Lady Arpels Nuit Féerique
With its gentle pale glow, the mysterious orb of the moon is the focus for this new Lady Arpels Nuit Féerique creation. Made up of a hollow, diamond-set surface and an openwork dome adorned with sapphires, it seems to illuminate the scene from the background, attracting the attention of a graceful fairy.
Within the dial, different crafts come together to recreate the night’s sparkle: cut aventurine for the deep blue background, miniature painting and sculpted white gold on the fairy’s costume, round and tapered-cut diamonds to suggest the course of a shooting star.
The lapidaries’ expertise can be seen in the interplay of clouds, alternately cut in solid onyx, adorned with mother-of-pearl and onyx marquetry and set with blue, pink and violet sapphires. The buff-topped stones follow one another in a gradation of shades, illustrating the gentle atmosphere of a summer night. On the back of the watch, an engraved scene prolongs the story in a garden of long grass, overlooked by a starry sky.
Lady Arpels Jour Féerique
The sun source of life, light and heat caresses a spinning fairy with its warm rays. The fairy stretches in an ethereal pose, reaching towards translucent clouds with her diamond wings. To give depth to the scene, craft skills have come together to create a succession of planes. In the foreground, the sun is made up of two pieces one in relief and one hollow set with yellow sapphires and spessartite garnets, providing the orb with an intense glow.
Miniature painting on the fairy’s dress Applying the iridescent enamel on a cloud Hand engraving of a cloud on the back of the case Its rays have been crafted in three colors of gold alternately brushed and polished to instill the scene with softness, brilliance and life. In two and three dimensions, both opaque and transparent, clouds of turquoise, mother-of-pearl, enamel and diamonds enhance the beauty of this early-morning sky. The ethereal grace of the fairy recognisable with her rose-cut diamond face is highlighted by her dress, hand-painted in a delicate gradation from blue to yellow. On the engraved gold back of the case, she reappears sitting on a branch, in a scene haloed by the same rays of sun.
