Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXV

1 2 2 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I F or over 120 years the French jewellery, watch, and perfume company Van Cleef & Arpels has produced exceptional works of art. Nature has always been a notable inspiration but this year theMaison explores the fantastical and the dreamlike world of butterflies and fairies continuing the Poetry of Time collection. The emblematic figures appear across a range of new pieces, each one displaying outstanding technical innovation and masterful craftsmanship. Of all the creations Van Cleef & Arpels unveiled at SIHH 2017, one artwork drew the attention of all in attendance. This was the brand’s Extraordinary Object, entitled Automate Fée Ondine. Encased in glass, this labour of love is not for sale at this time, but it is intended to show the intensity of commitment and savoir-faire of the brand. This remarkable mechanism is the result of years of painstaking work and an inspired collaboration with automatonmaker François Junod. The project also owes its existence to the skills of the numerous craftsmen who contributed to its evolution. The Automate Fée Ondine marries the jewellery and watchmaking traditions to form a truly unique piece that emphatically marks a new chapter for Van Cleef & Arpels. The highly complex mechanism – which animates various elements and also tells the time – gives pride of place to an ephemeral poetry: movement and lightness, the beauty of nature, the grace of a fairy waking from sleep, and the nuances of precious stones and enamel. This bejewelled tableau comes to life with infinite delicacy. The Maison’s imagination, creativity and attachment to ancestral crafts have come together in this Extraordinary Object to instil a dreamlike sense of wonder.