Ballet is a total work of art. Music, choreography, costumes, stage décor, it's all about taste, sweat, fine tuning and harmony of the most demanding kind. In an homage to George Balanchine, Van Cleef & Arpels has recently released a watch that's a ballet of its onw kind, litterally, metaphorically and technically. The Lady Arpels Ballerines Musicales is a high jewelry timepiece, a high watchmaking timepiece, and a fine cratfs timepiece. It houses a carillon and a music box mechanism, working hand in hand with an animation complication which raises the curtain on Joyaux, a ballet the Russian choreographer had created with his friend Claude Arpels in 1967.
As it stands idle, the timepiece's unique nature is already obvious. The very large white gold case features a solid back (a more adequate soundboard), set with a few hundreds of diamonds (more lighting), and a retrograde hour set in a wide and thin arched window near 12 o'clock (more space for the rest). No minutes, no seconds, this is not a chronometre, nor is it your average timepiece.
In lieu of a dial, the Ballerines Musicales offer a chandelier made of diamonds hovering above a stage curtain. Its volumes, its fall, its shimmer, its golden hemline make it look vivid. In fact it is part static, part mobile. Its center is a focus point of the watch as it reveals the stage itself. Using the pusher at 4 o'clock, on demand, the central disc is set in circular motion. It carries five ballerinas, performing poses from Joyaux. The disc is hand-carved and the ballerinas are hand-painted.
As the dancing begins, so does the music. The score is that of the ballet itself, and the interpretation is intriguing. It's a long, rich melody that feels far beyond the capacilities of a mere carillon. As a matter of fact, Van Cleef & Arpels has developped a movement with a four-chime carillon and a music box mechanism. Both instruments are playing together, like piano four hand. What one plays cannot be separated from the other's tune. The latter is close to one hundred notes, an incredible feat considering the nature and size of a watch movement.
Van Cleef & Arpels has created three different Ballerines Musicales, Emerald, Ruby and Diamond, each refering to a different act of Balanchine's ballet. It took a while for Van Cleef & Arpels to reach étoile status in the watchmaking company so that this particular piece could be performed. The creation of the movement took no less than seven years of development...pardon me, of studio rehearsing.
