Poetry in Motion: Lady Arpels Brise d’Été Timepiece is a Tribute to Van Cleef & Arpels’ Extraordinary Watchmaking Flair

Brought to life by Pascal Narbeburu, Bazaar Arabia sits down with the maison’s director of timepieces to discuss the inspiration behind this poetic piece

There are hundreds of watchmaking maisons that create extremely precise and impeccably crafted fine timepieces. But how many can breathe life into a mini wildflower garden upon the wrist? Craft a ribbon of pink sapphires that feels as if it were tied mere moments before? Or conjure a delicate troupe of winged fairies to deftly flit across a watch face? One: Van Cleef & Arpels.

With its Poetic Complications timepieces, Van Cleef & Arpels illustrates its peerless skill in blending high jewellery artisanry with remarkable movements. Each piece serves as an ode to its 120 years in Place Vendôme, the beating heart of high-jewellery making in Paris, and indeed all of Europe. The maison’s most recent triumph is the Lady Arpels Brise d’Été watch, a whimsical design dreamed up by director of timepieces Pascal Narbeburu. “The Brise d’Eté watch is part of the legacy and history of Poetic Complications that is now nearly 20 years old, and very important in the identity of Van Cleef & Arpels watches,” explains Pascal, who joined the maison in 2016.

The watch is indeed a wonder, and speaks to a signature theme of the house. “One of the maison’s sources of inspiration is nature and this is the starting point of this timepiece, which celebrates the freshness of a summer morning,” says Pascal.

Dissatisfied with a flat, static fresco, Pascal designed the dial to showcase flowers in three-dimensional relief, with components intricately stacked and complemented by plique-à-jour enamelling to add extra volume. Even to those in the know, the enamelling upon the watch face is remarkable, with each element of the dial requiring three to five layers that must be individually fired at a precise temperature, while the glass base required more than 20 layers of enamel with a minimum of seven firings.

The Brise d’Eté watch may look enchanting, but it is its exceptional engineering that delivers the real magic, with an on-demand animation module that enables the leaves and flowers to dance while delicate butterflies glide to indicate the time.

“The movement of the butterflies and flowers required a very complex development that was quite a challenge,” says Pascal, who explains that capturing the grace of blooms swept by a summer breeze was no mean feat.

“Being able to transmit this feeling through a mechanical movement is something that makes us very proud. The butterflies seem to fly over the flowers which move so smoothly. This is a moment where time seems suspended.”

This is what the maison refers to as ‘The Poetry of Time’ – a poetic interpretation of life – and it is an important narrative for its watchmaking division. “In the history of Van Cleef & Arpels, stories are very important, and there is a strong connection with the idea of a longer time,” Pascal tells Bazaar Arabia. “We are looking for the time it takes to tell a full story. It can be a fairytale, it can be a poem, but that also has to do with a vision of what time is about. We use this technical side to tell a story, with rather magical results.” We couldn’t agree more.

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s December 2024 Issue