Van Cleef & Arpels at Salon de Greef

At the beginning of the month of June, I spent 3 days in Belgium to attend the Salon de Greef organized by the famous dealer of Brussels. Many Richemont brands were represented at the Salon including Van Cleef & Arpels which brought its jewelry and artistic touch. This exhibition gave me the opportunity to browse the VCA collection including some pieces featuring the Extraordinary Dials or the original time displays of the Poetry of Time.

Actually, I have to confess that I was delighted to do this report because I needed a young and nice lady as an assistant... to be able to shoot the wristshots!

I propose you to browse the pics and so to have a closer look to the current collection.

Let's start with a view of the booth:





One of my fav watch of the collection, A day in Paris with its animated dial. One of the best examples of the Poetry of Time. Living in Paris, I always have special feelings when I observe it. The watch proposes a pure 24 hours walk around famous places of the French capital. The finishings of the two characters (a woman and her daughter) on the foreground are excellent. It is a bit funny but due to the lay-out of the dial, the time display looks off-centered which is not obviously.

A  Charms with its 38mm case diameter. The watch is also available with 25 and 32mm cases. The pendant is a nod to the Alhambra collection.

The gems setting work on this watch is stunning, especially on the bracelet.

The iconic Alhambra with its typical case shape. The 4 sides symbolize luck, fortune, health and love.





This is a Secret watch which reminds us the time when wearing a watch for a woman was badly appreciated. Can you imagine that during several decades of the XXth century... a woman couldn't manage her own time. It was very unpolite for women to read time. So Secret watches were the best solution for them. You know, jewels, watches contribute to free women.

A Cadenas watch with its very original design. One of the legendary watches in the collection and of course a very ironic message behind... because the ability for the owner of the watch in the 30s to secretly read the time was a way to free herself.

Let's have a closer look on the Extraordinary Dials.

Animals, insects and generally speaking fauna are one of the 7 pillars of VC&A universe.

Butterfly topic is very regularly used in the Jewelry and the Watches collection. Do you remember the watches with the butterflies flying around the tree which were actually two retrograde hands (the Butterfly Symphony)? The watch pictured below has a classic time display but the work on the dial is gorgeous. For me, it is a kind of precious sculpture.

Another favourite topic: hummingbirds!

The dial features a combination of enamel and precious stones to create this 3D decoration. The case has a 38mm diameter. The watch is powered by the handwind Piaget 830P movement.

Back to the Day in Paris!

The dial is made of onyx and MOP. Case diameter is 38mm. The watch uses the Piaget 800P automatic movement.

The Alhambra Vintage Bracelet watch in YG and MOP. This bracelet watch is the best way to wear several lucky charms at the same time...

The Alhambra Talisman watch:

Two Charms watches:









Of course, the VC&A team took advantage of the Salon to show to the visitors the tools and methods (champlevé enamel, engraving etc...) used to decorate the dials and the cases. It was a key part of the exhibition in order to demonstrate that VC&A watches can be considered as a meeting point between jewelry, art and watchmaking.

To learn more about VC&A world, you can read the report I did after my half day at the Ecole VC&A:
timeout.watchprosite.com

I would like to thank the VC&A team at the Salon de Greef for the warm welcome.

Fx