Van cleef watches

[LazyTimegrapher]

I recently came across some extraordinarily expensive, complex, and rather unique watches made by van cleef. The first one I saw was a couple on a bridge where the time is told with retrograde hands as the couple walk towards one another on the bridge. I also saw a quite vast collection of others where the time is told by flowers opening and closing, others where birds or butterflies fly around the dial, and one watch that is basically a planetarium with various planets in the solar system orbiting the sun.

I’ve been interested in watches for about two years now and I had never seen van cleef watches mentioned in any articles or talked about on YouTube or in forums.

Does anyone have any of these watches or like them? In particular their collection called “poetic complications” seems to have quite unique and complex movements with high quality finishing and a long heritage of being in business, which are typically what I hear is the draw towards Rolex PP AP etc.

Is van cleef just viewed as a jewelry company so their watches are dismissed on those grounds? If so, why does Cartier still seem to get a lot of attention for their watches?

The watches are several orders of magnitude out of my price range, but they do seem pretty cool to me. Most are very feminine, so I don’t see myself purchasing or wearing them, but the craftmanship still seems impressive to me.

Anyone ever heard of their watches? Have any opinions on them? Why are they so seldom discussed in the watch community?

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by LazyTimegrapher

Is van cleef just viewed as a jewelry company so their watches are dismissed on those grounds? If so, why does Cartier still seem to get a lot of attention for their watches?

Yes, mostly viewed as a jewelry company.

The majority (not all) of Cartier watches were not considered collectible until recently.
I remember those quartz ladies tanks for $100. now they are asking $2,000

[LazyTimegrapher]

I find myself wondering what makes up the retail price of quartz watches. A friends fashion quartz watch broke recently so I opened it up and found a replacement movement for sale new for $5. Swapped it out and the watch works again. I guess it’s just paying for the brand name, which I don’t happen to remember for the watch I fixed…

[codecow]

Oddly enough I have a deposit down to pick up a VCA watch this Saturday. It’s a two time zone jumping hours retrograde minutes.

https://swisswatches-magazine.com/le...wer%20aperture.

I hope I can make it, gotta try to get into urgent care tomorrow morning.

In my opinion that piece is a great value in terms of the unique complications, totally crazy at that price.

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by MILGAUSS88

Yes, mostly viewed as a jewelry company.

The majority (not all) of Cartier watches were not considered collectible until recently.
I remember those quartz ladies tanks for $100. now they are asking $2,000

Cartier has a very extensive history in watchmaking. Of course an extraordinary history in jewelry/design, but originated in watchmaking.

Going back as far as I remember, the tank in all forms was desirable and iconic.

[Lukla]

VCA is definitely off-the-beaten-path for watch collectors. I have not found anything piqued my interest yet but, I believe, they have used movements from well known movement makers. Their unique pieces were made (modules and some entirely new movement)by well known high horology masters such as Jean Marc Wiederrecht and Christian Van der Klaauw.