Woodkid and Vacheron Constantin create beautiful new music

By Ian Thorley

How does a traditional Swiss watch brand continue to stand out from the crowd? They create something different and outside of their comfort zone. The starting point being a minute repeater, the creation of sound is the most difficult complication to master for an haute horological house. Vacheron Constantin’s minute repeater’s are renowned as the most revered and technically complex of this ultimate complication.

The Maison’s collaboration with music began back in 2018 when they started the “One of Not Many Mentorship Program” with Abbey Road Studios. By 2022 Woodkid was invited to mentor the students of the program. A polymath and musician Woodkid is better known for his music video direction of Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’, Taylor Swift’s ‘Back to December’, Lana Del Rey’s ‘Born to Die’ and Harry Styles’s ‘Sign of the Times’. He is also a music producer creating music under his own name and has collaborated with amongst others Nicolas Ghesquière of Louis Vuitton.

The first part of the collaboration last years saw Woodkid mentor Vacheron Constantin’s “One of Not Many Mentorship Program” which is an ongoing collaboration established in 2018 between Vacheron Constantin and Abbey Road Studios in London. Woodkid chose to mentor a young singer songwriter Ewan J Phillips. Woodkid commented last year, “To be able to pass on one’s knowledge and artistic sensitivity by working with young talent is a privilege for me as a musician”.

Part two of the collaboration was the creation of an exclusive, contemporary track including the sound of a Vacheron Constantin watch. Woodkid’s piece is an interpretation of the brands Less’ential theme incorporating the sounds of the watch within a composition that explores Euclidean rhythms which is found in all of the most important rhythms in world music. Euclidean rhythms are derived from the principle that Euclidean Algorithm – the Greatest Common Divisor of two numbers used to distribute pulses as evenly as possible in a bar.

Woodkid’s track composed of samples played by contemporary music virtuosos (marimba, clarinet…) and produced on a tempo with 12 pulses (hourly tempo) inspired by a Vacheron Constantin watch, synchronising the worlds of music and high watchmaking. Woodkid has mastered the unique sound of a Vacheron Constantin watch while also translating that sound into a modern track.