Van Cleef & Arpels has unveiled its first Extraordinary Object, the Automate Fée Ondine, at the the 2017 edition of SIHH this year.
The fruit of long years' work and an intense collaboration with automaton maker François Junod, the project also owes its existence to the savoir-faire of the numerous craftsmen who have taken part in its creation.
Bringing together the jewelry and watchmaking traditions, this unique piece marks a new chapter for the Maison, in keeping with precious objects such as carriage and table clocks.
The highly complex mechanism – which animates various elements and also tells the time – gives pride of place to an ephemeral poetry: movement and lightness, the beauty of nature, the grace of a fairy waking from sleep and the nuances of precious stones and enamel.
This bejeweled tableau comes to life with infinite delicacy.
The Maison's imagination, creativity and attachment to ancestral crafts have come together in this Extraordinary Object to instill a dreamlike sense of wonder.
