Van Cleef & Arpels creates a trio of musical watches that breaks conventions as well as technological barriers, as a tribute to George Balanchine’s ballet masterpiece Jewels
The earliest musical box was believed to have been made around 1770 in Switzerland. First designed to be fitted in pocket watches, the musical device slowly gained popularity and would gradually be built into wooden cases as popular household décor items.
But in recent years, horological brands have rarely ventured into the territory of musical watches, except that of minute repeaters. That is until Van Cleef & Arpels launched its Lady Arpels Ballerines Musicales collection earlier this year. As part of the brand’s Poetic Complications collection, the creations are inspired by famed choreographer and New York City Ballet co-founder George Balanchine’s masterpiece, Jewels.
The collection is a tribute to the close ties between Balanchine and Claude Arpels, the head of Van Cleef & Arpels’ American business. Legend has it (although reports vary) that Balanchine’s daily walks past the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in New York inspired the idea for Jewels. Each act of the ballet honours a legendary composer, as well as a gemstone: Frenchman Gabriel Fauré for Emeralds, Russian Igor Stravinsky for Rubies and Russian Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky for Diamonds.
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The collection comprises three watches. Each embodies the characteristics of an act within the ballet, and sports a unique motif and combination of gemstones on the dial. The Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Émeraude boasts green hues, while the Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Rubis captivates with splashes of crimson. Lastly, the Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Diamant, with its shades of blue and gold, scintillates with sophistication.
And as if reproducing the theatrical performance, Van Cleef & Arpels also re-engineered the complex melodies of Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Op 80; Stravinsky’s Capriccio for piano and orchestra; and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 3 for the respective watches. With a depression of the button below the crown, the lower portion of the dial rotates with ballerinas prancing gracefully across as music plays from a four-gong carillon and a musical box fitted inside the watch case.
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