Whether painting a landscape, sculpting endearing characters, or breathing life into an enchanting scene: Van Cleef & Arpels’ craftsmen combine their expertise to inspire dreams and wonderment. The Lady Féerie watch is reimagined in new hues made possible by different shades of enamel and miniature painting, and three Extraordinary Objects reflect the Maison’s taste for the mechanical arts. To complement the work of watchmakers, Van Cleef & Arpels surrounds them with talents, forged through transmission, passion, and time devoted to their craft. These masters deploy the nobility of their expertise in the service of the Maison’s Poetry of Time, transforming challenges into innovations. These exquisite compositions bear witness to the infinite creativity and collective excellence of Van Cleef & Arpels.
Since the 1940s, Van Cleef & Arpels has celebrated the beauty of fairies through creations brimming with enchantment. Today, the Maison is offering a new take on its Lady Féerie watch, entirely in shades of pink. Enriching the Féerie collection, this Poetic Complications piece brings together watchmaking savoir-faire and traditional crafts in a 33mm case of delicate proportions. In a dreamlike scene, a fairy marks the passing hours with its magic wand in the soft light of dusk.
Like a protective muse, she appears seated on an iridescent cloud of white mother-of-pearl, wearing a dress of diamonds, pink sapphires, and miniature painting on gold. Her wings are coated with a powdery gradient, achieved by combining translucent pink plique-à-jour enamel with opaque pink enamel. Employed in the same design by the Maison, these techniques create interplays of light and transparency in the wings, which are bordered with diamonds minutely set after the enameling. With her diamond face, the feminine figure points out the minutes with her magic wand, while the setting sun welcomes the passing of the hours in a window of mother-of-pearl haloed with a soothing glow. Visible from the underside of the watch, the oscillating weight is engraved with a night sky, showing a full moon sprinkled with stars. This design is covered by a sapphire glass adorned with clouds whose enameled contours create a slightly glittery effect.
Watchmaking, jewelry-making, and rare skills join forces to breathe life into this poetic scene. The Lady Féerie Or Rose watch is graced with a self-winding mechanism, jumping hours, and retrograde minutes. Highly precise design and assembly were needed to ensure that such sophisticated movement could take place in the 33mm Lady case. The latter is elevated with a curved sapphire glass, accommodating a three-dimensional fairy. It also optimizes the entrance of light and rounds off the watch’s silhouette.
The dial showcases the techniques mastered by the Van Cleef & Arpels Watchmaking Workshops in Geneva. On an engraved mother-of-pearl background, no fewer than four colors – from pearly white to deep plum, with a delicate champagne and an intense fuchsia – paint the evening sky that illuminates the scene. More than ten attempts were required for the Maison’s craftsmen to achieve this soft gradient. The plique-à-jour enamel adorning the fairy’s wings presents, for its part, a unique shade of pink, specially crafted by Van Cleef & Arpels enamel workshop in order to harmonize with the colors of the dial.
