For Dominique Arpa-Cirpka, painting has always been a calling. Living in Collonge-Bellerive, near Geneva, she grew up in a family of artists and trained at Zurich’s Fine Arts School in 1983. Her travels later deepened her fascination with the natural world, a theme that now defines her creative universe.
Her entry into dial-making was unconventional. Invited by RJ Watches to work on the “Moon-Dust DNA” project, she faced a completely new challenge. “I was never supposed to do dials,” she recalls. Yet her fine-art background encouraged her to develop techniques that allowed her to embed organic materials — tobacco leaves, seaweed, butterfly wings — transforming dials into textured, living artworks.
Since then, Dominique’s collaboration with ArtyA, the independent brand founded by her husband Yvan Arpa, has spanned 16 years. Together, they have created a universe of one-of-a-kind watches that blur the line between art and horology. Each dial is unique with no two identical.
One of her most celebrated works was the butterfly dial for Philippe Dufour’s Simplicity. It sold in May 2025 for CHF 647 700 at Phillips’ Geneva Watch Auction: XXI, leading the sale of pieces raising funds for the Philippe and Elisabeth Dufour Foundation. Dominique used ethically sourced wings, carefully prepared to preserve their vivid colour and fragile texture. The result captured the butterflies’ fleeting beauty, creating a hypnotic play of light across the watch face.
Working with organic matter is challenging, she explains. Seaweed must be delicately treated, leaves carefully fixed, and pigments balanced to ensure stability. For Dominique, however, these hurdles are part of the artistry. “It’s about creation — about being free to do what I want. That is the essence of art.”
While her dials may be miniature canvases, Dominique continues to pursue larger-scale painting and other projects. “If I do only watches, it’s a little frustrating,” she admits. “The watch is a microcosm — it’s small, but the creativity is immense.”
Dominique’s work challenges perceptions of what a watch can be. Rare, audacious, and utterly captivating, her pieces are a testament to curiosity, skill, and devotion to craft. Visit cirpka.com and artya.com for more information.
