efore evoking in detail the Naissance de l’Amour automaton, we should first travel back in time to the origins of Van Cleef & Arpels, whose history is the key to understanding this extraordinary object and celebration of love.

A high jewellery house is never born out of chance, but few are born out of love, as was Van Cleef & Arpels.

The seeds were sown in 1895 when Esther (known as Estelle) Arpels, the daughter of a dealer in precious stones, married Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a lapidary. Both had been born and raised among gemstones and shared a love of beautiful things as well as the desire to start more than a family together.

Assembling the wax Cupid and cloud.

Uniting their names by an ampersand — Van Cleef & Arpels — husband and wife were at the origin of a house which has revolutionised the art of jewellery. In 1906, together with Estelle’s brother Salomon (known as Charles), the couple opened their first store at 22, Place Vendôme, already synonymous with the finest Parisian jewellery.

Joined two years later by another brother, Jules (known as Julien) then, in 1912, Louis, they opened new branches. A turning point came when Van Cleef & Arpels was awarded the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris in 1925 for its “entwined flowers, red and white roses” bracelet. This was a triumph for the figurative and modern Van Cleef & Arpels style.

In 1926 Estelle and Alfred’s daughter Renée Puissant took over artistic direction. Her innovative ideas, combined with the talent of designer René Sim Lacaze, would revolutionise both the house and high jewellery, with the invention of original techniques and novel forms. All the patents filed by Van Cleef & Arpels at that time – the Mystery Set, the Cadenas watch, the minaudière and the Cercle clip – were designed under Renée’s guidance. She established a uniquely recognisable style.

Alongside its jewellery, Van Cleef & Arpels has always imagined precious objects. One of its first commissions, for Eugene Higgins, a figure of New York society, was a small-scale replica of his steam yacht, the Varuna of New York, created circa 1906. The miniature gold vessel proudly sails on waves carved from a solid block of jasper, circled with a band of gold. The piece, mounted on an ebony stand, is now in the Van Cleef & Arpels Patrimony Collection.

The Naissance de l’Amour automaton is a unique piece created in partnership with François Junod’s workshop.

©Van Cleef & Arpels

Throughout its history, Van Cleef & Arpels has transformed symbols of love into jewellery, whether bouquets of flowers, Cupid firing his arrow or a pair of lovebirds, and spelled out secret terms of endearment in gems. There has even been a high jewellery collection dedicated to Romeo and Juliet, and of course the Pont des Amoureux watches, where boy meets girl to exchange a kiss on the titular lovers’ bridge.

Love is a leitmotiv for Van Cleef & Arpels and the hallmark of the 2025 collections. Visitors to the Watches and Wonders fair can discover a new addition to its Extraordinary Objects: the Naissance de l’Amour automaton. It captures the very essence of Van Cleef & Arpels, from the love that presided over the house’s creation to its penchant for remarkable objects that combine numerous artistic crafts. This unique piece, created in partnership with François Junod’s workshop, depicts classical mythology’s Cupid in a composition that expresses tenderness and love.

Assembling Cupid’s head.

The putto, atop a Greek column in sculpted rose gold, rests on a bed of clouds in white gold, diamonds and three shades of pink sapphire. The base is cut from iron eye, a stone noted for its many nuances and display of golden chatoyance. A cup in petrified palmwood — used here for the first time by Van Cleef & Arpels — holds a bouquet of feathers that encircle love’s emissary as he takes aim with his bow and dart.

When the mechanism is activated, the cherubic figure rises, turns while moving his wings in plique-à-jour enamel, before gently descending back to his cloud where he vanishes in a flurry of feathers. The entire scene is played on demand, whenever and as often as the spectator wishes. Close observation reveals the many expertises which presided over the making of the automaton. The feathers, for example, required meticulous work and numerous drawings. Five different shapes make up this bouquet for a delicate and natural effect.

Pre-assembling pink sapphire bezels on the dome’s rose gold structure.

The choice of materials is not without significance, as they cannot exceed a certain weight if the different elements are to come to life. The cup that holds the feathers is in petrified palmwood which forms as the organic material in the wood is slowly replaced by minerals. Also known as fossilised wood, it is as difficult to sculpt as more traditional hard stones.

Each movement in the opening of the bouquet of feathers, Cupid’s rotation and the beating of his wings has been precisely choreographed and synchronised to the nearest second to produce a perfectly fluid motion. Accompanying Cupid in his ascent, a specially composed melody chimes as bright and clear as crystal on five gongs.

Removal of the rose gold flange.

Automata mechanisms require special know-how, as the available space and construction are different from those of a watch movement. Despite being composed of mechanically driven gears and levers, an automaton exists not to measure the time but to bring a story to life. These precious objects illustrate rare expertise; a time-honoured craft that few master and which Van Cleef & Arpels wishes to preserve.

Thanks to the Extraordinary Objects collection, Van Cleef & Arpels continues to express its poetic vision of time, but on a larger scale. Love imparts its rhythm to the automaton whose mechanisms capture the magic of the moment.