Watches & Wonders Edit: Van Cleef & Arpels unveils new novelties including the Lady Arpels Heures Florales and marvellous automata, showcasing its jewellery and watchmaking savoir faire

May 3, 2022

The stunning hummingbird in the centre of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Rêveries de Berylline. Photos: Van Cleef & Arpels

Van Cleef & Arpels unveiled three charmingly whimsical horological automata made with gold and precious stones such as lapis lazuli at Watches and Wonders 2022

The maison’s new watch, Lady Arpels Heures Florales, is inspired by the floral clock described in Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus’ 1751 book Philosophia Botanica

Van Cleef & Arpels is best known as a creator of opulent jewellery and watches informed by a certain Parisian sense of style. But since the luxury maison was founded at the start of the 20th century, it has also specialised in a field that receives far less publicity: creating whimsical, enigmatic objects imbued with a sense of wonder and enchantment.

So it’s fitting that Van Cleef & Arpels marked this year’s Watches and Wonders with a little bit of both: a dazzling new horological creation as well as three of the distinctive automata that characterise the brand’s exploration of groundbreaking pieces that are both charmingly offbeat and technically breathtaking.