Van Cleef & Arpels continues to redefine haute horlogerie with its distinctive 'Poetry of Time' philosophy at Watches and Wonders 2025, presenting a collection that blends mechanical expertise, artistic craftsmanship, and romantic storytelling.
Pont des Amoureux: The Poetic Complications collection
The iconic Pont des Amoureux collection expands with four new watches that capture different moments of the day. Each piece presents a unique narrative through its carefully crafted design, representing dawn (Aube), morning (Matinée), dusk (Soirée), and moonlight (Claire de Lune), thereby showcasing Van Cleef & Arpels' mastery of colour and emotional storytelling. Crafted in white and rose gold, the watches feature intricate grisaille enamel dials depicting delicate landscape scenes that transport the wearer to different times of the day.
The collection's signature double retrograde movement remains a technical marvel, allowing two lovers to meet for a passionate kiss at noon and midnight. An innovative on-demand animation feature brings this romantic scene to life, demonstrating the brand's commitment to mechanical poetry and emotional expression. Each piece is accompanied by jeweled bracelets entirely set with diamonds and a gradation of sapphires featuring a unique colour scheme.
Crafted in rose gold, Aube captures the soft, emerging light of dawn. The watch is accompanied by a bracelet featuring diamonds and a gradient of soft to intense pink sapphires, designed to fluidly embrace the wearer's wrist with an intricate meshing system.
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux Aube
Matinée, rendered in white gold, features a carefully graduated selection of light to deep blue sapphires, set alongside diamonds, bringing to life the crisp, fresh essence of morning.
Dressed in rose gold, the Soirée watch embodies the romantic hues of the evening. The bracelet mirrors the dial's color story, featuring a carefully curated gradient of pink sapphires ranging from soft to intense shades, set with diamonds.
Crafted in white gold, the Clair de Lune model captures the ethereal, silvery light of the moon. The accompanying bracelet features a sophisticated gradient of blue sapphires, ranging from light to deep tones, set with diamonds and engineered to move with exceptional fluidity.
Also Read: Watches and Wonders 2024: Van Cleef & Arpels adds more poetic complications to its arsenal
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Building on the Pont des Amoureux narrative, the Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate represents a remarkable achievement in watchmaking innovation. After four years of meticulous research and development, Van Cleef & Arpels has created an automaton movement that tells a tender love story set in a Parisian guinguette, an open-air dance café typical of the 19th century.
The white gold case, adorned with diamond accents, houses an extraordinary dial featuring an intricate grisaille enamel scene. The dial's chiaroscuro effects create depth and atmosphere with hand-crafted white gold cobblestones and delicate festive lanterns bringing the Parisian street scene to life, while creating an intricate backdrop for the lovers' dance.
The automaton movement allows the lovers to approach and embrace startlingly natural movements, a testament to the brand's mechanical expertise.
The watch features a double retrograde system where two stars indicate the hours and minutes, adding technical sophistication to the romantic narrative. An on-demand animation allows the wearer to replay the lovers' tender moment, with the figures moving through three carefully engineered articulation points that create fluid, natural movements.
Even the case back continues the romantic storytelling, featuring an enamel decal on sapphire glass and an engraving depicting the dancing couple. This attention to detail transforms the timepiece from a mere watch to a wearable narrative of love, time, and artistic expression.
Extraordinary Objects: Naissance de l'Amour and Planétarium Automaton
The brand pushes the boundaries of traditional watchmaking with two extraordinary objects that transcend typical horological expectations.
The Naissance de l'Amour Automaton stands impressively at 30 centimeters high and features a complex mechanism where Cupid emerges from a feathered basket. Constructed from rose, white, and yellow gold, the figurine rises gracefully, fluttering its plique-à-jour enamel wings, and is accompanied by a delicate carillon melody. It sits delicately upon a Greek column sculpted in rose gold, comprising clouds in white gold, diamonds, and pink sapphires.
The base of the automaton is carved in iron eye while the bowl is composed of a new gemstone - petrified palmwood. The rotating ring with two lacquered feathers and diamonds, indicates the time.
The Planétarium Automaton is even more ambitious, a massive 50-centimeter-high tabletop object that brings the solar system to life. This extraordinary piece depicts planets as visible from Earth - Mercury, Venus, Earth (and the Moon), Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn - moving at their actual orbital speeds. Each of the three-dimensional planets is adorned with a gold ribbon engraved with their names and mythological symbols.
The animation begins with a shooting star in rose gold, diamonds, and Mystery Set rubies emerging from a hatch, flying to indicate the hours and minutes. The piece's base - made from lemonwood, white holly, Amaranth, and ziricote - features several dials aligned one after the other in the following order: Hours/minutes; day/night; a perpetual calendar for the day, month, and year; and a power reserve.
The planets and the star move in a dual emotion suspended in the fifteen lapis lazuli discs inlaid with rose and white gold stars.
The Cadenas and Ruban Mystérieux: Jewellery Meets Horology
Two additional pieces showcase the brand's unparalleled ability to merge jewellery craftsmanship with horological innovation.
The Cadenas Watch reimagines the iconic 1935 design, featuring a yellow gold bracelet with a double snake chain that follows the curve of the wrist.
The angled dial comes in a snow-set diamond case and princess-cut sapphire accents. Powered by a Swiss quartz movement, it pays homage to the brand's rich history while remaining contemporary.
The Ruban Mystérieux Watch takes inspiration from couture, featuring a breathtaking 3.72-carat oval-cut diamond and mysterious setting techniques that showcase sapphires and emeralds. As a unique piece with a hand-wound mechanical movement, it exemplifies Van Cleef & Arpels' commitment to exceptional craftsmanship.
Van Cleef & Arpels Ruban Mystérieux
Image: Courtesy Van Cleef & Arpels
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