Courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels
Drawing on more than a century of savoir faire while employing some of the best contemporary creatives in the business, Van Cleef & Arpels began creating a series of jaw-dropping modern automatons known as Extraordinary Objects in 2017. Intricate—and literally time-consuming—works of moving art of this caliber are seldom seen outside elite museums, where 18th-century exemplars often sit within glass vitrines. Proving the kind of craftsmanship once reserved for bygone royalty is still possible in our era, Van Cleef & Arpels’s latest, Brassée de Lavande (or Armful of Lavender), sets a bouquet of enameled and hand-painted lavender stems in motion, slowly unfurling to reveal an enamel-and-jeweled butterfly fluttering in the center. “You have actually two lines of sprigs opening,” says Rainer Bernard, the company’s head of watchmaking R&D. “They follow each other, and then they move slowly, a little bit together like a little slight breeze during the animation, which takes about 45 seconds.”
Beneath the exterior beauty of the 27-centimeter-tall clock lies a bevy of complex mechanics that activate the scene on demand. The movement—based on work created exclusively for the maison by renowned Swiss automaton maker François Junod—was specially made to manage the weight of the solid-gold petals. Left to gravity alone, they would open too quickly, so the watchmakers devised an ingenious spring-loaded system that recaptures the energy created as they fall and releases it as they return, allowing the sprigs to open and close with a natural grace. The effort required for just the technical elements is so extensive that Van Cleef opened a special atelier for Extraordinary Objects in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland’s mecca for automaton making.
In total, making the piece took four years from conception to creation. “It’s a work of artists working closely together and creating something and being happy when they’ve done it,” says Bernard of the many hands required to realize this piece of art. “You should see them when we play it, and when they see what they did, because everybody’s working on a part of it.” In an age of instant gratification, such devotion to craft is increasingly rare—a reminder that time itself is the secret ingredient behind enduring beauty.
1. Wing Polishing
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere An artisan polishes one of the butterfly’s 18-karat-white-gold wings so that its structure can be filled with color and gems.
2. Enameling
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere Plique-à-jour enameling in translucent orange and opaque black are both applied with a tiny brush. The piece is then fired in a kiln several times at varying temperatures to achieve nuances that look natural.
3. Sprig Fitting
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere The clock is fitted with 36 handcrafted sprigs of lavender, each made from 18-karat rose gold. Here, tiny corollas—bunches of tubular petals—are shown with their stem.
4. Polished Gold Leaf
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere The curves of a gold leaf are carefully hand-polished.
5. Bud Forming
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere Because of their small size, all elements of a sprig must be shaped and polished by a skilled artisan. The corolla buds are formed with a tool to create a concave shape at the tips.
6. Stem Topping
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere They’re then put together to test the fit on the stems before moving on to the next stage.
7. Artisan Airbrushing
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere Catherine Nicolas, a well-known artisan who was awarded the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman of France), carefully airbrushes each of the 270 corollas. “We love to work with her because she is maybe the best of the best,” says Bernard. She also applies green to the leaves.
6. Flower Decorating
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere The blue flowers at the top of each sprig are so tiny they must be decorated by hand. “We use lacquer, as you can see here, so it’s really applied with a brush,” explains Bernard.
9. Cross Analysis
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere Sprigs are examined against a rendering of the clock to ensure they are as faithful as possible to the original concept.
10. Basin Polishing
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere Here, the howlite basin that holds the lavender sprigs is polished on a wheel. The lower portion is made from a rich verdite. Choosing the right piece of this green stone—one that is homogenous in color even after being cut into a cylindrical shape—is extremely challenging.
11. Snail Reminders
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere The hour track on the base is composed of aluminum, which is lacquered in a jade hue and set with 18-karat-yellow-gold and diamond markers. As the track turns, the first sprig indicates the hour. The tiny gold snails on the stem and leaf serve as another poetic reminder of time.
12. Butterfly in Flight
Image Credit: Clara Gaudillere After 2,070 hours of jewelry work and 1,400 hours for the movement construction and assembly, the piece is complete. Its sprigs slowly open and undulate to create the effect of flowers being blown in the wind. The butterfly centerpiece—adorned in enamel, diamonds, amethyst, and tigereye—rises above, fluttering its wings and turning in flight.
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