Vacheron Constantin is once again offering VIP clients the opportunity to wear a visual and technical masterpiece on their wrist.
The Swiss watchmaker has made it possible for a select few to have a work from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection reproduced on the dial of a timepiece with intricate enamel painting. This collaboration follows the brand’s similar partnership with the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Image courtesy of Vacheron Constantin
You can choose nearly any piece of art, although there are some limitations around copyrights for modern and religious works. Given that the canvas for your wrist is just 38 to 42 mm, a focal point on a painting must be chosen to fit within the dial. In case you are wondering whether your unique timekeeper will be replicated, the brand says there is a five-year exclusivity on the artwork of your choice after purchase and no two clients can choose the same focal point on the same painting. But given the price tag of these pieces, it’s unlikely that a client of this kind of work would want to choose a masterwork that had already been replicated for another Vacheron VIP. As far as bragging rights go, saying you have the only version of Monet’s The Water Lily Pond made for the wrist is pretty high up there.
Image courtesy of Vacheron Constantin
Figures for the pieces can’t be disclosed, but are said to be in the six- to seven-figure range. Would you expect anything less from an artisan who is able to recreate Van Gogh’s unmistakable 1889 impressionist painting, A Wheat Field with Cypresses, within a canvas of mere millimetres using a “paintbrush” the size of a hair? That is no small feat. Acquiring one of these timepieces will include a private tour of the Met by its experts and curators, as well as a visit to Vacheron Constantin’s manufacture in Geneva to meet master watchmakers and artisans behind the creation of the watch. Naturally, due to the nature of each timepiece and the actual time it takes to create one, you can expect a waitlist.
Image courtesy of Vacheron Constantin
Beyond showcasing the work of Vacheron Constantin’s extraordinarily talented artisans and that of history’s masters at the Met, the partnership will also include an artist-in-residency programme and other educational initiatives to be announced down the road.
