Magic of the night

Imagine a scene, an art installation or sculpture if you will, depicting a constellation in the night sky. At the press of a button, all the stars light up against the dark background. Now, imagine if instead of a sculpture, it’s an automatic watch from a major French watchmaker that would never even about putting a battery on their pieces. The Midnight Nuit Lumineuse from Van Cleef & Arpels, however, does just that, using a unique electricitygeneration mechanism built into the movement to power miniscule LEDs under the diamonds. Beyond this mechanical marvel, the watch has all the trappings of a fine timepiece, including the aforementioned diamonds, a miniature painting on the dial and a lustrous black alligator leather strap.