Van Cleef and Arpels
The Van Cleef and Arpels brand is a brand well known for its jewellery watches. The designs are elegantly crafted and known for their superb artistry in the luxury and designer watch market. Having started off as a family enterprise consisting of the brothers Charles Arpels, Julien Arpels and Louis Arpels, along with brother-in-law Alfred Van Cleef, it continues to maintain its high tradition of excellence in jewellery and design even today. The vintage watches of Van Cleef and Arpel are considered a worthy investment in the fine line of luxury watches.
Van Cleef and Arpels Product Line
Van Cleef and Arpels Men's 18K Gold Watch features a self-winding automatic movement in an impressive 18K perfectly rounded gold case on a brushed, polished gold bracelet. The 36 mm diameter and 8 mm thick case is a modern beauty. This watch lists for $13,900.
Van Cleef and Arpels Classique Women's Dress Watch (Model 11603) has a double row of 112 dazzling round-cut diamonds of 1.5 carats totally, prong-set on the square bezel. The case is a beautiful 18K white gold on a black alligator strap. It has a Swiss quartz movement and priced at $11,500.
Van Cleef and Arpels Women's Dress Watch features 120 spectacular round-cut diamond prong sets, in two rows, on a round bezel. Set in an 18K yellow gold case it comes with a brown alligator strap and a matching 18K yellow gold buckle. This price is listed at $11,200.
Longines
The brand Longines was borne in Saint-Imier in Switzerland in 1832. Since then it has strived to combine innovative technologies with elegance to become one of the best-known luxury designer watchmakers in the world. The advertising campaign of the company, 'Elegance is an Attitude' befits the Longines brand aptly. To prove its prowess in the market, Longines launched its first wristwatch in 1905, the world's thinnest electromagnetic watch in 1960 and the world's first cybernetic, electronic quartz watch - the Longines Ultra-Quartz - in 1969.
Soon thereafter, it pioneered the alphanumeric display for television in connection with the retransmission of a World Cup downhill skiing race in St. Moritz, Switzerland. In 1979, Longines in conjunction with other watch brands developed the "Feuille d'Or", the world's thinnest quartz watch. It surpassed its own record, when in 1984, it designed the world famous Conquest VHP (Very High Precision).
In the world of sports too, Longines has achieved tremendous breakthroughs. In 1912 it introduced the principle of an electric wire, which at the start and finish of a race, activated and stopped the timing mechanism. It has since been appointed official timekeeper for many international sports events, including many winter and summer Olympic Games.
If that were not enough, it has gone on to create history even in the sectors of aviation and navigation. It was responsible for timing Lindbergh's first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean and, subsequently developed the Hour Angle watch according to a design drawn by Lindbergh himself.
