set diamonds, guilloché rose gold and mother-of-pearl. Four of the models are available in a 23mm case while the fifth is available in 30mm and all five are accompanied by a range of interchangeable alligator straps and a jewellery bracelet composed of articulated gold beads echoing the colour of the case.
An additional set of six jewellery secret watches also join the exquisite Perlée collection. Inspired by the pocket watches of 17th-century Europe, the six models can be worn as long necklaces.
Three of these watches accentuate the golden beads of the necklace with intense hues of coloured precious gems. Think rubies for the rose gold and sapphires and emeralds for the yellow gold.
The other three jewellery novelties come with three rare materials as generous cabochons. Chalcedony, with its blue-grey hues, enhances the sheen of the white gold. Rose quartz - used for the first time in this collection - is paired with rose gold, and sodalite reveals its translucent violet-tinged blue in a yellow-gold version of the secret watch.
The Alhambra Collection
The stunning Alhambra collection welcomes a new Sweet Alhambra jewellery watch to the family with alternate gold and ornamental stone motifs around the dial featuring the brand's emblematic four-lobe shape. Bringing together the gentle tones of rose gold with the warm hues of carnelian, the reddish-orange shade of agate reveals a gleaming new jewellery timepiece with golden beads around the four-lobe dial as well as each of the individual lobes of the bracelet.
High Jewellery
Van Cleef & Arpels devote themselves to an elegant series of high jewellery timepieces with the Ludo Secret Collection and the À Cheval Watch.
The Ludo Secret Collection
Revealing two new timepieces, the new Ludo Secret models combine rose gold with high jewellery to create a brick-pattern meshwork assembled by hand to deliver excellence. The first version reveals the gleam of rose gold against the sparkle diamonds while the second version introduces a striking infusion of rose gold with pink sapphires.
Pressing the two diamond and pink sapphire motifs reveals the dial featuring a 12 o'clock marker - in diamond for the first version and a pink sapphire for the second version.
The Maison also reveals a third unique, one-of-a-kind version.
Inspired by the Ludo Hexagone Macaron secret watch unveiled in 1941, Van Cleef & Arpels launched a third Ludo Secret timepiece in yellow-gold. The dial is hidden behind a motif set with Mystery Set Emeralds and complements the diamond-studded curves of the two concentric arcs that frame the case. The bracelet presents itself as a meshwork of yellow-gold hexagons punctuated with star-set emeralds.
À Cheval Watch
The À Cheval Watch collection brings precious stones upfront and center with two new timepieces making their debut this year. The first piece features blue sapphires wrapped around a diamond-paved dial and through the length of the bracelet while the second high jewellery piece reveals pink sapphires in varying tones from soft to vibrant in the bracelet of the diamond-paved watch.
Poetic Complications
The Poetic Complications collection celebrates the magical beauty of fairies. Know for their enchanting timepieces brought to life using watchmaking techniques with precious materials and traditional skills, the new Lady Féerie watch reimagines the original in shades of pink. The 33mm features a dreamlike scene on its dial with a fairy marking the passing hours with her magic wand at dusk and the date displayed near 6 o'clock.
She sits on a cloud of white mother-of-pearl and sparkles in a dress of diamonds, pink sapphires, and a miniature painting on gold.
An engraved night sky with a full moon and stars on the watch’s oscillating weight reveals itself on the Rose Watch's underside. The timepiece comes equipped with a self-winding movement that powers the retrograde date and jumping hours.
Extraordinary Objects
Known for their automata, Van Cleef & Arpels introduces three new horological marvels at Watches and Wonders 2023.
Inspired by the solar system and the universe, the Planétarium Automaton presents the Sun and the planets visible from Earth: Mercury, Venus, Earth - accompanied by the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each heavenly body moves at its genuine speed of rotation and when the automation starts, a small door reveals a shooting star in gold, diamonds, and Mystery Set sapphires and emeralds, that circles the dial indicating the hours.
The base of the object displays seven dials, each one following the other: hours/minutes, day/night, perpetual calendar indicating the day, month, and year, and lastly, the power reserve.
The last two automata bring to life mother nature in all her glory. The Floraison du Nénuphar and Éveil du Cyclamen measure 30 cm tall and were created in partnership with the François Junod workshop. Each displays the opening of a flower on demand and reveals a butterfly inside that moves its wings realistically and then returns to its place at the center of the flower which then gently closes its petals. The scene is accompanied by crystalline music.
The first model comes with a griotte marble vase and a shattuckite bowl with lacquered petals and a butterfly adorned in turquoise and diamonds. The eyes are depicted by two emeralds while the wings are covered in plique-à-jour enamel.
The second model is available in a purple jade bowl with a realistic butterfly carrying enamel wings adorned in diamonds, emeralds, lapis lazuli, and plique-à-jour enamel getting ready to fly from the bouquet of cyclamen. The air-brushed lacquer flowers move from pink to purple. The hours are indicated on the green aventurine base and are overlooked by a single flower of rose gold, lacquer, and diamonds.
Images: Courtesy Van Cleef & Arpels
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