Skip to content
Pursuits
Businessweek

How Van Cleef & Arpels Hides Serious Watchmaking Behind Beautiful Whimsy

The jewelry powerhouse is making huge strides in the Swiss watch industry.
By

From
Reprints
The Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier tells the hour by opening the corresponding number of flowers to reveal the gemstones inside.

The Lady Arpels Heures Florales Cerisier tells the hour by opening the corresponding number of flowers to reveal the gemstones inside.

Photographer: Hannah Whitaker for Bloomberg Businessweek

As the global watch press descended on Geneva a year ago for the first in-person Watches and Wonders since the start of the pandemic, it was a timepiece and a mechanical objet d’art from Van Cleef & Arpels that made indelible impressions on many attendees—despite the inevitable buzz around the latest unveilings from Rolex and Patek Philippe SA.

The Lady Arpels Heures Florales features mechanical flowers, set with diamonds and sapphires, that open and close to show the time. In a nod to floral rhythms, the watch was inspired by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus’s vision from 1748—never realized—for a garden of flowering plants that would tell time accurately by opening and closing for specific portions of the day.

Share