Flower Power: Vacheron Constantin’s Métiers d’Art Florilège

For the first time since it launched its limited edition Métiers d’Art collection, Vacheron Constantin dedicated this year’s series to the fairer sex. The Métiers d’Art Florilège trilogy presents three designs, each referencing a beautifully rendered botanical illustration from Robert John Thornton’s The Temple of Flora, published in 1799. The reference book, featuring artwork by the top botanical illustrators and painters of the time, remains a valued reference even more than two centuries later. Three of the book’s 90 plates—the strelitzia, the white lily, and the China Limodoron—have been reproduced on watch dials using the ancient decorative crafts of enameling, guilloché engraving, and gem setting. Vacheron Constantin will produce 20 pieces of each variation with round diamonds, plus another five pieces, designated for Vacheron Constantin boutiques, set with baguette diamonds. Along with its in-house team of craftspeople, Vacheron Constantin commissioned independent artisan Anita Porchet, who is regarded as Switzerland’s most revered enamellist. Porchet signs each dial with her initials.

Métiers of Time: Vacheron Constantin’s Les Univers Infinis

“The things I want to express are so beautiful and pure,” declared Maurits Cornelis Escher, the celebrated 20th-century Dutch graphic artist. Escher’s enigmatic prints often bend the conventional rules of visual perception with mirror imagery and repetitive interlocking motifs known as tessellations. In its ongoing pursuit to advance watchmaking’s centuries-old métiers d’art for the modern era, Geneva watchmaker Vacheron Constantin approached the Escher Foundation and gained the rights to reinterpret Escher’s works for its latest Métiers d’Art series, Les Univers Infinis.

Eric Ripert

Eric Ripert wearing a Vacheron Constantin Malte Chronograph

Why are so many chefs passionate about watches?

There are similarities between watchmakers and chefs. It’s about craftsmanship more than anything else. In watchmaking, artistry comes in the design and when they create different complications for calculating time. For chefs, the artistry is in the look of the plate and also in the way we create flavors. We find ways to control flavors to create a dish like they control time. Those similarities bring us together in some way subconsciously. A watch is very useful for us because we work under time restrictions, and it’s a beautiful object that we respect.

Sleek & Chic: Ultra-Thin Watches For A New Age

Piaget Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic

Even before the economic crisis, old-guard watch houses were referencing their archives for inspiration, perhaps looking for an antidote to the design excess of the mid-aughts. Amid a sea of behemoth Darth Vader watches, retro styles were aesthetic palate cleansers that oozed elegance and good taste. The financial crisis only reinforced this trend as brands espoused the lasting value of classic design. Another boost came from the burgeoning Chinese market, where classic, round watches from status marques continue to be in high demand. The retro resurgence has swept in a new generation of ultra-thin watches modeled on the svelte timepieces of the 1950s and 1960s. This year, brand after brand offers its own take on thin—most still referencing the past. But Richard Mille and Piaget have been proving that thin doesn’t have to mean traditional anymore.

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