Van Cleef & Arpels Hosts The Poetry of Time™ Exhibition In Dubai

By Victoria Townsend | February 12, 2016

Van Cleef & Arpels inaugurated its Poetry of Time™ exhibition earlier this week in Dubai, with Managing Director for Middle East and India, Alessandro Maffi, on hand to greet the crowd of friends, media and other distinguished guests.

“This year” he said, “the Maison explores the dimensions of High Watchmaking with endless imagination and poetry.”

Within the themes of ‘Enchanting Nature’ and ‘Jewels that Tell the Time’, a series of timepieces from the Extraordinary Dials™ and Poetic Complications™ collections illustrates the House’s unique watchmaking expertise reputed for its happy marriage between technical prowess and pure emotion, where intricate mechanisms join artistic techniques, sparkle and imagination to create “a poetic world where enchantment comes to life”.

From the ‘Enchanting Nature’ theme, we discover examples of ‘Lady Arpels Oiseaux Enchantées’ (enchanted birds) that combine hard stone marquetry with the mastered techniques of renowned feather artist Nelly Saunier, who creates 3 dimensional miniature birds from real feathers for stunning colours of shimmering and natural plumage on the ‘Extraordinary Dials’.

With ‘Jewels that Tell the Time’ from the Poetic Complications™ theme, we admire the delicate enameling techniques on watch dials and the stories they tell, as they turn slowly in 24 hours to accompany the passage of day and night, brought to life by a self-winding mechanical movement. One example is the ‘Lady Arpels Jour Nuit’ ‘Coccinelles’ timepiece, with a disk of cloisonné enamel that reveals two ladybirds by day, followed by a bouquet of diamond-set flowers to reflect the glow of night.

The exhibition also presents a Middle East exclusivity from the Charms Watch collection: the new Charms Malachite numbered special edition timepiece. For the first time, the curved 32 mm case is in yellow gold, embellished with two rows of diamonds on the bezel and a rotating diamond-paved charm featuring the iconic Alhambra® motif. The strap is interchangeable, in shiny green or matt white alligator.

Van Cleef & Arpels also highlights its Patrimony this year, with a unique exhibition of the Cadenas® watch, created in 1935 as a jewel with a watch dial and padlock-style clasp, reintroduced last year in nine different versions with bold and modern changes to the dial, clasp and stone settings.

Held for the fourth year at the Dubai Mall, the exhibition runs until February 20^th.