Last year, Vacheron Constantin collaborated with the Louvre to create four Métiers d’Art watches inspired by ancient civilisations. Now, the institutions have announced a continuation of the partnership, with ‘A masterpiece on your wrist’ project enabling customers to commission a special-edition Les Cabinotiers watch inspired by an artwork of their choice in the Louvre.
‘The partnership between Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre museum offers multiple opportunities for both parties, by combining their values and expertise to create exceptional projects and experiences together,’ says Vacheron Constantin style and heritage director Christian Selmoni.
The new initiative follows the creation of a one-off watch inspired by a Rubens painting. ‘The unique piece created, “Les Cabinotiers Homage to Pierre Paul Rubens, La lutte pour l'étendard de la Bataille d'Anghiari”, is truly exceptional, both in terms of watchmaking art and client’s experience,’ explains Selmoni.
‘The watch concept was born thanks to the Bid for the Louvre auction held in Paris in 2020, in which Vacheron Constantin participated. We offered the opportunity to acquire a bespoke timepiece that didn’t exist at that time and that would be entirely made upon the acquirer’s expectations. He would be able to choose the artwork he would want to be replicated on the dial. During all steps of the project, the acquirer has been fully associated: once he selected the original artwork with the Louvre’s curators, he participated in the creation aspects of the timepiece at our manufacture in Geneva, meeting and discussing with the designer, the watchmaker and the master enameller, until the final reveal – a true money-can’t-buy experience.’
For the new project, clients are invited to become fully immersed in the watchmaking experience, visiting the manufacture and workshops and remaining fully updated during every step of the process in the creation of their unique, technically challenging watch.
‘The main challenge is to be considered from the craftsmanship angle,’ Selmoni adds. ‘Faithfully reproducing a masterpiece from the Louvre museum’s collections in miniature obviously requires the mastery of all enamelling techniques: depending on the subject chosen, different enamelling techniques should be used. As an example, the grisaille technique should be dedicated to the reproduction of an antique sculpture: it consists in applying layers of a particular enamel named “Blanc de Limoges” on a dark enamel background, the main challenge being to reproduce faithfully the effects of light and shadows of the sculpture in “chiaroscuro” style, reproducing contrasts and volumes as in a three-dimensional way. Coming back to “Les Cabinotiers – Homage to Pierre Paul Rubens, La lutte pour l'étendard de la Bataille d'Anghiari”, our master enameller used mainly the Geneva miniature painting technique, the most obvious one to pay tribute to the original work. Our artisan nevertheless broadened the scope of the traditional technique by using “Blanc de Limoges” as he wished to create depth-effect highlights to give greater relief and movement to the horse's mane.’
