Vacheron Constantin have this week (April 15) unveiled a series of new watches that have been inspired by their Métiers d’Art Tribute.
Since 2022, Vacheron Constantin have been celebrating civilisations from throughout history as part of their Métiers d’Art Tribute collections.
Originally born out of a collaboration with the Louvre, Vacheron Constantin’s newest offering takes inspiration from some of the most vaunted artefacts held within the iconic Parisian museum.
The fresh quartet of pieces have been tied to four great civilisations of time gone by – Pharaonic Egypt, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome – and only 15 of each will be made available to the public. You can check them out below.
Buste d’Akhenaton – Egyptian New Kingdom (1500–1000 BC)
Pharaoh Akhenaten and his sandstone bust has long been held in Paris in a remarkably complete form given the controversial ruler had been largely lost to history for thousands of years. He continues to be an area of fascination for Egyptologists as he is possibly Tutankhamun’s father and much of his reign was erased from the historical record.
Now, the Pharoah’s long, angular face adorns the dial of a Vacheron Constantin, and just like the bust that provides inspiration for the piece, it is made out of limestone and sandstone that has come from Egypt. Like the other three pieces, the gold rotor is engraved with an image of the Louvre.
Athena de Velletri – Ancient Greece (480 – 323 BC)
Homed in the Louvre since 1803, the Athena de Velletri is a three-metre tall statue of the Goddess, Athens. Not an original from Ancient Greece, which would have been made out of bronze, but an early Roman copy made out of marble, the statue had quite a journey to the Louvre, having been thought lost for almost a thousand years before surviving war in Europe on its way to safekeeping.
Remarkably, Vacheron Constantin have sculpted the the Goddess on the dial of the piece out of marble with the depth and detail of the design, something to behold. Next to Athens on the dial are stone horses and the black and gold enamel is very evocative of Ancient Greek aesthetics.
Tibre de l’Iseum Campense – Imperial Rome (27 BC – 467 AD)
An imposing marble sculpture originally discovered in 1512, the work was created to honour the Egyptian Gods of Isis and Serapsis and serves as an important landmark in the history of both Rome and the River Tiber. The statue would come to be seized by Napoleon as he waged war across Europe in the 18th Century. Following Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, various treasures were returned to their countries of origin but the statue remained in the Louvre and has been there ever since.
Like the other pieces, the dial offers a three-quarter view of the statue with it adorned in marble quarried in Italy. The highly detailed gold-leaf base is a particularly standout of the design while the engraved mother-of-pearl frame is sumptuous.
Lamassu de Sargon II – Neo-Assyrian Empire (934-609 BC)
A staggering five metre high carving of a Lamassu – a mythical deity in Ancident Mesopotamia that is part bull, eagle and man and meant to symbolise intelligence, strength and freedom, the creature was a household protective spirit before becoming associated with guardian monarchs. While household versions would be small and made out of clay, those commissioned by rulers would be placed in pairs at a palace entrance and like this piece, were colossal in size.
On the distinctive and colourful dial, the Lamassu is made out of limestone and sandstone while the red and blue background features agate and dumortierite. The outer frieze also has an extraordinary potency with its floral design made out of engraved gold.
Last year, Vacheron Constantin unveiled one of the most daring creations in modern watchmaking – La Quête du Temps – an incredible astronomical clock, part clock, part automaton, part astronomical computer and a tribute to the horological skills and craftsmanship of the brand.
La Quête du Temps stood at more than one metre high, its structure defined by three separate sections: the dome, the astronomical clock and the base.
Earlier this week, Vacheron Constantin unveiled their thinnest Overseas watch ever.
The new self-winding, ultra-thin movement has been in development for seven years. At just 2.4mm thick, it’s the thinnest Overseas watch ever made.
It contains an impressive 80-hour power reserve with what is being described as “an innovative system designed to enhance performance.”
A statement adds of the Calibre 2550: “Seven years of research and development, aimed at enhancing performance, led to the design of an innovative architecture combining a micro-rotor, a suspended double barrel and a compact single-level gear train.”
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