Another year, Van Cleef & Arpels is present at Watches and Wonders 2026. A Maison that, as it does every year, brings its touch of color, fantasy, and romanticism to this major watchmaking exhibition. This year, the Maison observes the subtle variations of the Moon through a new watch from the Poetic Complications collection. The hours of Poetic Astronomy pass in harmony, from one time zone to another, in an elegant design that enhances the art of enamel. Meanwhile, Van Cleef & Arpels time-telling jewelry interprets the vastness of the sky in exclusive materials. Finally, the Extraordinary Dials collection presents two new watches: legendary love stories set against a celestial landscape.
“Watches and Wonders 2026 gives us the opportunity to present our Poetic Complications collection once again. Born in 2006 with the Lady Arpels Centenaire watch and its Quantième de Saison movement, this collection sparks emotions thanks to the confluence of watchmaking expertise and a narrative vision of the passage of time. Over the years, these creations have become icons of the Poetry of Time so dear to Van Cleef & Arpels. Today, this concept is enriched with a fascinating new chapter.”
Catherine Renier, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels
Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune
Van Cleef & Arpels expands its Jour Nuit collection, launched in 2008 and revisited in 2024, with the introduction of a new creation honoring the Moon, a long-standing source of inspiration for the Maison. The watch features two superimposed complications housed within the case. The first animates the namesake Jour Nuit display, while the second “astronomical” complication illustrates the current moon phase, a feature integrated into Van Cleef & Arpels’ watchmaking history in 1929.
Within the 42 mm white gold Midnight case, the dial shines with the intense brilliance of a black Murano aventurine glass sky. Van Cleef & Arpels’ innovation department participated in the development of this component, achieving an intense color and a brilliant gold-flecked effect that evokes the beauty of the night sky. Throughout the day, the gold guilloché sun gradually gives way to a moon crafted from white mother-of-pearl and surrounded by acrylic stars. The two celestial bodies thus emerge and disappear behind the horizon, represented by a painted, guilloché mother-of-pearl shroud, in a range of tones from black to white.
Its daily tracking is made possible by the movement of a 24-hour rotating disc, characteristic of Jour Nuit creations. This first display is enhanced by a subtle change in the appearance of the Moon, evoking its eternal 29.5-day cycle. The phenomenon remains visible at will even when the Moon is hidden behind the dial, thanks to a button on the edge of the watch. When the animation is activated, the dial rotates 360° for approximately 10 seconds, revealing Earth’s satellite with its starry decoration.
Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs
Featuring a dual time zone movement, the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs watch offers a refined and poetic interpretation of time in two different corners of the planet. Every glance at the dial becomes an open invitation to travel, a window looking out onto the world.
The design of the 38 mm Midnight case accentuates the harmonious balance between the polished and satin-finished pink gold of the case and hour markers, and the subtle tones of the embossed enamel that make up the dial, whose brown nuances take on warm or cool accents depending on the light. The dial features a guilloché aesthetic radiating from a piqué motif that evokes Van Cleef & Arpels’ signature. The clean lines resonate with the asymmetry of the decoration—a paradigm of the Maison’s style—in which the fluid letters spelling out the name of the piece pay tribute to the poetry expressed in words. The back of the case displays an engraved Moon bathed in the glow of a guilloché Sun.
This Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight case houses an automatic movement that displays jumping hours alongside retrograde minutes. The Heure d’ici (the home time shown in the upper aperture) and the Heure d’ailleurs (the time shown in the second time zone aperture, located at the bottom of the dial) advance simultaneously thanks to a sector gear that synchronizes the two discs and the retrograde minutes hand. When the hand reaches 60 minutes on the graduated scale, it returns to its starting position just as the hour indication advances.
Van Cleef & Arpels Ludo Secret
The Ludo Secret watches pay tribute to the timeless elegance of one of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most iconic designs: the Ludo bracelet, created in 1934. With a design reminiscent of a belt, Ludo pieces perpetuate the Maison’s distinctive taste for trompe-l’œil creations. Clearly influenced by the world of haute couture, they met with great success from their very inception.
The new Ludo Secret sapphire watch perpetuates this tradition, revisiting a 1949 model. It fits the wrist with a bracelet composed of mirror-polished yellow gold links, carefully assembled and adjusted by hand. Joined in a flexible mesh, they appear to be delicately woven. The sunny glow of the yellow gold blends with the intense blue of the sapphires in a harmony of contrasts.
Set upon the golden surface, the gems form generous crescent moon motifs. By simultaneously pressing both sides of the clasp, a guilloché white mother-of-pearl dial is revealed. As a final touch of elegance, a baguette-cut sapphire serves as the 12 o’clock marker.
Van Cleef & Arpels Perlée
The golden beads, iconic to the Perlée collection, come together in a radiant circle to create a new watch. This white gold model combines watchmaking expertise with jewelry inspiration to offer a contemporary vision of time-telling jewels. The creation features a round contour bordered by a double row of golden beads, meticulously polished to enhance their brilliance.
Under the slightly convex crystal, the dial reveals a decoration in aventurine glass, whose midnight blue nuances reflect the vastness of the cosmos. The material features a radiating guilloché, an innovative technique that further enriches the play of light. Its intense brilliance adds vitality to the passage of time, measured with solid hands. The edge of the case, set with diamonds, mirrors the design of the bezel, which also features diamonds selected by the Maison’s expert gemologists according to the highest standards of quality. A button on the back of the case adjusts the time without being visible on the wrist. The watch includes an interchangeable alligator leather strap, in addition to a second strap chosen from the various colors of the collection. Easy to attach and remove, the straps can be interchanged according to the wearer’s preferences.
Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Rencontre Céleste and Lady Retrouvailles Célestes
A founding source of inspiration for the Maison, love sets the joyful rhythm of the Poetry of Time, offering a vision of watchmaking steeped in dreams and emotion. This year, the touching power of this theme inspires Van Cleef & Arpels to create a duo of Extraordinary Dials. Through consummate mastery of artistic craftsmanship, these new creations tell the story of a legendary couple: Vega and Altair, also known as Niulang and Zhinu.
Complementing each other, the watches express the melancholy meeting of these lovers and the ecstasy of their reunion. A blend of blues, the Lady Rencontre Céleste watch portrays the couple, hands intertwined, framed by a starry sky. Their white gold silhouette appears behind glowing clouds adorned with bead-set diamonds.
Their faces, outlined by rose-cut diamonds, show deep mutual contemplation. This enchanting scene shines with the soft light of a moon set with diamonds. The background of the dial, in champlevé enamel and grisaille enamel, is further embellished by a subtle sapphire crescent, and the setting beads are infused with color using the miniature painting technique.
Van Cleef & Arpels Poetry of Time
True to its poetic vision of life, Van Cleef & Arpels infuses an exclusive dimension into watchmaking: an element of dreams and emotions. Technical mastery transforms the measurement of time into a promise of wonder. The Maison draws inspiration from its history and its iconic sources—love, haute couture, nature, astronomy, fairies, and ballerinas—to capture a golden moment on each dial.
This philosophical approach to watchmaking is particularly visible in the Poetic Complications collection. Launched in 2006, this collection brings together masterly mechanisms, artistic craftsmanship, and High Jewelry know-how, sources of surprise and enchantment. From the Lady Arpels Centenaire watch, with its Quantième de Saison movement, to the Pont des Amoureux, Jour Nuit, and Heures Florales collections, each Poetic Complications creation expresses the poetry of the moment.
Van Cleef & Arpels Poetic Astronomy
Throughout its history, Van Cleef & Arpels has drawn inspiration from the spectacle of the stars and the heavens to create jewelry, High Jewelry, and watches. One of the Maison’s earliest sales records mentions the 1906 sale of a crescent moon set with a sapphire and brilliants, followed in 1907 by a star-shaped brooch with pearls and diamonds.
A 1929 pocket watch shows the different phases of the Moon on its dial, while the first zodiac medallions of the Maison, as well as the Meteorite, were created in the 1950s. In the world of watchmaking, Van Cleef & Arpels pays tribute to celestial wonders through the theme of Poetic Astronomy. Mechanisms, precious materials, and expert craftsmanship come together to endow each dial with a sense of depth and fantasy. Animated or static, these immersive scenes scale down the infinitely large to fit a watch or automaton. They hold the promise of a life in tune with the cosmos, transporting every gaze to a world of contemplation and dreams.
