As a guest writer, I can attest that one thing that stands out about Fratello is the sheer breadth of brands it covers. From watchmaking giants such as Chopard to microbrands like Aevig, Fratello is always up for giving a good watch, however famous or niche it may be, a well-deserved moment in the spotlight. This philosophy of giving equal credit to watchmakers large and small, however, does mean that certain brands don’t get as much coverage as you might expect. One such brand is Van Cleef & Arpels. Although a force in the worlds of high jewelry and watchmaking, it is not a brand Fratello has covered all too often. This year, though, the house’s novelties at Watches and Wonders are well worth a closer look, especially the handsome new Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune and the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs.
Catherine Renier, the CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels, has declared this to be another year of “celestial wonders” for the manufacture, with many of its new designs for Watches and Wonders paying homage to the night sky and, more specifically, the Moon, an aptly timed choice as NASA’s Artemis II crew makes history with its record-breaking lunar flyby. Let’s take a look at the new Midnight watches.
Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune
First up is the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune. Previous Jour Nuit models have been markedly more feminine, tending to appear in the Lady Arpels line and flaunting diamond-set cases paired with dazzling diamond-set bracelets or shiny blue alligator straps. What stands out this year is the decidedly pared-back, even overtly masculine execution. Embracing the “Midnight” motif, the watch’s overriding color scheme is jet black, from the sultry dial to the alligator leather strap.
The new 42mm white gold edition also decisively increases in size from its predecessors’ dainty 33mm and 38mm diameters, giving this watch a real presence on the wrist, all without a diamond in sight.
A closer look reveals the craftsmanship and careful choice of materials selected by the manufacture. The Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune’s black dial is made from black Murano aventurine glass, developed in-house by Van Cleef’s Innovation Department to create a deep, dark color, accompanied by a shimmering bronze-toned effect that endeavors to evoke the beauty of the night sky.
The real highlight, however, is the guilloché golden sun. With its perfectly concentric pattern, this sun is a treat for anyone who appreciates traditional Swiss watch decoration. Following the sun is a more under-the-radar moon, gleaming in white mother-of-pearl with acrylic-traced stars surrounding it. Again, the switch from diamond stars to acrylic-traced stars brings this watch model a tad closer back to Earth.
A 24-hour rotating disc
For those who don’t already know the Jour Nuit watches, this interplay between the sun and moon is where things get interesting. Both move in and out of view behind a horizon formed by a guilloché mother-of-pearl disc, finished with a gradient that fades from black to white. Driving their motion is a 24-hour rotating disc — a signature feature of the Jour Nuit models —which gives the display a constant sense of movement. On top of that, the moon subtly changes over time, following our Moon’s natural 29.5-day cycle. Another, more discreet disc makes this possible, rotating over 24 hours, 16 minutes, and 27 seconds, gradually altering the moon’s appearance day by day. Even when it disappears behind the horizon, it’s not completely out of reach, remaining partially visible rather than simply vanishing from view.
While known for its love of complicated, “poetic” mechanisms, VC&A also places strong emphasis on usability for the wearer. A single, sleekly integrated pusher on the case activates a full animation, rotating the dial 360 degrees over roughly 10 seconds to bring the moon fully into view against its starry backdrop, even during the day. This on-demand animation is more complex than it first appears, as the discs must complete an additional full rotation without compromising the accuracy of the moonphase display.
Van Cleef & Arpels employs this small detail in several of its watches, adding a nice level of interactivity to what could otherwise be a purely decorative complication. Achieving this required careful engineering, with particular attention paid to reducing the weight of the rotating discs to minimize friction and ensure smooth operation. VC&A also carefully thinned the different layers of the dial to preserve both depth and legibility, resulting in an animation that feels fluid and intuitive in use.
The case back
Flipping the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune over, the case back features an engraving in white gold inspired by the surface of our Moon. Though certainly less refined in its aesthetic than the other side of the watch, it does give the wearer a feel for the ruggedness of the lunar surface. Meanwhile, Van Cleef flexes its artisanal muscles with an enamel rendering of Earth on the sapphire crystal above the oscillating weight. Those who have visited the brand’s Meyrin campus or even simply read about its enamel workshops will know the exceptionally high level at which Van Cleef & Arpels operates in the notoriously challenging field of enamel painting.
Adorning the circular rotor are miniature painted planets against a guilloché background, reinforcing the watch’s astronomical theme. The guilloché alone is a highlight, pulling the wearer inward, as if into the universe itself. Interestingly, the case back reverses the dial side’s whole perspective. Rather than looking up at the sky from Earth, the wearer gets a view of the cosmos as if observed from the Moon. It’s a subtle conceptual twist, but it ties the entire watch together nicely. Instead of relying on diamonds or overt decoration, Van Cleef & Arpels leans into narrative and mechanical animation here, creating something that feels both technically engaging and visually stimulating.
The Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune retails for €158,000 / US$153,000 / £134,000 / CHF 132,000.
Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs
Following on from the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune model, the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs takes a different approach, focusing less on the “poetic,” if you will, and more on practical functionality. At its core, this is a dual-time watch, but as usual, Van Cleef & Arpels puts a spin on the concept. What immediately caught my eye was not so much the dual-jump-hour function as the beautifully rich tone of the brown dial. We’ve seen a handful of Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs watches from the brand by now.
The 2014 Pierre Arpels edition debuted with a white dial and a 42mm case, while the rose gold Midnight model introduced at SIHH 2018, also with a 42mm diameter, sported a more conventional black dial. What I appreciate about this new Midnight model is its 38mm case and warmer palette, both of which make it feel more like a dress watch for me. The case strikes a harmonious balance between polished and satin-finished rose gold, echoed by the tone of the hour markers.
The more I look at this dial, the more I appreciate it. Its embossed enamel surface displays a dense amber-brown hue that shifts depending on the light, taking on warmer or cooler nuances accordingly. Enhancing this effect is a mirror-polished gold base, which amplifies reflections and gives the dial a real sense of charisma that its predecessors arguably lacked by comparison (although the blue 2015 Only Watch Pierre Arpels Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs was a stunner). At the same time, the surface combines a guilloché pattern radiating outward with a piqué motif (a subtle nod to the maison’s hallmark), resulting in a layered, tactile finish. The flowing typography spelling out the name of the piece adds another distinctive, recognizable touch.
Dual time with retrograde display
At the heart of the watch is a self-winding mechanical movement with dual time zones, double-jumping hours, and retrograde minutes. The heure d’ici (“time here,” aka the reference time) is visible in the upper window, while the heure d’ailleurs (“time elsewhere”) appears in a second aperture at the bottom of the dial. Both advance simultaneously thanks to a system of sector gears that synchronize the two hour discs with the retrograde minute hand. Once the hand reaches 60 minutes on its scale, it snaps back to its starting position just as both hour displays jump forward, beginning a new cycle. The result is a display that feels both technically engaging and visually dynamic in action.
Once again, usability remains a clear priority: VC&A ensures this watch remains intuitive to operate, with a single crown for both winding and setting both time zones and the minutes. The movement itself has been entirely redesigned and offers a 65-hour power reserve — a good day’s worth of power over its predecessor. Achieving this balance between functionality and refinement for the downsized watch model required careful engineering, particularly in synchronizing the discs and retrograde mechanism while maintaining smooth operation.
The art of enamel
To achieve the dial’s distinctive deep chocolate tones, Van Cleef & Arpels turned once again to its enamel workshop in Meyrin, Geneva. Drawing inspiration from the optical properties of gemstones such as rubies, which can display cooler undertones despite their warmth, the craftsmen developed an enamel capable of reproducing this subtle dichroism. The creation of the dial itself was a complex process: the enamel had to accommodate both the guilloché pattern and the raised piqué motif, requiring precise control over thickness to achieve variations in color intensity and light behavior.
The material was worked at low temperatures for over 30 hours to ensure uniform distribution before undergoing multiple high-temperature firings exceeding 1,000°C to stabilize it and eliminate imperfections. Drawing on techniques adapted from glassmaking, the enamel was then shaped by hand to create the relief elements. The result is a dial that feels beautifully rich yet still cohesive and balanced without appearing too ornate.
Van Cleef & Arpels has not revealed the price of the Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs, but it will be available for sale starting October 12th, 2026.
Final thoughts
I always like to describe Van Cleef & Arpels as “not just a pretty face.” Ultimately, watch collecting remains a male-dominated hobby, and many often overlook the brand as the creator of extraordinarily beautiful high jewelry alongside striking (but primarily feminine) watches, particularly within the realm of European tastes. Yet, as these two Midnight models hopefully prove, Van Cleef & Arpels is home to an extraordinary breadth of talent, from inventive, boundary-pushing watchmakers to craftsmen who are, quite simply, artists in their own right.
The Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune and Midnight Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs both encapsulate Van Cleef’s dual mastery of crafts and engineering. Van Cleef & Arpels has never been a brand to create watches with a rigid, instantly recognizable DNA, but it utilizes this approach to experiment and unleash creativity without being strictly prohibited by the bounds of strict design codes. Thus, the Heure d’ici & Heure d’ailleurs, for example, can transition from a Pierre Arpels to a Midnight case, while the Midnight Jour Nuit Phase de Lune can shed the glitz and glamour of former Jour Nuit models in favor of a refined, subtler edition that nevertheless flaunts the manufacture’s expertise in high watchmaking.
This year’s shift in focus towards more androgynous models as key components of the lineup piques my curiosity about what might follow in the coming years. Van Cleef & Arpels’ creations have long captured the hearts of its female audience, but these latest classic releases suggest the time has come to broaden that appeal.
Catherine Bishop
2026-04-15 12:00:00