Van Cleef & Arpels continues to demonstrate why it remains synonymous with storytelling through the medium of high complications. The Maison’s recent additions to its Poetic Complications collection represent a significant evolution in how luxury watchmaking can intertwine narrative with mechanical precision. Both the Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux (€ 446’000) and the newly unveiled Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate (€ 167’000) exemplify this philosophy. Since 2010, when the original Pont des Amoureux was awarded the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, Van Cleef & Arpels has refined an approach where watchmaking becomes a vehicle for romantic expression. The 2025 iterations now expand this universe with four new Pont des Amoureux references and an entirely new automaton movement specifically developed for the Bal des Amoureux Automate. These pieces reveal how technical achievement can serve creative vision rather than overwhelm it.
Time As Love Poetry
The dial architecture of both collections demonstrates exceptional sophistication through restrained elegance. The Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux dials employ grisaille enamel, the signature technique that Van Cleef & Arpels has perfected over decades. This approach employs two layers of blanc de Limoges, white enamel powder, applied to a dark blue background to achieve pronounced chiaroscuro effects. The four new 2025 iterations each capture specific moments within a Parisian day: the Aube (dawn), Matinée (morning), Soirée (evening – the presented piece), and Clair de Lune (moonlight). Each dial features a foreground where the bridge itself has been meticulously sculpted in gold, standing proud from the landscape and generating visual depth. The technique demands precision; the workflow requires approximately 40 hours per dial and involves a dozen separate kiln firings to achieve the final result.
The Bal des Amoureux Automate introduces an expanded palette through five distinct planes within its composition, creating unusual dimensional complexity for a timepiece so contained. Van Cleef & Arpels introduced colored grisaille enamel here, a refinement of the traditional technique, where different tones of blue receive illumination from warm touches of yellow representing lantern light. This creates the chiaroscuro effect of a Parisian night rendered in miniature. The white gold cobblestones are hand-crafted by the Maison‘s artisans, whilst the festive lanterns and atmospheric elements establish the guinguette setting. The case back continues the narrative through enamel decal on sapphire crystal paired with engraving depicting the couple dancing.
Both collections employ hand-crafted gold elements as structural and visual components rather than mere background. This design choice prevents dial fatigue despite the density of information and prevents the scenes from becoming visually compressed within the 38mm boundaries.
Technical Presentation of the Movements
The Pont des Amoureux models employ a Valfleurier Q020 calibre equipped with a self-winding (automatic) mechanism. This movement powers a double retrograde display where the hours and minutes indicators advance independently, creating the illusion of two figures approaching one another. At noon and midnight, time effectively pauses for three minutes whilst the lovers kiss, a function executed through an on-demand animation module. The wearer may trigger this scene at any moment by pushing the crown, replaying the twelve-second animation sequence.
The power reserve extends to 36 hours, providing adequate autonomy for daily wear. The double retrograde mechanism represents a sophisticated engineering solution that allows timekeeping precision whilst accommodating the theatrical element of the animation.
The Bal des Amoureux Automate required development of an entirely new in-house movement, marking a significant investment by the Maison. Rainer Bernard, Head of Research and Development for Watchmaking, emphasized that achieving natural gestures posed substantial engineering challenges. The lovers needed articulation enabling simultaneous approach whilst maintaining individual movement freedom. The mechanism incorporates three articulation points in the arms to create realistic leaning and hand-holding motions.
This automaton performs differently from the retrograde lovers in the Pont des Amoureux. The time display passes to two golden stars within the night sky, each moving retrograde to indicate hours and minutes independently. The stars synchronize with the lovers’ position through patented mechanisms Van Cleef & Arpels has not fully disclosed. The lovers, now liberated from timekeeping duties, dance along a linear path through the cobblestone courtyard. As the day progresses, they move closer or further apart, culminating in a kiss at noon and midnight. The on-demand button at the eight o’clock position accelerates this romantic dance to completion in seconds.
The movement delivers a 36-hour power reserve, identical to its predecessor, though the integration of the automaton mechanism within a slim case required extensive engineering optimization.
Tasteful Opulence
Both collections reside in identical 38mm cases constructed from 18-karat white gold with rhodium plating applied for enhanced brightness. The case dimensions follow the established Lady Arpels proportions: a compact, wearable format intentionally scaled for feminine wrists, though appreciators of design regardless of gender find these cases compelling.
The Pont des Amoureux cases feature bezels set with 122 brilliant-cut round diamonds totalling 2.82 carats. The crown carries a single solitaire diamond, with T-bar lugs facilitating comfortable wear. Water resistance stands at 3 atmosphere (30 metres), appropriate for splash resistance but unsuitable for swimming or snorkelling.
The Bal des Amoureux Automate employs identical specifications regarding case construction, water resistance, and diamond setting density. The bezel, crown, and lugs receive diamond embellishment creating what reviewers describe as a “full-circle sparkle” reflecting both traditional gem-setting principles and contemporary luxury expectations.
The Pont des Amoureux offerings come equipped with interchangeable alligator leather straps in colour variations corresponding to the dial narrative: soft pink for the Aube, intense pink for the Soirée, light blue for the Matinée, and deep blue for the Clair de Lune. Jewelled metal bracelets entirely set with diamonds and graduated sapphires accompany each reference. An intricate mesh construction permits the band to conform to wrist curves with fluid elegance.
The Bal des Amoureux Automate arrives with a shiny alligator strap in Parisian Sky Blue or an optional diamond-set white gold bracelet.
My Favourite Ladies Watches
Van Cleef & Arpels has achieved what few luxury manufacturers accomplish: creating watches where technical complexity serves narrative rather than existing for its own sake. The movement engineering, especially the new automaton calibre, remains hidden behind a sapphire caseback deliberately kept closed. This design decision reflects the Maison’s conviction that the story matters rather than technical specifications. Rainer Bernard’s statement that “the difficulty lay in achieving several natural gestures without altering the precision of the mechanism” encapsulates the philosophy. Four years of research produced an automaton movement capable of conveying genuine emotion through mechanical means.
The grisaille enamel techniques employed represent preservation of métiers d’art traditions that might otherwise vanish. Each dial requires 40 hours of labour and a dozen kiln firings. Few contemporary manufacture facilities retain the expertise to execute such work. By integrating this savoir-faire into production watches rather than one-off art pieces, Van Cleef & Arpels establishes an economic model that sustains these diminishing crafts.
Both collections exist at the intersection of horology and jewellery, territories Van Cleef & Arpels has navigated since 1906. These watches transcend functional timekeeping. They become wearable objects that transform the passage of time into something poetic, a concept the Maison describes as “Poetry of Time.” Whether through the romantic rendezvous on a Parisian bridge or the intimate moment in a guinguette, these pieces invite contemplation of love expressed through mechanical means. I love them deeply. I consider that Lady Arpels Collectiones presents some of the most beautiful ladies watches – from the exceptional artisanal work to masterful poetic mechanical complications.
