POETIC COMPLICATIONS LADY ARPELS HEURES FLORALES MODEL, REF. ARPBJL00, CASE NO. HH129240 AND 53, CIRCA 2023

The ‘Poetic Complications’ collection from Van Cleef & Arpels are extraordinary creations that tell the time by ingenious animations, a complete departure from the traditional hour and minute hand form of time indication. This Lady Arpels ‘Heures Florales’ is a spectacularly beautiful masterwork demonstrating the art of the jeweller and watchmaker at the highest level. Taking a full five years from conception to finished creation, the ‘Heures Florales’ was inspired by Linnaeus’ Flower Clock or Horologium Florae concept proposed by Swedish botanist Carl von Linné in his 1751 book Philosophia Botanica. Undoubtedly one of the most delightful of the series, where the hours are indicated by counting the number of opened flowers, the minutes are read through a glazed aperture in the case band. The animation of the ‘Heures Florales’ depicts nature in movement, interpreting the cycle of flowers opening and closing depending on the time of the day into mechanical timekeeping. The present watch is, to the best of our knowledge, the first example of this reference ‘Summer’ to be presented at international auction. Moreover it is offered in superb condition with the full set of accessories.

The operation of the Lady Arpels ‘Heures Florales’ is totally mesmerising, an incredible 166 components are set into motion, the dial alone with a total of 226 elements. The mechanical movement is fitted with a special module, which opens the 12 flowers to display the hours. Every single petal of each of the 12 flowers connects to the module. In addition, this extraordinary animation gives each of the flowers three different opening sequences. As each hour eclipses, the open flowers close and then make way for a new combination. Each day, the sequences of the flowers opening from hour to hour are different. Therefore, when each flower opens it remains a surprise for the wearer.

This charming floral extravaganza is framed by the 38 mm white gold case with diamond-set bezel and complementary diamond-set buckle, the Lady Arpels ‘Heures Florales’ is a wristwatch that is both extremely beautiful and a tour-de-force of haute horology and rare craftsmanship. In the words of Van Cleef & Arpels “watches whose dials bring the fairytale world of the jeweler to life”.

Unveiled at Watches & Wonders in 2022, the ‘Heures Florales’ was available in two numbered editions of 23 pieces each. The present watch, Ref. VCARPBJL00 is presented in a white-gold case in combination with blue flowers, while its sibling Ref. VCARPBJM00 is presented in a rose-gold case paired with pink flowers. The aim of this blue edition is to evoke summer with fresh blue and green tones, while the pink version celebrates spring. In total, the present summer edition has 424 stones, while the spring edition has 430 diamonds and 10 sapphires.