Fall in Love with Van Cleef & Arpels’ Pont des Amoureux

I fall in love the first time I laid my eyes on this gorgeous watch.




Pont des Amoureux by Van Cleef & Arpels

The actual Pont des Amoureux is a French bridge going over the Thiou River in Annecy, a town also known as the Venice of France. The fabled bridge earned a reputation throughout the years as a rendezvous place for couples in love.

This is not your typical watch. It has a story, a romantic and poetic one. Two figurines travel along respective hour or minute retrograde dials to display the time. The delicate figure of the woman carrying an umbrella serves as the hour indicator, while the man, secretly holding a flower behind his back, points to the minutes. The retrograde display has been further complicated by the fact that upon hitting the 12 o’clock hour, the lovers meet at the center for a kiss. The concept, while seemingly quite simple, was actually an incredibly arduous feat of engineering.

The bridge depicted on the dial isn’t the actual Pont des Amoureux, but a fairy tale rendition conceived by Van Cleef & Arpels. Background of the face is the contre-jour enamel painting of the buildings and starry night in gray tones tha was completely done by hand.

It is a remarkable and beautiful timepiece for a lady, further enhanced by the story behind its design and construction. I would love to have one but priced at $116,000 would only make me dream about it.

Ring On

After two and a half months, the ring is now on my finger, again!


Setting: Tacori's Cresent Collection

My fiance, Walt, proposed on April 30, 2010 around 9:30pm, the night before my 2nd Half Marathon race day in Room 201 at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Rancho Cordova. He caught me so off guard, in the way that I imaged least how my engagement proposal would be like.

While sitting on the bed and clipping my toe nails after showering, he came up and questioned me "How are you feeling (before the race)? Are you nervous?"

"Not nervous, not excited." I answered. "No adrenaline either. It sure doesn't feel like the first time."

Then he went on to say "You know...It's the end of April. April is a good month. It was my birthday and our 2 year anniversary..." I paused him. "But you forgot our anniversary on the 25th. It'd already passed," I stated.

Walt continued, "No, I didn't forget. I got a little something for you and will also help to boost your adrenaline." He walked toward a drawer as he finished his sentence. He opened the lower drawer and took out a small blue box. I thought to myself what could possibly be in the box. It might be the Bulova watch that I liked and showed him one time we went shopping together. While I was still staring at the box, Walt was on one knee next to the bed slowly flipped the box open. Although I didn't have a mirror to look at my own facial reaction, I definitely sure that I one of my eyebrow raised and surprisingly said "whatttttttt??? while clipping my toe nails?"

The next second, I found myself rolling on the bed giggling, probably for about 30 seconds. I sat back up. Walt was still on his knee. I took another glimpse at the ring and said "Thank you" to Walt. Quickly, I glanced back at the ring again.

"But you haven't say 'YES'?" he questioned me. HAHAHAHAHAHA...Yes, I forgot to say 'YES' and so I did. Then he puts the ring on my finger.

At that moment, his brother, in the bathroom, asked "Can I come out now?" His brother was part of the plan. He held the ring for Walt as well as the bottle of champagne to bubble up the occasion.

So that was my engagement story, clipping toe nails, pajamas, and cozy setting.