Van Cleef & Arpels has a whimsical way of telling time, thanks to its unorthodox watchmaking philosophy
Like many other luxury jewellery houses, Van Cleef & Arpels designs and produces watches. But ask its president and CEO Nicolas Bos if he regards the French house as a watchmaker, he will emphasise that the brand is a jeweller by trade. “We are primarily, and we will stay, a jewellery house. We are a jewellery house that expresses itself through jewels and through watches,” he said when we met in October at L’École des Arts Joailliers in Paris.
The maison had invited select international press and top clients to the City of Lights for the global launch of Poetry of Time, its annual collection of watches and bejewelled time-telling devices.
Also the brand’s creative director, Bos highlighted the industry’s perception of a watchmaker being one that owns a full-fledged manufacture. Pointing to its horological facility in Meyrin, Switzerland, he acknowledged that in that sense, the brand has always been a watchmaker. “But we were never and never will be, I believe, a manufacture that develops and produces movements from A to Z.”
The Frenchman thinks that “there is a real legitimacy” in the way Van Cleef & Arpels has approached watchmaking. And it “doesn’t necessarily include producing the movement”. Including exceptional gemstones in the design, partnering the best in the different fields, and creating a compelling story around the final product, he noted, are just as important.
