Using ancient Chinese motifs, these dials show waves crashing against cliffs, and they’re drowning in beauty.
Vacheron Constantin is expressing its artistic side this summer with a pair of creations in its Metiers d’Art collection, decorated in a typically high-concept design and bearing a lofty title: Tribute to Traditional Symbols. In this case, the symbols pay homage to an iconic element of Chinese culture, the seawater cliff, a decorative motif specific to the imperial court of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The wave-lashed-cliffs theme shows up repeatedly in Chinese art, sculpture, architecture and other objets’dart. Vacheron’s artisans have created two decorative models with dials showing stylized sea waves washing up against sharp cliffs. On one rendition, the waves are depicted with rows of diamonds glowing in moonlight, and on the other, with cloisonné enameling in colors that represent vegetation on the cliffs.
“The series is an example of our dedication to integrating, transposing and interpreting elements from other cultures and traditions without ever losing the maison’s stylistic identity,” says Christian Selmoni, Vacheron’s style and heritage director. “The motif we chose can be found on courtly architectural elements, but also on furniture and porcelain as well as on Imperial clothing, the so-called Dragon robes worn by the emperors. It represented Imperial stability, symbolizing the emperor’s immutability faced with the vagaries of life, these overhanging mountain cliffs are unaffected by the waves. Like the unshakeable cliff above the waves, a symbol of peace and longevity, the emperor was the guarantor of the country’s fortune and prosperity.” They were created in close collaboration with a research librarian for the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City.
There is a certain energy attached to these pieces that doesn’t exist in Vacheron Constantin’s other collections, including sports models and high complications, because they depict movement. The waves rise up on the dial in mid-crash, and they are made more dramatic by the way they are decorated. The Moonlight Slivers model, for example, is surely the only watch in history to depict surging ocean waves made entirely of diamonds. The intent is to make them seem to reflect the glow of moonlight, hence the name. The diamond wave conjures that line in Heart’s “Dreamboat Annie” – “Riding on the diamond waves …” Setting the surf against a backdrop of dark blue grand feu enamel also adds to the drama, with cliffs made of tone-on-tone champlevé enamel inlays in the foreground. On the 18k red gold version of this model, the cliffs are red gold colored. In the 18k gold model, they are silver. Diamond-set bezels frame the scene on both models.
The cloisonné enameled piece, Eternal Flow, is also graphically strong, with vibrant colors that adds an even greater sense of movement to the waves. The method used is a tribute to a craft that originated in China, where cloisonné enamel was called Jingtai Blue. It wasn’t easy: creating the dial requires the artisan to lay out 220 gold wires on the dial to form the composition, a process that takes 50 hours. Another 70 hours is dedicated to the enameling process, and as someone who has tried her hand at cloisonné and was much humbled by the experience, I can say that making a dial like this is much harder than it looks. It involves mixing enamel powder with just the right amount of water for just the right color, and trying to make it sit evenly within the border of gold wire, using a tiny brush. The colors have to remain consistent throughout repeated firings. Each panel has to be absolutely consistent in terms of color and texture, and it’s all done while staring through a microscope. For 70 hours.
The bezel on this piece is its own little story. It is entirely engraved with a stylized bat motif, an eccentric animal choice if ever there was one. But in the Chinese language, it turns out “bat” and “happiness” have similar pronunciations. In Chinese decoration, five bats are often seen together, traditionally expressing the “Five Good Fortunes:” longevity, wealth, stability, virtue and happiness. Each model comes in white and pink gold 39 mm cases, with 15 in each metal for a total of 60 pieces. They are powered by the automatic caliber 2460 with a 40-hour power reserve . On the back, a 24k gold rotor is delicately engraved with the seawater cliff motif. Price on request.
