Due to a lack of time – SIHH is one long, mad rush to one appointment after another – I was unable to see Van Cleef et Arpel’s complete collection. That was disappointing because I knew it would be worth my while.
Fortunately I did get to see the two most important new watches, a pair of double retrogrades, one of which is the best lady’s watch of the fair. And even more fortunately, none other than Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, who developed the watches, was there to explain them.
Mr Wiederrecht runs Agenhor, the complications specialist, particularly in retrograde displays, which has worked for a plethora of well known names, primarily making modules to add onto base movements. I only discovered this year (clearly I’m not reading enough about watches) that Agenhor is behind many of the most interesting VC&A complications, including the Four Seasons, Midnight in Paris and the various retrograde displays. Some of his better known works include the first complicated Harry Winston wristwatch, the retrograde perpetual calendar, and more recently, Max Busser’s HM2 and HM3.
This year VC&A presented two retrograde watches. Both are superb, but one is exceptional. We’ll begin with the superb timepiece, the Butterfly Symphony.
Two enamelled butterflies swoop up and down alongside a tree with mother-of-pearl foliage and a white gold trunk. The white gold case is set with diamonds, and diamonds are also used for the markers on the dial. But this is more than a mere retrograde. The retrograde module, which sits on a small JLC base on the left of the case, is extremely robust and innovative. Both hours and minutes can be set backwards with no ill effects. Also, the wheels of the retrograde display use patented teeth profiles with a slot cut down the middle that completely eliminate play from wheels, which can lead to imprecise, ‘floating’ hands.
These patented wheels are also found on the next watch, Le Pont des Amoureux, or Lovers’ Bridge in English. This is the best lady’s watch of SIHH 2010 and will certainly be one of the best for the entire year as well.
A 38 mm white gold case is set with diamonds, framing a subtle two tone enamel dial depicting a street scene at dusk. A bridge, crafted from white gold, spans the dial, and on which two figures stand. At the stroke of midnight they kiss, briefly, before jumping back to the end of the bridge simultaneously.
But creating this complication was far more difficult than it appears, according to Mr Wiederrecht. Both figures have to meet at exactly the same time on exactly the same spot, because if they do not the lapse will be painfully obvious. The patented teeth of the wheels help achieve this precise positioning of the figures. They have also to leave simultaneously, so as not to leave one party stranded alone on the bridge.
A charming detail was incorporated into this watch – the movement of the lady on the bridge is not linear over 12 hours. At 11:50 p.m. the lady takes a larger than normal step forward, bringing her closer to the gentleman, before they touch at midnight. Mr Wiederrecht makes the tongue in cheek comment that the man controls where the lady goes: if he doesn’t move she’ll never reach the centre of the bridge.
Though it can’t be seen, the movement contains an interesting detail, besides the patented teeth on the wheels: a pair of levers in the retrograde mechanism that are each are shaped like the male and female figures on the bridge respectively. The Butterfly Symphony also has butterfly shaped wheels and levers in the module.
Both these watches offer whimsical, feminine complications that are designed with the female buyer in mind, instead of the typical cop-out route of fitting a tourbillon movement into a diamond set case with a galuchat strap. And at the same time these watches offer an impressive level of technical expertise, thanks to Agenhor, as well as magnificently crafted dials. I did an informal poll of a few ladies who work for other Richemont brands and each was invariably impressed, in particular by the Le Pont des Amoureux. VC&A already offers what is one of the best collections of complicated female watches, this pair of watches builds on that strength.