Vacheron Constantin Bypasses Retail Benchmarks With Unpriced Concept Watches

There are tricky ways to make a watch dial. And then there is making an octopus out of glass. Vacheron Constantin has unveiled six new concept watches for Homo Faber, the biennial celebration of craftsmanship in Venice, and conventional watchmaking is only really the starting point. Called Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom, the collection pairs Vacheron with six artisans working in disciplines rarely, if ever, encountered in watchmaking: featherwork, glass sculpting, micro-origami, gold embroidery, paper sculpting and wood marquetry. The idea was to see what happened when each was reduced to the dimensions of a watch dial. The transparent glass octopus, created by Italian artist Simone Crestani, stands a barely perceptible 3.5mm above the dial. Its tentacles and individual suckers were built up piece by piece from tiny molten glass rods, requiring Crestani to develop a new technique for the project. Elsewhere, Anja Midori folded six miniature manta rays from hand-dyed Japanese paper, using only her fingers and fingernails – plus the tip of a toothpick. The smallest are around 5mm long. Then there is a tiger embroidered using nine-carat gold wire; a crocodile sculpted from white cotton paper and a three-dimensional wooden falcon. Perhaps most extraordinary is Julien Vermeulen’s serpent, assembled from more than 200 individual pieces taken from seven rare feathers. The

Vacheron Constantin has long maintained workshops dedicated to the very delicate and traditional métiers d’art of watchmaking. These include specializations in engraving, enameling, guilloché work and gem-setting. Its latest project now looks further afield, commissioning six independent artisans to translate their practices, which are rarely associated with horology, onto the miniature scale of a watch dial. These watches are presented under the Maison’s “One of Not Many Crafts Programme” and are labelled as the Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom. This set of incredible pieces comprises six concept watches, each interpreting a different animal expressed through a corresponding craft. In brief: featherwork depicts a serpent; transparent glass forms an octopus; micro-origami creates a group of manta rays; gold embroidery renders a prowling tiger; cotton paper becomes a crocodile; and wood marquetry shapes a falcon. Each artist worked directly with Vacheron Constantin’s watchmakers and métiers d’art specialists to adapt their materials and techniques to the physical and functional constraints of a wristwatch. With no more than 4mm separating dial surface from the crystal, the restricted dimensions required the development of dial structures, mounting methods and working processes from the ground up. All six watches house the self-winding caliber 2460 G4, created by Vache

Introducing The New 37.5mm A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Up/Down Limited Edition (Live Pics) Introducing The Oris ProPilot X Gonzo Edition (Live Pics) Introducing The Baltic Aquascaphe GMT MK-II Vacheron Constantin evokes nature with a collection of six mind-blowing concept watches. Last week, Vacheron Constantin presented the latest in their Métiers d'Art collection, the Métiers d'Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom. The impressive collection, which is based on Vacheron's four-aperture display Métiers d'Art watch, is made up of six watches, each featuring a facsimile of an animal made out of an unexpected blend of materials and construction. Notably, each dial in the series was created not by a watchmaker, but rather by an independent artist. This last part is key to the Métiers d'Art idea, which offers watches as a platform for artistry of all sorts, resulting in a collection unlike any other I can think of. The six watches that make up this collection are the: Feathersnake, which features a snake made of several hundred pieces of Lophophore and Goose feather; Glassoctopus, which features a hand-melted and shaped glass octopus set on a hand-guilloched gold-base coated in dark blue; Oraygami, which sets a fever of origami paper rays again against a hand-guilloched gold-base finished in blue; Tigerbroidery, which renders a tiger through an embroidered silk dial using yellow and white gol

In the blistering heat of southern Utah’s canyon-filled desert, Vacheron Constantin drops a group of collectors off at the ultra-high-end luxury resort Amangiri. Getting there is no small feat. If you’re not flying in by private jet, you must connect through Los Angeles, Las Vegas, or Phoenix before boarding a charter to nearby Page, Ariz. On this trip, Page closed early for runway work, forcing some guests into a five-hour drive from Las Vegas, while a lucky few snagged the last helicopter transfer. It’s a hell of a journey, which only adds to its exclusivity. The trek is part of a V.I.P.-only client experience to discover the new Overseas Dual Time Cardinal Points. Cory Richards leading a group of Vacheron Constantin collectors on a climb up the canyon surrounding Amangiri.Chris Coe The big draw? New versions of a popular iteration of its Overseas model finally put into regular production at the house. The timepiece veers confidently into tool-watch territory, separating it from other precious-metal and bracelet Overseas models. It comes in lightweight, durable titanium with a GMT function, 150 meters of water resistance, anti-magnetism, and two interchangeable rubber straps and bracelet, and its even sportier take on the Overseas line marks a serious new direction for the buttoned-up brand. The prototype, a one-of-one release in 2019, was pushed to the limit on the wrist of photographer and mountaineer Cory Richards as he attempted to summit Mount Everest. A small run of a Dual Time and Chronographs followed in 2021. Many clients expressed frustration that they couldn’t get their hands on one of the 300 examples in the limited edition (150 of each version were made); now, five years later, Cardinal Points has finally arrived. Richards wears the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time Cardinal Points – East.Chris Coe Serious horology aficionados are used to waiting—even if lead times for coveted watches have become preposterous. “I’ve been collecting for almost 20 years now, and my first Vacheron experience in New York was one of the first times I walked into a boutique, found a watch I love, bought it, walked out with it, and wore it home,” says David K., a Los Angeles–based collector who preferred not to disclose his last name. Some are even turning away from other top-tier brands due to lack of transparency. “There’s all kinds of brands that I think have perverted the concept of luxury,” Miami-based collector Jason Barker says, referring to how some companies and retailers make you buy once a quarter until you get the watch you really want. He li

As part of the brand’s “One of Not Many Crafts” programme, Vacheron Constantin is experimenting with a series of concept watches decorated with unexpected artisanal crafts, Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom . Some of the decorative method have never before used by Vacheron Constantin, or even watchmaking at large. The series is made up of six creative watches – each a unique creation – that run the gamut of rare crafts, some that are traditional in watchmaking, like gold embroidery, but others that are surprising, like origami. Each watch has a whimsical name stemming from the subject and method: Feathersnake, Glassoctopus, Oraygami, Tigerbroidery, Papercroc, and Woodenwings. From left: Woodenwings, Feathersnake, and Tigerbroidery These are one-off concept watches, so both availability and price are moot points. But they are impressive, both in terms of technique and visuals, so I imagine Vacheron Constantin will be turning to these artisans for more watches eventually. All are striking, but a few stand out. Papercroc might well be my favourite of the lot, though Vacheron Constantin missed the opportunity to make a paper tiger. On the other hand, when the exotic technique on a tiny scale and quality of the result are taken together, Tigerbroidery is arguably one of Vacheron Constantin’s greatest achievements in the rare crafts field. Others stand out for the technique