Watches & Wonders Highlights: Elizabeth Doerr Shares A Closer Look At Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Heures Florales
Bazaar’s watch columnist attends the prestigious Watches & Wonders fair in Switzerland and discovers that within the world of women’s timepieces romantic ideas are the order of the day
Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH) is upon us, currently the largest and most luxurious watch fair in the world. And from what has so far become apparent at the fair – which is taking place until April 5 in Geneva, Switzerland – romantic notions look to be a likely hot trend in female wristwear this year…
Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Heures Florales
Van Cleef & Arpels is famous for its Poetic Complication watches, and the latest instalment looks to nature for its dramatic romanticism. On the dials of the new Lady Arpels Heures Florales, flowers are fertilized by the time beneath precious petals that bloom throughout the day. The blooming is what provides the hour, while the minute is shown in a retrograde display on the side of the case. As the flowers open and close to provide the current hour, the dial vista renews and changes.
The idea for this watch is based in botanist Carl von Linn’s floral clock concept, which uses the blooming of flowers to tell the time. Unlike von Linn’s fully naturally clock, though, the Lady Arpels Heures Florales uses a complicated module developed by the brand to operate on the base of an automatic movement.
It comes in a moderate 38 mm case in white or rose gold, depending on the dial’s colour scheme. The two available variations include a summer theme with flowers in hues of blue and green, rose gold branches, and white and yellow diamond-set pistils against a background of white mother-of-pearl. The second is more of a springtime vista that sees ethereal blue butterflies (a frequent Van Cleef & Arpels theme) fluttering between pink and red flowers with gem-set pistils and rose gold branches.
Elizabeth Doerr is the editor-in-chief of QuillAndPad.com, a digital publication that keeps a watch on time.
Lead image supplied.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s April 2022 issue.