A WONDERFUL TIME
True to its reputation as a magician who harmoniously combines time and poetry, the Parisian maison is offering a new version of its graceful enchantress in shades of the setting sun.
In the 1940s, Van Cleef & Arpels called on fairies, those little imaginary beings endowed with magical powers and graceful looks that scare away the wizards of everyday life, offering a romantic vision of life. This desire to embellish time with the benevolent presence of enchantresses sublimated by the art of craftsmanship has been used by the Parisian maison in watches that are part of the Complications Poétiques® collection, to which the Lady Féerie belongs. Presented a few years ago, it is back with new colors that evoke the shades of the sky as the sun slowly fades into night.
On the dial, which is covered in a twilight gradation of mauves, with an origami-like pleated appearance and punctuated with precious stars, a cloud of mother-of-pearl trimmed in gold lets the time display radiate like the sun offering its last rays. Covererd with a dress of diamonds, pink sapphires and miniature paint, with delicate wings made of gems, pink plique-à-jour enamel and opaque enamel, the diamond-faced fairy extends the tip of her magic wand towards the retrograde minute scale placed along the right-hand side of the flange, from 1 o’clock to 5 o’clock, and graduated in tens, from 0 to 60. These time indications are driven by an automatic movement completed by a special ValFleurier module and wound by an oscillating weight bearing the engraving of a full moon surrounded by stars to deliver an power reserve of approximately 36 hours. This beating heart is housed in a pink gold case measuring 35mm in diameter with diamond-covered lugs, bezel, case middle and crown.
