Time Capsule

Van Cleef & Arpels uses every technique in its arsenal-from artisanal know-how to mechanical wizardry-to create some of the world's most captivating clocks.

- BY PAIGE REDDINGER

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 calibre 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' Brassée de Lavande (or Armful of Lavender), sets a bouquet of enamelled and hand-painted lavender stems in motion, slowly unfurling to reveal an enamel-and-jewelled butterfly fluttering in the centre.