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TIME HONORED LEFT: Six years after launching the Poetic Complication Féerie, Van Cleef & Arpels graces us with the Ballerine Enchantée. It features a guilloché and translucent enamel dial picturing an enchanting ballerina wearing a colorful tutu. The tutu is split in half with each part being one of two retrograde hands that indicate the hours and the minutes. With the push of a button, the tutu comes to life—with each half rising on either side of the ballerina to indicate the time—transforming the spirited dancer into an exquisite butterfly. The hands trace an arc on either side of the graceful figure, pointing to the hours on the left side and the minutes on the right side before returning to their initial position to begin another cycle. For men, Franck Muller has a similar concept with the Secret Hours Curvex watch: In this bold timepiece, both the hour and the minute hands remain at 12:00, moving only to indicate the time at the push of a button thanks to the intricate design of its 264—yes, 264—components. Because stopping time is impressive, of course it no simple thing to achieve. MA MASTER OF SUSPENSE Jean-Marc Wiederrecht can make time stand still. continued from page 92 Time Suspended wristwatch, developed by well-known watchmaker JeanMarc Wiederrecht (SEE SIDEBAR), was four years in the making and expresses the label's concept of time as a dream. The wearer can push a button and stop the tracking of time, making the hour and minute hands rest at around 12:00, and, further, making the date indication disappear. The watch continues to track time internally, but the hands will not move until the wearer pushes the button again. At that point, the hands automatically position themselves to the proper time and continue on their journey. Featuring three retrograde functions, the watch allows the wearer to control whether time is displayed continually or is hidden, delighting watch lovers around —LUC PERRAMOND the world. The Van Cleef & Arpels Ballerine Enchantée also allows women the wonder of stopping time while beguiling them with an eye-catching design. Part of the Van Cleef & Arpels "Poetic Complications" collection, this watch drew its inspiration from a quote by Anna Pavlova that echoes the imagery of the maison: "I've been dreaming that I was a ballerina, and that I was spending my whole life dancing as lightly as a butterfly." The timepiece houses a Swiss mechanical movement with a double retrograde time-on-demand module developed for the brand. "The idea is to make people dream. Time for us is a friend." 94 Cofounder of Geneva-based independent watchmaking company Agenhor, Jean-Marc Wiederrecht is a master watchmaker who has forged a reputation as a great innovator. Several of his mechanical modules have won prestigious awards, including the first Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève award for Best Watchmaking Designer in 2007. Wiederrecht has worked closely with a host of top timepiece brands, including Van Cleef & Arpels (he developed the brand's Pont Des Amoureux watch, which won the 2010 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève Ladies Watch award), Harry Winston (for whom he developed his first bi-retrograde perpetual calendar complication in 1988), and Hermès, for whom his Time Suspended watch won the 2011 Men's Watch award at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève. Says Wiederrecht of the Hermès timepiece, "During the most important and precious moments of life, it is no longer time that matters, but the quality of the time. This watch invites you to enjoy life, to experience it differently, and to gain awareness of the fact that we can decide the value of the time and its passage." Agenhor has developed many other watches that are anything but standard. "Each complication is always conceived of and developed in close collaboration with the client," explains Wiederrecht. "It takes a long time to develop these mechanisms—as long as several years." Agenhor is usually working on five to six proposed projects simultaneously, and produces one or two of these developments per year. He notes that in the making of the Hermès Time Suspended, one small challenge could alone take six months to resolve. To the many connoisseurs of Wiederrecht's work, that's time very well spent. MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 092-094_MA_SS_TimeHonored_MayJune13.indd 94 4/16/13 10:27 AM