Brief: Unique Van Cleef & Arpels timepiece sells for five figures at Only Watch

Only Watch 2015 — featuring 44 donated pieces, including this one-of-a-kind Van Cleef & Arpels creation — was recently held in Geneva. Photo courtesy Monaco Yacht Show.

Only Watch 2015 — featuring 44 donated pieces, including this one-of-a-kind Van Cleef & Arpels creation — was recently held in Geneva. Photo courtesy Monaco Yacht Show.

BY KAREN AANONSEN

Ten years after Only Watch’s inception, the biennial charity auction benefitting research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy achieved its highest results yet: $11.2 million. Among the one-off timepieces garnering five figures toward the good cause? The Pierre Arpels Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs specially created by Van Cleef & Arpels for the November 7 event. Selling for just under $35,000, the masculine piece pays homage to the brand’s ties to Monaco with its radiant Mediterranean blue dial and elegant calligraphy evoking the white foam of cresting waves. Fitted with a self-winding movement with double jumping hour and retrograde minutes, the chic creation is dual time zone.

 

 

The movement, which is visible through a sapphire crystal, shows the platinum micro-rotor.

—November 2015