A Maison's emblematic source of inspiration, love is engraved in the Poetry of Time, offering a vision imbued with dream and emotion to its watchmaking creations. This year, the poignant potency of this theme is providing Van Cleef & Arpels with the elan for a duet of Extraordinary Dials. Through consummate mastery of artistic crafts, these new creations tell the story of a legendary couple: Vega and Altair—also known as Niulang and Zhinu. Complementing one another, the watches express the wistful encounter of these lovers and the rapture of their reunion.

Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune

Van Cleef & Arpels is expanding its Jour Nuit collection, launched in 2008 and revisited in 2024, with the introduction of a new creation in honor of the Moon, a longstanding source of inspiration for the Maison. The watch features two overlapping complications housed within the case. The first animates the eponymous Jour/Nuit display, while the second “astronomical” complication illustrates the current Moon phase, a feature that entered the watchmaking history of Van Cleef & Arpels in 1929.

The decor of the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune watch comes to life thanks to the joint operation of two rotating discs, each moving at its own pace. The first, cloaking the bottom of the case, depicts the Sun pursuing the Moon in a 24-hour cycle. The second disc, more discreet, describes a rotation of 24 hours, 16 minutes and 27 seconds, almost imperceptibly transfiguring the satellite, day after day. The combination of discs displays the Moon phase in precise detail, mirroring its actual appearance in the night sky. Thanks to an automaton, the heavenly body can also be revealed in its current phase during the day. Four years of development were required to breathe life into this astronomical movement, wholly designed by the experts at Van Cleef & Arpels’Watchmaking Workshops in Geneva.

Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs

Featuring a dual-time zone movement, the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs watch offers a refined and poetic interpretation of time in two different corners of the planet. Every glance at the dial becomes a boundless invitation to wander, a window open onto the world.

The design of the 38-mm Midnight case accentuates the harmonious balance between the polished, satiny rose gold of the case and hour markings, and the subtle tones of the embossed enamel making up the dial, its brown nuances taking on warm or cold accents depending on the light. The dial presents a guilloché aesthetic radiating out from a piqué motif recalling the Van Cleef & Arpels hallmark. Pure lines resonate with the asymmetry of the decor, a paragon of the Maison’s style, in which the flowing letters spelling out the name of the piece pay tribute to the poetry expressed in the words. The back of the case illustrates an engraved Moon basking in the glow of a guilloché Sun.

Ludo Secret watches celebrate the timeless elegance of one of Van Cleef & Arpels’ signature designs: the Ludo bracelet, created in 1934. Calling to mind a belt, Ludo pieces illustrate the Maison’s distinctive taste for trompe-l’oeil creations. Resonating with the world of couture, they met with great success from the very beginning.

The new sapphire Ludo Secret watch perpetuates this tradition, revisiting a model from 1949. It cradles the wrist with a bracelet composed of mirror-polished yellow gold “briquette” links, carefully assembled and adjusted by hand. Joined in a flexible mesh, they seem to be delicately woven together. The sunny glow of the yellow gold mingles with the intense blue of the sapphires in a harmony of contrasts.

The golden beads iconic of the Perlée® collection come together in a shimmering circle to create a new watch. This white gold model combines watchmaking savoir-faire and jewelry inspiration to offer a contemporary vision of jewels that tell time.

Perlée watch, 23mm

White gold, aventurine glass, diamonds, Swiss quartz movement

Perlée® collection

The creation exhibits a round contour bordered with a double row of golden beads, meticulously polished to bring out their full brilliance. Under the gently convex crystal, the dial reveals a decor in aventurine glass, its midnight blue nuances reflecting the boundless depth of the cosmos. The material features a radiating guilloché aspect, an innovative technique that further enriches the interplay of light. Its intense sparkle adds a vibrancy to the passage of time, measured with solid hands.