Van Cleef and Arpels Midnight Jour Nuit Phase De Lune
An astronomical complication that has captivated the heart of our resident moonphase aficionado.
by Kathleen McGivney
To say that I am a fan of the moonphase complication would be an… astronomic understatement (pun absolutely intended). It’s both a romantic and kind of nerdy complication, but not quite as useful as, say, a chronograph, unless you need to know when the tide will be high or you want to be able to properly prepare for werewolves.
I’m such a fan of the moonphase complication that I have one tattooed on me, which one might say is a major commitment until you see how many tattoos I have. All this is to say that I’m bound to be drawn to a watch that has a moon display, but one that’s unusual in its presentation will always pique my interest even further.
Which brings us to the Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Jour Phase de Lune, which translates to “day-night moon phase”. Before we even get to the complications, it’s a visually striking watch, with a stunnigly rendered sun, moon, and stars on a sky made black Murano aventurine glass, which really does look like a starry night sky. The 18K yellow gold sun has been turned into an artistically stunning celestial body with a guilloché pattern that makes it seem to come alive, its rays shooting out from its edges, and the moon softly glows in white mother-of-pearl. Over the course of the day, the sky rotates, with the sun going down and the moon rising at night.
