Celebrating its 270-year quest for excellence, Vacheron Constantin introduces the technically and aesthetically innovative Métiers d’Art – Tribute to the Quest of Time.
Vacheron Constantin is known to be the world’s oldest watch manufacture in continuous production, founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron in Geneva, Switzerland. With the myriads of technically and aesthetically acclaimed time objects produced during their fascinating 270 years of history, the Maison is certainly belongs to most prestigious and established Swiss watchmakers. And the 270th birthday celebration is not over yet.
After the exceptional debut of the Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication – La Première and Traditionnelle limited editions or the latest Overseas ultra-thin perpetual calendar models, now here is the Métiers d’Art – Tribute to the Quest of Time.
Métiers d’Art – Tribute to the Quest of Time
As with all Métiers d’Art timepieces at Vacheron, the outstanding aesthetic meets with technical excellence. The 43 mm diameter white gold case has two dials. The front dial is dominated by a golden-coloured human figure and a moon phase moon. The figure appears to be standing in the centre of the cosmos, represented by a graduated blue background decorated with a map of the stars, and a three-dimensional moon overhead. In homage to the 270th anniversary, the celestial vault reproduces the constellations as they appeared above Geneva on 17 September 1755. Astronomers from the Geneva Observatory helped to determine the precise position of each star on that date.
The figure is flanked by two large arcs, with hours marked on the left arc and minutes on the right; beneath them, the symmetry of the dial is completed by the two arc-shaped power reserve displays on either side of the figure’s feet.
Sandrine Donguy, product and innovation director at Vacheron Constantin explains: This watch was conceived with technique and savoir-faire at the service of artistic expression and blends traditional handcrafts and finishings with modern decorative techniques – the choice of technique being driven by the desired aesthetics. For example, the titanium 3D moon is hand-engraved before finishing with a bi-coloured PVD treatment; the titanium human figure was given a 3N yellow gold treatment before being sandblasted by hand to create a patina finish.’
The reverse dial features a laser-engraved sky chart that displays the sidereal day and tracks the constellations in real time, accurate to one day of variation in 9,130 years.
The new manually wound Calibre 3670 has 512 hand-finished components and high frequency of 5 Hertz (36,000 vibrations per hour) with three barrels that provide a power reserve of six days.
The watch was three years in development and is the subject of four patent applications: the double power reserve display: indicating the six-day power reserve in two sequential displays – from 6 to 3 and from 3 to 0; the governor for the retrograde time displays (which ensures that, for example at 11:59, when the two hands return to 00:00 or 12:00, they jump in perfect unison); the moon phases and age: showing the exact age of the moon in relation to its phase; and the moon correction, enabling manual adjustment of the moon display at any time of day without damaging the mechanism or disrupting the operation of the watch.
The novelty is a ‘Poinçon de Genève’ certified timepiece – limited and numbered edition of 20 pieces and it is available only through Vacheron Constantin Boutiques.
Source: press release. Photo credits: Vacheron Constantin.
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