Lady Arpels Ballerine Enchantée watch: 3D movement                

                                 2013.02.03         Editor : Ni Ni      Source: Van Cleef ＆Arpels​

Lady Arpels Ballerine Enchantée watch: 3D movement​

With this double retrograde movement with time on demand, the Maison once again emphasizes its poetic vision of time. On a watch with a retrograde display, the hands -- instead of turning about an axis -- trace an arc before returning to their initial position to begin another cycle.
 

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Here, when the user presses a button at the 8 o'clock position, the ballerina's tutu comes to life. The veil indicating the hours rises first, followed by the second veil which positions itself against the minute scale. They remain in place, enabling the time to be read, then return simultaneously to their initial positions. One of the feats of this complication lies in its fluid movement: the ballerina appears to move her wings with grace and poise.
 

For the Lady Arpels Ballerine Enchantée timepiece, the Maison was inspired by the mechanism of a piece from its watchmaking heritage: the Magicien chinois pocket watch from 1927. At the push of a button, the figure indicates the hours and minutes by raising its arms. The retrograde display, which lends a playful quality to telling the time, has today become emblematic of the Van Cleef & Arpels' Poetic Complications collection.