The Intricate Details Of The Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Arpels Planetarium

Over the last few years, we have seen a trend of ladies watches getting more and more complicated. With this, the watch brands fuel on one side the growing interest among women for these type of watches, while at the same time cater to those who are already ready to add such a watch to their own collection. Van Cleef & Arpels has built a reputation for creating very elegant watches with unusual complications, which they themselves refer to so nicely as poetic.

The Lady Arpels Planetarium is most certainly that, as it offers a way to wear the heavens on your wrist. The centre point of the watch is the sun, with its nearest planets, Mercury, Venus and Earth, circling around it and a shooting star at the peripheral to indicate the time. The planets all move in their respective speeds, just as their real-life counterparts, which is made possible by a complex module, designed and crafted by the Dutch watch manufacture Christiaan van der Klaauw, fitted on a Valfleurier Q020 automatic movement.

It is easy to say that the intricate astronomical complication offers the bulk of the appeal of the Lady Arpels Planetarium, but it is also the way that Van Cleef & Arpels executed it that it reaches its full potential. The dial is made from rings of aventurine, which gives you the impression that you are staring into space. For the sun the brand opted for pink gold, while Mercury is crafted from pink mother-of-pearl, green enamel was utilized for Venus, and the Earth is made from turquoise. The Moon is portrayed by a diamond set in white gold.

This was also the precious metal of choice for the case, although you don’t see much of it, as it has a pave setting of colourless, brilliant cut diamonds. With this Van Cleef & Arpels underscores its rich history as one of the leading jewellery houses in the world. That comes with an eye for detail which makes it that also the back of the watch is not lost of them, and even the winding rotor is set with diamonds. With a diameter of 38mm does the Lady Arpels Planetarium also proves to be a watch for modern women, who like a substantial watch, without it being oversized. All combined make it that this Van Cleef & Arpels excels in all it does, and leads the way in the world of contemporary, complicated ladies watches.