The honors for the most colorful and unique timepiece, that will be auctioned off at the Only Watch 2011 charity event, has to go to the Van Cleef & Arpel watch called “Poetic Complication From the Earth to the Moon”. The watch is not only a stunning piece of artwork but also has a very inspiring name, in a Jules Verne books kind of way.
The watch dial features a beautiful and playful space theme that is created by using inlays of materials such as agate, jade, meteorite, and champlevé-style enamel. Instead of a regular minute hand, the timepiece makes use of a space capsule that points to the retrograde minutes on the right side of the dial, sweeping from top to bottom and returning to the top position after reaching the sixtieth minute. The hour hands is represented by a star on the left side of the dial, pointing to retrograde hours moving in an upward direction and returning to the bottom after hitting the twelfth hour.
The watch is described by Van Cleef & Arpel as:
A distant star symbolizes the element of luck which is essential in order to accomplish one’s destiny. The rocket, imagined by Jules Verne, races towards the Milky Way, leaving behind it the greens and blues of mountains and oceans which have become tiny. The spaceship continues on its course to the moon, propelled by the energy of the retrograde movement. It even dodges meteorites.
The Van Cleef & Arpel Poetic Complication From the Earth to the Moon watch comes in a stainless steel case with black alligator strap and is powered by a JLC Calibre 846 mechanical movement with modified retrograde modules made specifically for this watch.
[Link to all the watches at the 2011 Only Watch charity event]
[Van Cleef & Arpels]
