Van Cleef & Arpels
Poetry in Motion
Over the past few years, the highlight of the Van Cleef & Arpels collection has been the Poetic Complication pieces. This year, there several six new pieces in that collection to add to the allure of the brand. Une Journée à Paris, true to its name, presents a unique invitation to stroll the city of lights. The Parisian highlights are shown through a set onyx disc which serves as the background and represents a 24-hour cycle superimposed with seven feminine silhouettes and a child who strolls in a carefree and stylish manner. The disc appears from behind the mother-of-pearl dial, and emerges in turn and then disappears again, returning again 24 hours later. In either pink or white gold, the watch is set with round cut diamonds and contains an automatic movement.
Midnight in Paris marks the first Poetic Complication piece for men. The jeweler mixes white gold, diamonds and an aventurine glass to create the Midnight Tourbillon Aventurine. Copper crystals and iron are used to give the glass a scintillating reflection of light, which was a discovery from the 16th century by a Venetian glass maker. This material is rarely used yet adds a mysterious aura to the watch.
Inspired by the jeweler’s Les Jardins collection, four gardens have been presented on four different dials for the Quentièmes de Saisons Les Jardins. French, Mediterranean, Zen and British gardens have been replicated on genuine 800-degree processed enamel dials combined with mother- of-pearl, each in limited editions of 100 pieces. Using the same movement as the previous Seasons complication watches, the landscapes on the dials change daily.
Complimenting the Les Jardins collection for women, the jeweler also created the Les Jardins Midnight collection, featuring four garden inspirations in eight different watches, each produced in a limited edition of eight pieces. French, English, Asian and Italian gardens are each represented in two versions of the watches, one using a tourbillon movement while the other, a basic automatic movement.
The Midnight Jardin à la Française was inspired by the Vaux-le-Vicomte, the 17th century château that inspired Louis the XIV’s Versailles. On the tourbillon version, three diamond fountains shimmer on the dial, contoured with both baguette diamonds and diamonds in pave-setting, while on the automatic, a more classical design with swirling lines and a diamond set index stand out on the blue grey fired enamel dial.
The Midnight Jardin d’Extrême Orient features Japanese and Chinese gardens with a platinum case that can be set with baguette or round diamonds on the customer’s order. The Midnight Jardin Italien de la Renaissance, inspired by Greek and Roman antiquities, features diamonds and yellow sapphires on its tourbillion version.
