Perhaps no other brand in the world can tell a poetic story on the wrist like Van Cleef & Arpels. Its newest 38mm 18K white gold Brise d’Été watch, part of its Poetic Complications collection, is a prime example. The incredible dial is created using plique-à-jour (similar to a stained-glass effect) and other enamel techniques against a mother-of-pearl background to showcase blooming flowers in all their glory. But the true beauty of this timepiece is the two enamel butterflies that flutter around the dial as the flowers sway in what could be a summer breeze. The flight of fancy is set into motion with the push of a button at half past seven on the case side. The dance lasts 12 seconds, then the butterflies flutter back to their spot to indicate the hour on a diamond-set retrograde outer scale that runs from 10 o’clock to 4 o’clock on the dial. The yellow-orange butterfly indicates daytime hours and the blue butterfly indicates nighttime hours. Each watch is numbered.
Details
Company | Van Cleef & Arpels |
Awards | Top New Watches |
Price range | Price on request |
Carrats | 18K |
Gender | Unspecified |
Case | Round |
Complications | Hours Minutes Additional features |
Water Resistance | 30m |
Movement | Automatic |
Power Reserve Range (hours) | 24 - 48 |
Power Reserve | 36 hours |
Case Size | Medium (31mm - 39mm) |
Case Diameter (mm) | 38 |
Case Height (mm) | 13 |
Case Back | Engraved |
Case Colour | White Gold |
Case Material | White Gold |
Dial Colour | Colourful |
Dial Material | Mother-of-pearl Enamel |
Gemstones | Spessartites Tsavorites |
Reference Number | VCARPERU00 |
Van Cleef & Arpels conception is rooted in passion and marriage, that of Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef. Yet their union was not only one of love but also of profession, as Estelle Arpels was the daughter of a dealer in precious stones and her husband, the son of a lapidary. As a result, the two faced a bejeweled destiny, bearing timepieces and jewelry of utmost delicacy and elegance.Debuted in 2022, the Lady Arpels Heures Florales watch embodies this affection and expertise at the brand's foundation. Featuring a complex mechanism that, at the turn of every hour, opens and closes the flowers, Van Cleef & Arpels replace numerical representation of time and instead chooses to represent its passing through the beautiful cycles of nature. This is just one of the many wonders found in Van Cleef & Arpels collection of watches, however. Channeling the poetry of time, the brand has also conceived the cobra-textured Cadenas watch with a bending human figure, the astronomical Midnight Planetarium Watch and the Alhambra models that flaunt the brand's classic clover motif.