A part of the Poetic Complication® collection and a debut at this past week’s SIHH, the Lady Arpels™ Ronde des Papillons Poetic Complications™ from Van Cleef & Arpels captures the time within a heavenly tableau that is constantly changing.
The watchmaker that famously was named Official Supplier to the Principality of Monaco by Grace Kelly debuts a timepiece that pays homage to butterflies. The timepiece brings together three different colored butterflies on the dial. As the time changes, the butterfly moves in rhythm with the minutes while the hours move in time with the swallow.
All of this is powered by an innovative movement, which functions include retrograde hours, variable speed minutes and animation. In a one-hour cycle, they accelerate and then slow down again, thanks to an elliptical wheel inside the mechanism.
To create the stand-out dial, the Maison hand-paints the mother-of-pearl dial to create the multi-layered surface. While the swallow is engraved in white gold, the butterflies display gradations of various colors.
About Van Cleef & Arpels
With Poetic Complications™, Van Cleef & Arpels uses various types of watch movements to illustrate the passing of time. To accompany its poetic interpretation of time as faithfully as possible, the Maison developed its own special movement in 2006: the Quantième de Saison movement. Discover more about Van Cleef & Arpels here.