Surviving the gelid gusts and gales of winter takes more than a vicuña coat and shearling earmuffs, and the watch designers at Van Cleef & Arpels understand this well. Last year they evoked the warmth and beauty of summer with the Lady Arpels Brise d’Eté. The 38mm timepiece, set on an emerald alligator strap, captures the feeling of a gentle summer breeze, blending the brand’s signature technical precision, elegance, and artistic ambition.
Crafted in white gold, the Brise d’Eté features a mother-of-pearl dial beneath champlevé leaves and butterflies of plique-à-jour enamel. The enchanting winged insects, powered by a self-winding retrograde movement, serve as hour and minute markers. The effect adds fluidity and a beguiling touch of the uncanny to the overall look. The dial, which is surrounded by a gem-set diamond bezel, features diamond hour indexes interspersed with painted Arabic numerals, as well as blades of grass fashioned from tsavorite garnets.
A standout feature of the watch is its interactive mechanism. By pressing a pusher on the side of the case, flowers of vallonné enamel with spessartite garnet pistils begin to sway. This romantic flourish turns the watch into more than a timepiece: It becomes a small, functional work of art—one that conjures halcyon sun-drenched days spent outdoors, with not an earmuff in sight.
This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE
Charles Curkin is ELLE Decor’s Articles Editor, covering everything related to luxury watches, design, and travel, and has previously written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Paris Review.
