While we all know that Van Cleef & Arpels love a bit of poetry, I get the feeling that they also have a major thing for swans. Huh, what? You know, the way swans glide across the water, all elegance and beauty, no visible effort – while paddling furiously beneath the surface. Well, that’s how Van Cleef & Arpels make their complication watches, whether for men or women. Refined, beautiful, often rather dreamlike on the outside; brain-bendingly complex on the inside. In 2014, you may remember, Van Cleef & Arpels launched an astonishing planetarium watch developed in collaboration with the master of astronomical horology, Christiaan van der Klaauw. It replicated the entire solar system, with each planet completing an orbit – a full turn around the dial – in real time (Mercury three months, Earth 365 days, Jupiter 142 months, and so on). It’s a stunning watch. And, at 44mm, it’s man-sized. Now, the new 38mm version gives us girls a turn. To reduce size, only the inner solar system is represented: Mercury, Venus and Earth. Each is represented by a tiny polished bead –Mercury in pink mother-of-pearl, Venus in green enamel, Earth in turquoise – fixed to a rotating…
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