Sautoir Cerf-Volant

Jewels that tell the time

At the crossroads of Watchmaking and High Jewelry, Van Cleef & Arpels continues to explore its creative universe with jewels that tell the time. Whether graphic or figurative, they display a wealth of savoir-faire and lend a sparkle to time – disclosing it in glimpses or even cloaking it in mystery. Secret watches – created by the Maison since the 1930s – surprise with their hidden treasures. They have all the elegance of jewelry, with dials that remain hidden before being discretely revealed. Sliding a precious bow, opening a diamond chest or glancing at a mirror are so many ways of playing with time.

Reflections of time

All Van Cleef & Arpels’ inventiveness and High Jewelry expertise come together in this long necklace watch and its unusual way of telling the time. At first glance, a long necklace deploys fluid rows of onyx beads while retaining a precious case. The tones of the necklace – the dark gleam of spinels and onyx, the white of diamonds and cultured pearls and the red of rubies – are echoed on the case adorned with onyx, mother-of-pearl and a kite in Traditional Mystery Set. The latter attracts the attention: by pressing the cabochon-cut ruby, the lid lowers to reveal a mirror that reflects the watch’s dial. Subtle and elegant, this presentation of time is made possible by an anticlockwise quartz movement that enables the hour to be read in an astonishing play of reflections.