Zodiac
Vacheron Constantin Unveils Métiers d’Art: Zodiac Tribute to the Celestial | hoobae

Google says I shouldn’t like this watch.  I’m not an astrology, horoscope, or even Zodiac guy, so on my way to the Vacheron Constantin boutique in New York, I turned to Google for advice on how I, a Cancer by birth date, should feel about a watch designed for an Aries. It was an incredible opportunity to be the first journalist in the Americas to see the brand’s newest Metiers d’Art release—an astrologically inspired set of twelve timepieces named “Tribute to the Celestial”—so I wanted to be prepared.

Four millennia of stargazing stretching back to ancient Mesopotamia, boiled down into an AI-generated Google summary, would undoubtedly be the greatest guide to a truly objective appraisal of a watch. So, as I walked into the boutique, Google predicted that things would not go well.

I faintly remember reading that Aries and Cancer are supposed to have a rough connection.  Something regarding indications at 90º angles on a chart. Honestly, that was when my eyes began to glaze over.  Apologies to my astrology-loving friends (there are a few), but the closest I’ve gotten to caring about my sign was probably when I saw a Zodiac-inspired set of watches from Patek Philippe earlier this year and discovered that a Cancer is sometimes represented by a lobster rather than a crab.

Zodiac Themes Are Nothing New—But This Is Different

So, Zodiac-inspired timepieces are nothing new for brands, least of all Vacheron Constantin, which has repeatedly pulled from that deep well in unique ways. Most recently, they incorporated the Zodiac not just in the Berkley Grand Complication, the world’s most complicated watch, but also in a range of new complications based on the Chinese calendar.  To be honest, I believe I could spend months attempting to grasp the Chinese calendar (as well as all of the other calendars at Berkley, as indicated below), and still only have a basic understanding.  Another outstanding example from the brand’s 250th anniversary is the 1755: L’Esprit des Cabinotiers, a clock that emerges from a celestial sphere adorned with hand engraving.

Closer to the present, the new Metiers d’Art collection features a 2021 piece exclusive to the brand’s bespoke workshop Les Cabinotiers, which developed the Minute Repeater Tourbillon Sky Chart Leo Constellation Jewellery. While the company has abandoned the sky chart and minute repeater in favor of its tried-and-true (albeit still extremely technical) peripherally wound tourbillon movement, the “Tribute to the Celestial: Aries” is still a stunning and striking watch.

The Calibre 2160 is one of the few peripheral rotor tourbillon movements that remain on the market following the discontinuation of the Carl F. Bucherer brand.  Breguet provides another remarkable choice with the calibres 581 and 581SQ, which are 3mm thinner than Vacheron’s 5.65mm but much wider at 36.1mm against 29.1mm.  While ultra-thin calibers are sometimes measured solely by their thinness, it is possible to create a super-thin watch that resembles a gigantic credit card (see Richard Mille), but the watch’s overall compactness may suffer.

The watch runs at 2.5 Hz (18,000 vibrations per hour), has an 80-hour power reserve, and is wound by a 22K gold peripheral oscillating weight.  The Poinçon de Genève (Geneva seal) movement has some excellent finishing, with a nice visual mix of brushing, Geneva stripes, and anglage.  Unsurprisingly, these angles aren’t as deep or dramatic as you’d find on high-end independents, nor are the internal gear angles as impressive as Simon Brette’s. Rather than being a shot at Vacheron, it just demonstrates the difference between a watch produced at a certain scale and those created with finishing as a significant selling point.

At the front, you can see the well-designed tourbillon cage. A tourbillon is something I hadn’t given much thought to, aside from its technical features and how it fits into the overall appearance of the watch. However, a colleague recently cautioned me not to overlook the trees for the forest, so to speak. The tourbillon cage is not only well-balanced due to its symmetry, but it is also visually appealing as a thing within an object, complete with a functional blued screw that allows the wearer to count elapsed seconds more accurately.

If the Calibre 2160 movement is one of the watch’s more underappreciated features, we’ll move on to one of its more obvious stars. The white gold case (and buckle) is set with about 3.87 carats of blue sapphires that wrap around the bezel, down the lugs, and around the crown, for a total of 96 baguette-cut stones per watch.

With its 25 carats of stones set into a 44mm sapphire case (including the midcase), the Tribute to the Celestial is distinctly more wearable in comparison, and not just in terms of size. Yes, that is one factor, but when you compare the two watches, you’ll find that the F.P.Journe’s case was broadened primarily to accommodate a broader and deeper bezel, which alters the balance of the dial and causes it to shrink. That would have been counterproductive on a watch where the dial is supposed to be the main attraction, and the ultra-thin movement should be highlighted.

That is not to claim that one is superior to the other, nor does it imply that one is particularly appropriate for daily wear.  But each accomplishes something different subtly and appealingly.  I particularly enjoy the delicate nature of placing smaller stones in the buckle and on the lugs to create a more dramatic size gradient in both. However, considering the caliber, it is likely the most balanced watch Vacheron has ever produced.  It’s the smallest diameter they’ve used for the movement; the watch measures 39mm, which they previously reached with the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Jewellery, but that watch was 11.2mm thick.

Now, back to the elephant in the room, or should I say the ram?  The dial is as gorgeous as you’d expect from a watch with a high level of craftsmanship.  In addition to all of the technical details, the designer did an excellent job of preserving the functionality (a printed minute track and applied indices, for example) while integrating it into the rest of the case, with a matte outer track that is much darker than the bezel or central dial, drawing your eye inward while separating the two elements.

But, oh my, that dial.  While I saw the Aries model, there are twelve Zodiac dials, each with its own hand-guilloché “sign” and constellation, with brilliant-cut diamonds representing the stars.  It’s visually impressive at first glance, but even more so when you consider the number of steps involved or the fact that Vacheron invented an entirely new guilloché technique to create the illustrative, figurative, and geometric pattern.

No one individual is responsible for a full dial, which increases the strain as the development progresses, and one person might easily undo days of labor done before them.  The dial is a thin disk of 18K 5N gold engraved with the constellation and zodiac sign outlines.  The sunburst brushing comes next, followed by opaline detailing on the four “human” dials. The next step is to hand-guilloche the zodiac sign before cutting the hole for the tourbillon.  The blue tint is then partially removed by machining to reveal the gold dial foundation, which allows delicate lines to be seen.  The base is then coated with lacquer.

The diamond constellation’s sunken and three-dimensional appearance is remarkable, but it also highlights how limited my imagination is, since I would never have seen a “ram” among the four stars in that constellation. However, in a world where diamonds are frequently employed in entire pavé settings or as single indices, this is an exceptionally inventive implementation.

At the time of writing, the Tribute to the Celestial pieces cost $215,000 before taxes. As one of our commentators stated in our initial “Introducing” piece, “If you described this watch to me without photos, I would probably hate it.” It’s true, even if we utilized astrology as a review guide, I’d still detest this watch (or at least struggle to get along with the owner).  In actuality, I was impressed and relieved that the brand had decided to maintain this as an open series, which, while limited in production, should continue to fulfill requests for clients for the next few years, well past the brand’s 270th anniversary.

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