06 Dec 2022
The Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier watch from Van Cleef & Arpels won the prestigious Innovation Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Gene?ve 2022. This award is dedicated for “the best competing timepiece offering an innovative vision of time measurement and/or opening up new development pathways for the watchmaking art”. In a rose gold case set with diamonds, watchmaking, jewelry craftmanship and artistic savoir-faire come together to create a poetic scene.
With the Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier, the marvels of watchmaking join with precious materials and traditional savoir-faire, to bring a story to life on the dial. Flower opening module and minute window enable time to be measured via a stroll in a flower garden. Beyond their technical prowess, these virtuoso mechanisms provide precious moments of emotion, reflecting the imagination of Van Cleef & Arpels.
The Fontaine aux Oiseaux automaton by Van Cleef & Arpels won the prestigious Mechanical Clock Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Gene?ve 2022. This award is dedicated for “mechanical time-measuring instruments, such as longcase clocks or table clocks”. On this Extraordinary Object, watchmaking, jewelry and art craftsmenships skills come together to arouse a sense of wonder.
After designing its first Extraordinary Object, the Fée Ondine automaton presented in 2017, Van Cleef & Arpels has once again collaborated with exceptional workshops to create Fontaine aux Oiseaux, an automaton combining on-demand animation and retrograde time display. On the side of the base, a feather moves progressively along the time scale. Once it reaches 12 o’clock, it returns to its start point to repeat its journey for the next half-day. When activated, the automaton comes to life for about a minute, revealing a tender scene.
Thanks to the movement of its various elements, the water in the basin starts to ripple, as if in a light breeze. A water lily slowly blooms while a dragonfly rises into the air, flapping its wings and slightly whirling about. The birds at the edge of the basin wake, their song ringing out – thanks to an assembly that includes a bellow and a clicking box, respectively imitating chirping and beak sounds. They raise their heads and move their wings to begin their courtship display. As they move closer together, their articulated legs rise one after the other in a strikingly realistic movement. Once the scene is finished, the dragonfly returns to its hideaway, the birds take up their original positions, and the water lily gracefully closes.
