Story | Connie Li Photography | Vacheron Constantin
“A Masterpiece on the Wrist”—a collaboration between Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre Museum, invites customers to create their own bespoke Les Cabinotiers timepieces, featuring a miniature enamel reproduction of an artwork of their choice.
A Masterpiece on the Wrist experience includes a private tour of the Louvre, in the company of its experts, as well as a visit to the Vacheron Constantin Manufacture, to meet its master watchmakers and artisans.
This exclusive opportunity originated in December 2020, when Vacheron Constantin took part in an auction to support the Louvre. The artwork chosen for the single-piece edition Les Cabinotier is the La lutte pour l’étendard de la Bataille d’Anghiari, by Pierre Paul Rube.
Since its founding in 1755, Vacheron Constantin has devoted great importance to the arts and culture. This special offering marks a new stage in the partnership between these two institutions.
In Vacheron Constantin’s Métiers d’Art workshop, the brand’s master enameller decided to incorporate blanc de Limoges, generally used in grisaille enamel. Working with multiple instruments and drawing on the many secrets of enamel alchemy, brushes with three to four bristles, pointed tools and cactus spines have been used.
The ancestral technique of miniature enamelling with a Geneva flux undercoat consists of adding a final transparent and colourless protection to the layers of vitrified enamel, bringing brilliance and depth to the artisan’s work. The grisaille enamel has been interpreted in an original way on this timepiece to create deptheffect highlights with the help of blanc de Limoges to give greater relief and movement to the horse’s mane.
After using line drawing to clearly mark out the details of the contours, the outline of the dial was drawn. Successive stages sought to recreate the extreme subtlety of Ruben’s drawing, all in very light and diffuse shades and half-tones.
The master enameller used about 20 shades of brown, grey brown, sepia brown and cream brown, an impressive number alternating with as many firings at 900°C—the first layers being fired very lightly, just long enough to start vitrifying, so as to follow the firing without altering the first shades.
Les Cabinotiers–Homage to Pierre Paul Rubens, La lutte pour l’étendard de la Bataille d’Anghiari
Calibre: 2460 SC, mechanical, self-winding 26.2 mm diameter, 3.6 mm thick, 22K pink gold oscillating weight with the Louvre eastern façade engraving.
Power Reserve: Approximately 40 hours.
Case: 18K 5N pink gold, officer-type caseback with line engraving .
Dial: Miniature and grisaille enamels, 18K 5N pink gold hands.
Strap: Brown Mississippiensis alligator leather.
Buckle: 18K 5N pink gold pin buckle.
