New Van Cleef & Arpels Timepiece Collection Celebrates Love (& Gemstones)
Luxury watchmaker Van Cleef & Arpels is known for creating timepieces that are as mechanically impressive as they are unapologetically ornate. Studded with gemstones and sparkling with gold and enamel surfaces, itās no accident that these breathtaking creations seem like a natural fit for weddings, anniversaries, and other landmark celebrations of enduring love. The company began in 1895 with the marriage of Alfred Van Cleef and Esther Arpels, both of whom came from prominent families in the jewelry business, and in 1906 the High Jewelry and watchmaking Maison Van Cleef & Arpels was founded at 22 Place VendĆ“me in Paris. Today, more than a century later, the Maison remains guided by the spirit of its foundersā love for each other.
Its latest collection of watches, clocks, and automatons embodies this in every painstakingly crafted detail, from the animated dancers who kiss on the face of the Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate to the opulent gradient of diamonds and sapphires that decorate the bracelet of the Lady Arpels Pont de lāAmoureux. Hereās a closer look at a few of the highlights.
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: Aube, Face 1. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: Aube, Face 2. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: MatinĆ©e, Face 1. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: MatinĆ©e, Face 2. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: SoirĆ©e, Face 1. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: SoirĆ©e, Face 2. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: Clair de Lune, Face 1. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
Lady Arpels Pont des AmoureuxĀ
Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux: Clair de Lune, Face 1. Ā© Van Cleef & Arpels SA, 2024, CleĢment Rousset.Ā
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Each spring, Van Cleef & Arpels presents its latest creations at Watches & Wonders, the pre-eminent watch industry trade show in Geneva. This yearās presentation is anchored by a quartet of updates to the Pont des Amoureux collection dubbed āAubeā (dawn), āMatinĆ©eā (morning), āSoirĆ©eā (evening), and āClair de Luneā (moonlight). As with previous Pont des Amoureux models, each dial features a man and a woman standing on a golden bridge, their figures doubling as retrograde minute and hour indicators. Silhouetted against a sky rendered in watercolour-like grisaille enamel, the figures inch towards each other as the minutes elapse, meeting for a kiss at noon and midnight each day (or on demand, at the press of a button.) āThese watches embody the Poetry of Time dear to Van Cleef & Arpels, its mechanical expertise and its attachment to mĆ©tiers dāart, while expressing one of its founding sources of inspiration: love,ā explains Catherine RĆ©nier, president & CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels. Completing the mise en scene are bracelets set with diamonds and sapphires, the colours of which complement the delicate gradation of the sky.
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate.
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate.
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate.
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate
Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate.
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This timepiece adapts the theme of the Pont des Amoureux, but is entirely new for 2025 and boasts some duly impressive features. Instead of a bridge, its lovers meet beneath a starlit sky at a Parisian outdoor dance cafĆ© where a pair of golden stars indicate the retrograde hours and minutes, drifting in an arc across the sky before snapping back to zero and beginning again. The figures, meanwhile, are automatons who move towards each other and meet for a kiss at noon and midnight each day. āWe wanted to give our lovers the most natural gestures possible,ā says Ranier Bernard, head of research and development for watchmaking. āThis meant articulating them and combining two simultaneous movements ā their approach as well as their inclination toward one another ā while giving them a degree of freedom to ensure the fluidity of the animation.ā
The Cadenas Watch & Ruban MystƩrieux Watch
Van Cleef & Arpels: Ruban MystƩrieux Watch
Ruban MystƩrieux Watch.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Ruban MystƩrieux Watch
Ruban MystƩrieux Watch.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Ruban MystƩrieux Watch
Ruban MystƩrieux Watch.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Cadenas Watch
Cadenas Watch.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Cadenas Watch
Cadenas Watch.
Van Cleef & Arpels: Cadenas Watch
Cadenas Watch.
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Van Cleef & Arpelsā bejewelled automata tend to steal the show at Watches & Wonders, but its non-animated timepieces are deserving of attention in their own right. This year the brand introduced a new version of its historic Cadenas watch, a 1935 design modelled after a simple padlock. In contrast to its humble muse, the newest Cadenas watch combines a yellow gold bracelet with a case dusted in snow-set diamonds and rows of princess-cut sapphires. The watch dial itself, hardly an afterthought, is similarly rendered in white gold and diamonds. The Ruban MystĆ©rieux, meanwhile, evokes the shape of a ribbon wrapped around the wrist, with a 3.72-carat oval-cut diamond as its centrepiece. Despite the mesmerizing glimmer of its sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, this one-of-one creation is a watch first and foremost, with a minuscule hand-wound mechanical movement at its centre.
