Since its founding in 1755, Vacheron Constantin has devoted great importance to arts and culture. The partnership with the Louvre Museum that began in 2019 betokens a celebration of beauty driven by the Manufacture’s constant concern for safeguarding and passing on heritage. Initiating a new offering entitled "A masterpiece on the wrist", Vacheron Constantin offered an experience that 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 and the creation of a unique piece inspired by works of art at the Louvre.
A bespoke Les Cabinotiers watch was auctioned off at the "Bid for the Louvre" sale organized to benefit the museum's solidarity projects in December 2020. After two years featuring a wealth of discoveries including the winning bidder’s private visit to the museum and the Manufacture in order to discuss the project with the Louvre's experts and the Maison's Master Artisans, the adventure gave birth to a unique-piece edition watch as selected by the winning bidder. The result, a unique piece Les Cabinotiers ‘Homage to La lutte pour l'étendard de la Bataille d'Anghiari’ by Pierre Paul Rubens, with Its miniature or grisaille enamel reproduction of the eponymous drawing by Peter Paul Rubens.
Then in 2021, the collaboration between the Manufacture and the prestigious museum also featured a chance to explore the art studios of the two institutions through a series of videos illustrating a parallel between the work of their respective master artisans. This was followed in 2022 by the launch of a series of four watches inspired by the museum's antique collections: Métiers d'Art Tribute to Great Civilisations.
In 2023, the partnership between Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre will be further expanded with a new Les Cabinotiers offer titled "A Masterpiece on the Wrist" which will enable clients to choose from among the museum's works of art the one that will be reproduced in enamel on the dial of their watch.
This partnership with the Louvre confirms Vacheron Constantin's cultural commitment, covering areas specific to centuries-old, world-renowned institutions, for which the archiving, conservation and restoration of heritage are determining factors. This attachment to the splendours of the past and to the transmission of know-how is synonymous with great respect for the craftsmanship that is essential to Vacheron Constantin's creations as well as to the Louvre's activities.
This new "A masterpiece on your wrist" offer involves the creation of a bespoke single-piece edition watch with a dial featuring an enamel reproduction of an artwork kept in the Louvre Museum and chosen by the purchaser. A certificate of authenticity from the museum will certify the reproduction. The experience will be accompanied by a private tour of the Louvre in the company of its experts and the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin to meet its master watchmakers and master artisans.
About the Unique Piece Les Cabinotiers ‘Homage to La lutte pour l'étendard de la Bataille d'Anghiari’
The drawing by Pierre Paul Rubens has an extraordinary historical background. During his stay in Italy during the early 17th century, the Flemish painter is said to have purchased and then retouched in ink, wash and gouache this sheet depicting the Battle of Anghiari, a vast composition that Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to create for the Great Council Chamber of the Palazzo della Signoria —which subsequently became Palazzo Vecchio— in Florence.
The proven mastery of his art and the creative freedom prevailing in Vacheron Constantin's Métiers d'Art workshop enabled a master enameller to approach the challenge in a new and innovative way. It was clear from the outset that the Geneva miniature painting technique would be the most appropriate way to pay tribute to the original work. The Maison’s master enameller nevertheless broadened the scope of the traditional technique by deciding to incorporate blanc de Limoges, generally used in grisaille enamel. This is one of his specialities to which he adopts an empirical approach and after 30 years of exercising this craft, he is still experimenting with its multiple possibilities.
Working with multiple instruments and drawing on the many secrets of enamel alchemy, he has used brushes with three to four bristles, pointed tools as well as cactus spines. 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 since the master enameller wished to create depth-effect highlights with the help of blanc de Limoges, in order 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 Rubens' 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 degrees Celsius, the first layers being fired very lightly, just long enough to start vitrifying, so as to follow the firing without altering the first shades.
"This work features extraordinary volumes in which the strength of the characters and horses contrasts with the softness of the drawing featuring the ink work of the tone-on-tone wash and the sepia. Transcribing a drawing composed of ink and pen strokes onto a dial measuring 3.3 cm in diameter is a real challenge. You have to get inside the work and make it your own in order to find the level of detail while preserving the strength of the graphics” , says Vacheron Constantin's master enameller.
As unprecedented as it is brilliantly executed, this combination of miniature enamel and grisaille enamel has given rise to a timepiece driven by in-house Calibre 2460 SC, featuring an oscillating weight engraved with a depiction of the Louvre’s east-facing facade. Passed down from generation to generation within the Maison for more than 267 years, the masterful art of engraving has extended the artistic dimension of the 18K 5N pink 40 mm gold watch, through its officer-type case back engraved with 17th century "Cerca Trova" calligraphy.
The motto Cerca Trova —He who seeks finds—, which is now visible on one of Vasari's frescoes, is not related to Leonardo's lost Battle of Anghiari, but was instead a way for Cosimo de’ Medici to thumb his nose at Florentine, Sienese and French enemies, with whom he had numerous quarrels.
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