Poetic complication…
Why not dream a little dream today with “Five Weeks In a Balloon”, a new piece that Van Cleef & Arpels will show at SIHH 2011 in Geneva (January 2011). The watch is reportedly inspired by world famous fiction author Jules Verne and his Extraordinary Voyages novel of the same name. While many of Verne’s voyages are quite famous (Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, etc.), Five Weeks In A Balloon was the first one…penned in 1863 (translated to Engligh in 1869).
The dial of this watch is decorated with champlevé enamel (looks nice, whatever the technique) and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The scene depicts a hot air ballon rising into the air of Zanzibar. The hours and minutes are indicated by the retograde movement of the balloon’s anchor and a bird in flight. Kinda cool, eh!
Van Cleef & Arpel Five Weeks In a Balloon
White gold case, chamlevé enamel and mother-of-pearl, retrograde hours and minutes, engraved caseback, alligator strap with white gold buckle
the inspiration…
a closer look at the dial…
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