Van Cleef & Arpels’s constellation of new creations cast a moonlit glow over this year’s Watches and Wonders, with ‘Poetry of the Heavens’ setting the scene for a whole spectrum of beautiful novelties. Among the Maison’s new creations – the most diminutive in size yet bursting with skill and symbolism – was the Perlée watch in white gold, diamonds and spectacular aventurine glass. Now an essential fixture in the Van Cleef & Arpels oeuvre, Perlée was first launched as a standalone collection in 2008 and now finds a new expression that twinkles with what look like uncountable stars.
Utilising the unique beauty of artisan-crafted Murano aventurine glass – deep blue and sparkling – to evoke the heavens, the dial represents the painstaking work it takes to achieve this unique material. Just the first step of heating and cooling this rare material takes a full month to complete, then come the delicate and intricate cutting and selecting stages, before the most uniformly perfect dial discs are carefully engraved with a guilloché pattern designed to intensify their glitter.
The final effect truly has to be seen to be believed, with the subtle 23mm diameter of this diamond-circled timepiece boasting far more sheen than should be possible in such a tiny package. If there’s any horological jewel that can truly bring to mind the vastness of the universe, it’s, somewhat contrarily, this petite wonder. Learn more
