Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie

Fairies, protective muses of Van Cleef & Arpels

Ever faithful to a poetic view of life, Van Cleef & Arpels instills a distinctive dimension into the art of watchmaking: that of dreams and emotions. A blend of inventiveness and fantasy, the Maison’s creations interpret the measurement of time as an invitation to imagine, wander and revel in happiness.

Initiating one of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most cherished traditions, the Maison’s first feminine figures were created in the early 1940s, in the form of precious ballerina and fairy clips. Conceived as symbols of joy and hope, the fairies rapidly won over collectors with their graceful postures and delicate wings. Seemingly ready to soar into the air, they are often endowed with a rose-cut diamond face crowned by a headdress. From 2007 and the first Lady Féerie watch, these ethereal silhouettes have accompanied the passing hours, like the guardians of Van Cleef & Arpels’ Poetry of Time.

Lady Féerie watch

A new addition to the Féerie timepieces collection, this piece blends watchmaking skills and traditional craftsmanship within a delicately proportioned 33mm case. In a dreamlike scene, a fairy marks the passage of time with her magic wand by the gentle light of the Moon.

Like a protective muse, a fairy in a sapphire and diamond gown watches over Van Cleef & Arpels’ Poetry of Time. Her face, depicted by a diamond, forms a dazzling contrast with the bluish tones of the sky, in guilloché mother-of-pearl. The same tones adorn her translucent wings, crafted from a combination of plique-à-jour and grisaille enamel. Used together by the Maison for the first time on a single motif, the techniques create an interplay of shades and effects of depth on the wings, which are also edged with intricately-set diamonds following the enameling work. Seated on a cloud of iridescent white mother-of-pearl, this feminine figure points out the minutes with her magic wand; meanwhile, the Moon harbors the passing hours in a window of mother-of-pearl, haloed by a gentle glow. On the back of the watch, the visible oscillating weight is engraved with a full Moon in a star-studded sky.

Watchmaking, jewelry and traditional craft skills have come together to bring this poetic scene to life. The Lady Féerie watch is fitted with a self-winding mechanical movement, with a retrograde minute display and jumping hours. Great precision was required in its design and assembly, to fit this sophisticated movement into a Lady case just 33mm in diameter. The case is embellished with a rounded sapphire glass, maximizing the light that enters and providing a gentle finishing touch to the watch’s silhouette.