High Jewelry Art: Van Cleef & Arpels Carpe Koï Watch Bracelet

The 16 brands of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) held January in Geneva presented a number of quality jewelry watches but what Van Cleef & Arpels unveiled was a work of art. The Carpe Koï watch bracelet combines all of the strengths of the Parisian jewelry and watch house design, craftsmanship, the use rare gems in unique combinations, and storytelling

The bracelet combines yellow gold, white gold, diamonds, yellow sapphires, spessartite garnets, black spinels and “Paraíba like” tourmalines (I’m assuming these are tourmalines (likely from Africa) with the same bluish and greenish color characteristics as the rare Brazilian Paraíba).

The carp has more than the sparkle of thousands of gems. It also has movement. The main feature is the mouth, which opens to reveal a quartz powered watch dial, made of yellow gold, princess-cut diamonds, spessartite garnets and yellow sapphires.

It is an orange colored Koi carp in lifelike detail that represents what the brand calls its Mains d’Or (Hands of Gold), the skills of artists to first draw the piece in intricate detail followed by the hand crafted techniques of its jewelers to create the jewel. It appears to be a happy fish and why wouldn’t it be with a body of 8,000 carefully crafted precious gems. that took 3,450 hours to create.