For Van Cleef & Arpels, time has never been entirely earthbound. For more than a century, the Maison has looked to the heavens for inspiration, translating the movement of the stars, the changing face of the moon and the vastness of the night sky into high jewellery and watchmaking. This year, the Maison brings that celestial language into new territory with five new creations, unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2026: the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune, a timepiece observing the Moon’s variations, the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs watch, a dual-time creation shaped by the art of enamel, the Ludo Secret and Perlée, two jewellery watches inspired by the depth of the night sky, and two Extraordinary Dials that frame legendary love stories beneath the stars.

At the centre is the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune, a new interpretation of Van Cleef & Arpels’ enduring Jour Nuit theme, combining two distinct celestial displays. The first animates the eponymous day-and-night indication: within the 42-mm white-gold case, a black Murano aventurine glass sky provides the backdrop for a guilloché golden sun that gradually gives way to a mother-of-pearl moon and acrylic stars as day becomes night. The Sun and Moon emerge and disappear behind the horizon, driven by a 24-hour rotating disc. A second, more discreet display tracks the Moon’s actual phase, subtly transforming its appearance in accordance with its 29.5-day cycle. On demand, a button integrated into the watch’s rim activates the animation—even when the Moon is concealed behind the horizon—rotating the dial through 360 degrees in approximately 10 seconds to reveal the satellite in its star-filled setting. The astronomical story continues on the reverse, where an engraved white-gold landscape evokes the Moon’s topography, while Earth and miniature-painted planets appear against a guilloché background, inverting the perspective to imagine the cosmos as seen from the Moon.

If the Jour Nuit looks outward, the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs looks across. Its dual-time-zone display places two moments on the same dial, an elegant expression of time in two different time zones. The 38-mm rose-gold case houses a redeveloped movement with jumping hours and retrograde minutes, while the amber-brown enamel shifts between warm and cool tones depending on the light. An engraved Moon basking in the glow of a guilloché Sun on the caseback extends its celestial story.

Elsewhere, watchmaking slips into jewellery. The Ludo Secret revisits the Maison’s celebrated bracelet, first created in 1934, pairing yellow-gold links with blue sapphires and concealing a white guilloché mother-of-pearl dial beneath its jewel-like buckle. Pressing simultaneously on both sides The Perlée takes another approach: rows of polished gold beads frame a midnight-blue aventurine dial, turning the act of checking the time into an encounter with light and colour.

And then, of course, there is the mystery of love. The Lady Rencontre Céleste and Lady Retrouvailles Célestes interpret the mythical story of Vega and Altair, the star-crossed lovers from an ancient East Asian folk tale, told through diamonds, sapphires and miniature painting. One captures the lovers’ wistful encounter; the other, the rapture of their long-awaited reunion.

Through celestial mechanics, gemstones and miniature artistry, each Van Cleef & Arpels timepiece turns a passage of time into something to be felt and wondered at. In this world, the hours don’t merely pass – they become poetry in motion.

Images courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels.