Vacheron Constantin Wows at Watches & Wonders with New Models That Will Stand The Test of Time

Francesca Fearon shares insight into the storied watchmaker’s latest timepieces which were unveiled earlier this year in Geneva…

Wander around Watches & Wonders, the most important luxury watch salon of the year held each spring in Geneva, and you would be forgiven for thinking that this prestigious event is all about brands competing to create the thinnest, the sportiest, or the most intricate and complicated timepieces that could ever be imagined, let alone produced. Yet there is another aspect that shouldn’t be forgotten in the world of haute horlogerie and that is artisanal craftsmanship.

The luxury watch houses place a value on upholding artisanal crafts, and helping keep them alive is Vacheron Constantin’s new creative collaboration with haute couturier Yiqing Yin.

The Chinese-born, Paris-raised designer sculpts the body with pleating, creating garments that are both structured and fluid at the same time. Her clothes are voluminous and full of movement and often described as being like a secondskin and a flexible armour. It is this aesthetic that she has brought to Vacheron Constantin for a new interpretation of Égérie, their classic diamond-set ladies’ watch.

The Pleats of Time is a showstopper: an innovative concept watch in Yiqing’s signature lilac colour on a diamond-set pink gold case with a swirl of fine mother of pearl pleating for the dial and a mother of pearl moon phase positioned at two o’clock. This however is not simply a dialogue between haute horlogerie and haute couture, haute perfumerie uniquely plays a role in this special one-of-akind watch, as Yiqing enlisted the help of master perfumer Dominique Ropion to create a fragrance that is embedded in the embroidered mother of pearl and silk watch strap. It was about “creating a fragrance that would be universal, like time itself. A mineral scent with pastel, wintry, powdery and iridescent notes, playing with the sun and wisps of smoke,” explains Dominique of his creative process.

“Every single detail – from the double-pleated dial in lilac mother-of-pearl to the fragrance notes and the braided lacework of mother-of-pearl shards on the strap – was jointly imagined,” says Sandrine Donguy, Vacheron Constantin’s product and innovation director. “Yiqing Yin has preserved the personality of the Égérie collection while infusing it with a resolutely haute couture allure that echoes her own creations.”

While the Égérie Pleats of Time is a unique concept watch, it is accompanied by a limited-edition moon phase version with a lilac pleated and mother of pearl dial featuring numerals (unlike the concept watch) and lilac leather strap.

Stepping into haute horlogerie is rare for a couturier, and Yiqing admits “I was confronted with the unprecedented technical constraints of watchmaking, seeking,” she says, “to find a point of convergence with my artistic process rooted in a perpetually moving visual narrative in dialogue with flexible shapes,” but she adds, “my goal was to infuse my intuitive creativity into the rigorously disciplined world of Haute Horlogerie,” which she has achieved.

Innovation has always been core to the creativity cultivated by Vacheron Constantin, which has distinguished itself throughout its entire 269-year history with technical developments aimed at pushing the limits of precision, while guaranteeing an elegant aesthetic that is often original and always singular. “If it were not for innovation, we would have been unable to pursue our activities without interruption since 1755, as confirmed by our richly documented archives,” points out Sandrine Donguy.

Yiqing Yin has Preserved the personality of The Egerie Collection

Sandrine Donguy

In the course of its storied past, many of Vacheron Constantin’s watchmaking innovations have been patented. “In this sense, the collaboration with Yiqing Yin encompassing numerous innovative aspects is entirely in keeping with the enduring spirit of the Maison,” she says.

As the collaboration illustrates, for watch companies to stand out they must offer something unusual and different, and investing in artisanal crafts, even high jewellery, is as important as exploring the most amazing complications, which Vacheron Constantin excelled in for this year’s Watches & Wonders with their landmark Berkley pocket watch. This special timepiece has no less that 63 complications and was uniquely created for a specific collector. Vacheron Constantin has a history of creating extraordinary, complicated watches having made an 11-complication piece for King Fuad I of Egypt in 1929 and another with 14 complications for his son King Farouk.

As Francois Constantin wrote to his partner Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron in 1819, “Do better if possible, and that is always possible.” This mantra has always guided the house whether it be making complicated watches, or exquisitely bejewelled pieces. One of the highlights of their presentation this year was the Grand Lady Kalla which is a wonderful illustration of their rich legacy of jewellery and pendant watches, and honours the Greek word Kallista meaning ‘the most beautiful’.

Gem-setting has been part of the brand’s métiers d’art since 1812 and the iconic Kalla design first emerged in 1980 as a timepiece that could be worn in several ways. The newest interpretation, a unique piece, is in the Art Deco style with an Akoya pearl and onyx beaded sautoir and tassel with a slim detachable diamond set timepiece that can be removed and placed in a diamond bracelet. The sparkling bracelet, like the pendant, can be worn with or without the timepiece.

Vacheron Constantin has been making pendant watches for 100 years, since the Roaring Twenties when society girls combined long ropes of pearls and onyx with pendant watches. The tasselled style has become noticeably popular again in recent years as several luxury watch and jewellery maisons embrace the carefree feminine style by stringing vibrantly decorated dials on long chains.

Like other watchmakers, Vacheron Constantin is investing in attracting the skills from other creative spheres, including haute couture and perfumery, and combining them with traditional goldsmithing techniques and other heritage crafts because this is now what collectors are seeking. It is about investing in human talent before those skills are lost to future generations.

Lead credits: Up close with the classic Pleats of Time Égérie timepiece

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s May 2024 issue