Lady Arpels Heures Florales Ceriser

Van Cleef & Arpels found inspiration in the floral clock concept, developed by Carl Von Linné in 1751, for two Lady Arpels watches whose three-dimensional dials poetically express the passing of time with 12 corollas that open and close. Telling the time becomes a spectacle, as the flowers blossom and close in a random sequence to create a new landscape every 60 minutes. Minutes are read through an aperture in the caseband. Bringing the dial to life are 166 elements that are set in motion by a module developed at Van Cleef & Arpels’ Ateliers Horlogers in Geneva. Each watch concentrates 226 decorative elements: petals and butterflies in miniature painting, branches in sculpted gold, clouds in sculpted mother-of-pearl, and white and yellow diamonds. The back of the gold case is engraved while the oscillating weight, also in gold, is embellished with guillochage and miniature painting. A sapphire crystal set into the back is engraved and finished with an enamelled dragonfly or butterfly.