ROMANCING THE TIME
Love affairs and poetic liaisons continue to linger as Van Cleef & Arpels’ mainstays in its latest timepieces. By Ng Yi Lian
Van Cleef & Arpels’ jewellery are imbued with love and a whole lot of whimsicality
Mention romantic whimsicality and haute horology and naturally, Van Cleef & Arpels comes to mind. Indeed, the fact that the name was borne out of the love shared between Estelle Arpels, the daughter of a precious stone dealer, and Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a Dutch diamond cutter further serves to enhance the brand’s idealistic image.
The young couple had much in common: they both hailed from a jewellery background, shared a passion for precious stones and most of all were enthusiastic pioneering spirits.
They opened their first store in 1906 at 22 Place Vendôme after Alfred and his brother-in-law Charles registered the name Van Cleef & Arpels with two other Arpels brothers—Julie and Louis. The boutique was—and continues to be—located at a vantage point right across the street from the plush Hotel Ritz whose guests included European aristocracy that became Van Cleef & Arpels’ regular clientele.
Over the years, Alfred, Estelle and the latter’s brothers created a brand synonymous with exquisite jewellery. Although the maison stole the spotlight at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in 1925 for its winning bracelet design, it is best recognised for creating the first gold watch with a leather strap. And, in the early 20th century, during a time where it was considered inelegant for a woman to wear a watch, the maison designed the iconic Cadenas watch, a bracelet with a watch dial so subtle that only its wearer could see it.
Since then, led by the founders’ desire for watches with fresh ways of viewing time, the maison has always set its tone with timepieces of a distinctive style. Its signature Poetry of Time collection of fairies and ballerinas lends an insight into the deeply whimsical facets of Van Cleef & Arpels’ philosophy while scenarios of young couples in love accentuated by twirling butterflies and kites in the sky from the Extraordinary Dials line add to the romance aspect of the brand.
These creations that marry time with mythical and poetic storytelling chronicle Van Cleef & Arpels’ history of haute watchmaking—complicated movements play with the aesthetic passage of time, combining traditional artisanal crafts such as enamelling, engraving and lapidary.
In continuation of Van Cleef & Arpels’ love affair with fantasy and enchanted figures, the Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux’s— launched in January this year at the “Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie”—dial depicts the encounter between a young man and woman on the famous Pont des Arts bridge over River Seine in Paris. As the watch’s retrograde movement moves to and fro, so do the couple, and at the stroke of noon and midnight, they meet for a kiss.
At the inaugural “Watches & Wonders” trade fair in Hong Kong this September, the brand launched the Lady Arpels Jour/Nuit Cerfs-Volants. The dial illustrates two lovers wishing on a kite and letting it go up in the sky. Also fitted with a retrograde movement, the colour of the watch’s dial and that of the kites across them change as we move from daytime to nightfall when the scene transforms into a —diamond-studded—starlit sky.
With the timelessness of love as its recurring theme, it’s no wonder Van Cleef & Arpels has created a universal language among watch collectors since its inception in 1906 and will, certainly, continue to beguile for decades to come.