When time tells a story

SHOWCASING the technical competence of watches - the usual focus of watch exhibitions - takes a back seat to story-telling in a grand exhibition of Van Cleef & Arpels luxury timepieces and high jewellery which opens to the public from Feb 12 at Marina Bay Sands.

"The watches you see here are not useful for telling the time," says Hugues de Pins, the French brand's Singapore-based managing director for South-east Asia and Oceania. (Though the brand originated and is still based in Paris, it's now part of Richemont, the Swiss luxury group.)

The A Journey Through The Poetry of Time exhibition in Sands Expo Hall B, reserved for clients of Van Cleef & Arpels from Tuesday to Friday, is meant specially for watch lovers with a bent for "beautiful craftsmanship and (the) beautiful stories".