oetry, poetry and yet more poetry: with its new creations for 2025, Van Cleef & Arpels once again confirms and reinforces its territory – against a backdrop of Paris, with new variants for the Pont des Amoureux collection in dawn, morning, evening or moonlight hues thanks to the technique of coloured grisaille enamel, and the Bal des Amoureux Automate watch, an equally romantic automaton conveying the atmosphere and charm of a guinguette: at midday and midnight, the figures approach one another and exchange a kiss.

Van Cleef & Arpels has for decades unwaveringly pursued this path of poetry and romance or even charming naivety. Because even in the era of artificial intelligence, the all too human themes of love, nature and the stars are as irresistible as ever. One figure who previously contributed to this journey has returned to the Maison. President and CEO Catherine Rénier served as president for the Asia Pacific region until 2018.

Catherine Rénier, President and CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels

Her predecessor, Nicolas Bos, has taken the role of CEO of the Richemont group. The formula which has worked so well for the Maison — creative freedom in a precisely defined territory— can be universally applied. Identity is paramount in luxury. It cannot be moulded to suit passing whims. While a rigorous approach to romance and poetry may seem like a contradiction in terms, Van Cleef & Arpels assuredly proves that opposites do attract… like two lovers on a Paris bridge.

Europa Star: Year after year, Van Cleef & Arpels remains a brand apart, yet your themes are universal – love, nature, poetry – and are copied by many other brands, in jewellery even more than in watchmaking. How do you explain that?

Catherine Rénier: Van Cleef & Arpels has remained true to its values by expressing a poetic and positive view of life. We talk of love, luck, culture and the world that surrounds us with an open approach. Since its inception, the Maison has always maintained a close relationship with its clients and been consistent in its message, which has meant that it’s understood and recognised. Love has been one of the themes dear to the company’s heart from the beginning, like these marvellous lovebird clips. We were born from a story of love and marriage and these stories are continuing, helping us create and dream about messages that have always inspired us.

You were in charge of Asia Pacific for Van Cleef & Arpels for several years before returning as president and CEO this year. How has the Maison changed between your previous experience and now?

Its identity is unchanged, but the Maison has taken on much greater dimensions. Van Cleef & Arpels has also multiplied its cultural and educative initiatives which we continue to nurture, as illustrated by the creation of our campuses in Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai. L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, created in Paris in 2012, has gained international scope and we’re reaching out to new audiences around the world. With the Dance Reflections initiative launched in 2020, we’ve also invested in the field of dance, which has historical links to our company – especially since Claude Arpels’ collaboration with George Balanchine in the 1960s in New York, for example. We support contemporary dance, ballet and young choreographers all over the world, with a platform that allows them to express themselves.

On the new Lady Arpels Bal des Amoureux Automate watch, an automaton movement brings the lovers closer together for a kiss at noon and midnight. This tender scene can be recreated on demand with the push of a button on the watch case. The hours and minutes are indicated by two stars set in motion by a double retrograde system, a signature feature of the collection.

What are your priority and strategic focal areas for Van Cleef & Arpels?

First and foremost, to protect and develop our know-how, for example through arts and crafts, which are enjoying a renaissance in our creations. But also to make the world of jewellery familiar to as many people as possible. This educational aspect is very important. Next, to go on innovating and surprising – this year’s Le Bal des Amoureux is a good illustration of this, as is the Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels high jewellery collection. Thirdly, to cultivate the close relations we maintain with our clients through the expansion of our boutique network, which reflects the size that our Maison has achieved.

Among the new Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux creations, the gem-studded bracelets are especially impressive. Can you share with us how they were designed?

This is a fine example of jewellery craftsmanship applied to watchmaking. While the stones might appear to be randomly arranged, the position of every single one is the result of careful reflection. The enamelling is important to limit the openings and ensure that the strap is ergonomic to wear. It sits like fabric. The setting is based on a harmony of stones. Since the invention of the Mystery Set in 1933, which in my view remains one of the company’s fundamental innovations, we’ve been perfecting this art.

This year, four new watches with precious bracelets enrich the Lady Arpels Pont des Amoureux story, revealing the couple in landscape scenes evoking different moments of the day. In turn, the dials take on colour nuances of dawn, morning, dusk and moonlight.

You’re also presenting a new Planetarium, designed in your workshops. Where do these Extraordinary Objects sit within the collections? Are they first and foremost a showcase for your expertise?

Van Cleef & Arpels has always made extraordinary objects and mechanical art ever since the reproduction of the Varuna yacht in 1906, which is the oldest piece of our Heritage. For this particular planetarium, besides the work with the stones and materials, we had to go in search of rare cabinet-making and glass-blowing expertise. The automata feed our creativity. Above all, they enable us to acquire and assimilate more and more know-how year after year, which enables us to combine art mechanisms with the expression of high jewellery and to work in different dimensions. The Bal des Amoureux watch is a direct result of that.

The heritage of the Maison is also highlighted by the reinterpretation of the Cadenas from 1935, a creation which echoed Surrealism and particularly Marcel Duchamp’s transformations of everyday objects. Does Van Cleef & Arpels still maintain a strong dialogue with artists today?

I’ve already mentioned dance, but we’re also collaborating with contemporary artists such as Alexandre Benjamin Navet and his floral installations. These dialogues are a way of constantly bringing our heritage into contact with contemporary forms of expression. On the other hand, we do not work with ambassadors as such: we highlight collective work which unites know-how.

The new Planétarium automaton by Van Cleef & Arpels presents the Sun and the planets in its system visible from the Earth. Driven by complex mechanical movement, each celestial body moves at its actual speed of rotation, performing a complete orbit in 88 days for Mercury, 224 days for Venus, 365 days for Earth, 687 days for Mars, 11.86 years for Jupiter and 29.5 years for Saturn.

Is watchmaking going to take on greater importance at Van Cleef & Arpels?  

We rarely present quantified objectives, because we move forward in a very organic way. Our awards at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève illustrate the appreciation we receive for our watchmaking interpretations. However, there is often a fine line between jewellery and watchmaking at the Maison.The Cadenas watch is an excellent example. We’re very optimistic, because we’ve never stopped integrating these different types of know-how over the past twenty years and techniques increasingly overlap. Another good example is the Onde Mystérieuse box in the Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels collection, which includes a detachable clip concealing a watch dial that is entirely paved with diamonds, on which a sapphire indicates noon. This piece embodies a very natural coherence between these two worlds.

Created in 1935, the Cadenas watch quickly became an emblem of Van Cleef & Arpels’ watchmaking. This new piece combines a yellow gold bracelet with a case paved in snow-set diamonds and enhanced by a row of princess-cut sapphires.

The Onde Mystérieuse box, the Treasure Island by Van Cleef & Arpels collection.