Snakes, diamonds and a fairy

If you haven’t looked in on WorldTempus this weekend, and provided you don’t share Indiana Jones’ ophidiophobia, you can catch up today by reading Timmy Tank’s article on the Singapore SerpentiForm exhibition, which looks at snakes in the arts, from ancient times to Keith Haring, with a special focus on Bulgari’s Serpenti jewellery and watch collections.

With six weeks to go before the awards ceremony for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève on 8 November, we continue our overview of the watches in the running for the prizes. Our editor-in-chief looked at the “Petite Aiguille” category, which includes the most accessible watches, priced at no more than 8,000 Swiss francs. You can read his article today. At the other extreme, one of the candidates for the Jewellery Watch category has the astronomical price tag of CHF 1,238,000. For fans of watches and jewels, on Friday we propose something quite special featuring a plethora of Marilyn Monroe’s best friends, when we present the six sublime pieces in contention for this category.

Van Cleef & Arpels is also a master of dreamscapes and poetry, and the Fée Ondine automaton, a fantastically complex mechanical object, is far more magical in real life, when the fairy awakens on her lily pad, than any description can convey. Tomorrow, Olivier Müller reveals the secrets behind the genesis of the Fée Ondine, an object of pure beauty.
The end of the summer marks the start of a new watchmaking cycle, and WorldTempus will be bringing you several new creations this week, including the Luminor Due by Panerai, a Raymond Weil Freelancer, an artistic Slim d’Hermès and the new Cartier Tanks we promised you last week.

Within our September competition entering its final week, you have until midnight on Saturday to try your luck at winning a ladies’ Frédérique Constant Classics Delight worth CHF 2,090.