Just when you thought it was safe to slip your American Express card back into your plush leather credit card holder, Vacheron Constantin has created an exceptional collection of 15 one-of-a-kind models in tribute to the greatest composers, the same artists who inspired Marc Chagall for his monumental fresco painting adorning the ceiling of the Garnier Opera House. In truth it’s a piece so exceptional that it will not be sold and will become part of the private collection in the Vacheron Constantin Maison.
The new watch collection marks Vacheron Constantin’s third year as a patron of Paris National Opera.
The first watch in the Métiers d’Art – Chagall & L’Opéra de Paris collection is entitled “Tribute to famous composers”. This one-of-a-kind creation was presented at the gala evening held in the Palais Garnier on November 20th 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra National de Paris (AROP), the Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet.
This unique timepiece in yellow gold (40mm in diameter) houses the automatic calibre 2460 movement and features a faithful reproduction of the entire Chagall ceiling, using the time-honoured Geneva technique of grand feu enamelled miniature painting. The 14 other watches will be created over the next two years, and each will be dedicated to one of the composers appearing in Chagall’s monumental work.
Time, culture and art
According to Vacheron Constantin, ‘This impressive trilogy interweaves past, present and future in a manner that etches these works into eternity. It embodies perfect, vibrant and creative symbiosis that has consistently nurtured the Vacheron Constantin philosophy; a perpetual technical and aesthetic exploration that the House continues to cultivate through expertise built up and passed on from generation to generation, and a breed of creativity firmly focused on innovation.’
Despite this waft of hot air rising to Chagall’s famous ceiling, nothing can detract from the sheer skill of the workmanship involved in the creation of these new timepieces. With the Geneva technique of enamelling the artist begins by applying a white base enamel. The white enamel base serves as a “background canvas”, and the artist starts by tracing the outlines of the various motifs with a brush consisting of just two or three marten’s hairs. Using a strong binocular magnifying instrument, he creates the spirit of the painting to be reproduced in miniature. It’s a task of extreme precision and intuitive knowledge of what will work once the enamel has undergone 20 or more firings in the oven to make the colours more robust and vibrant. After each firing the enamel could simply explode if not under the care of a master enameller. The cooling stages thus require a great deal of patience to avoid sudden changes of temperature. A single wrong move can cause irreversible damage and force the artisan to begin all over again.
Vacheron Constantin is one of the few watch companies to create such sophisticated enamelled dials. The detail and infinite patience required is a daunting artistic challenge taken up only by virtuoso artisans. As one of the oldest and most revered of traditional Geneva watchmakers, Vacheron should be congratulated for continuing to create such truly priceless timepieces.
