Vacheron Constantin La Symbolique des Laques: 600 Years In The Making

At SIHH, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the new Métiers d’Art collection, La Symbolique des Laques. The collection combines two ancient arts: watchmaking and maki-e. Vacheron, which dates to 1755, joins with Japanese maki-e masters Zôhiko, founded in 1661 and together, their more than 600 years of history combine to produce these masterpieces of functional art.

What is Maki-e?

Maki-e literally means “sprinkled picture” and it is the most sophisticated of all lacquer techniques, designating a decorative operation in which the design is created by delicately sprinkling gold or silver dust over lacquer – usually black – while it is still wet.

The lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, Rhus verniciflua. This tree originated on the high plateaus of central Asia or Tibet. Today, it grows only in southern China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan, but it seems to have had a much wider range in the past. In Japanese, the word for the substance and the name of the tree are the same: urushi.

Maki-e was developed early in Japanese history. It matured as an art form between the eighth and twelfth centuries A.D., becoming the predominant method of ornamentation beginning in the seventeenth century and remaining so to this day. As with watchmaking, highly-skilled craftsmanship is required to produce a maki-e painting. It takes many years for an artist to become a maki-e master.

Each dial in this collection is hand crafted by maki-e master Mr. Yamamoto. As shown below, layers or black lacquer or urushiare applied to the solid 18-carat gold dial base and carefully polished.

The artistic image on the dial is built up layer by layer as urushi is carefully applied and gold powder is sprinkled over it. Below, clockwise from the top left, we see the urushi being mixed, then applied to the lacquer base with an extremely fine brush. In the next image, gold powder is sprinkled over the fresh urushi, and in the final image, excess powder is removed with a soft brush.

Each timepiece has a double face, lacquered using the maki-e technique. Behind these exquisite dials lies Vacheron Constantin Caliber 1003, developed and crafted in-house. For these pieces, the movement is created in 14-carat white gold and skeletonized. Each timepiece measures 40 mm in diameter.

Below, the Pine Tree and Crane timepiece showing both dials, and Caliber 1003

The Collection and the Symbolism

The symbolique des laques theme will change over a period of three years, with each year bringing a new set of three watches in a limited series of twenty. The first set shown here explores the theme of long life with “The Three Friends of Winter”: the pine tree, bamboo, and the plum tree. By virtue of their resistance to extreme cold, the “Three Friends of Winter” symbolize longevity, and by extension, they are also associated with the loyalty of a friendship that survives the hard times, symbolized by winter.

Each of the “Three Friends of Winter” is paired with a bird. For example, the long-lived pine is accompanied by the crane, whose whiteness recalls the accumulation of years. Bamboo is associated with the sparrow, whose ceaseless activity symbolizes the vitality of the continually renewed bamboo. Finally, the plum tree is matched with the nightingale, because both celebrate the arrival of spring, one with its early flowers and the other with its song.

The main design of the tree on the front of the watch is matched by the bird design on the back, facing the wrist. The choice to include maki-e on both sides of the watch falls within a Japanese tradition, as many Japanese lacquerware objects are decorated even on their hidden surfaces, for example, on the insides of lids or the bottoms of boxes.

 

Bambou and Sparrow

 

 the amazing detail and craftsmanship are evident

 

Plum Tree and Nightingale

Zôhiko

In 1661, Yasui Shichibei opened a shop he named Zôgeya, where he sold lacquerware. The shop remained in the family for five generations before passing to Nishimura Hikobei, then head of production, because there were no heirs in the Kusunoki branch. From that day down to this, Zôhiko has been run by members of the Nishimura family, each of whom has taken the founder’s first name. Zôhiko’s current director is the ninth Nishimura Hikobei.

The third Hikobei (1806-1875) was granted the title “Master of maki-e” by the Emperor for the excellence of his work. One of his most remarkable pieces is a maki-e panel representing the Fugen Bodhisattva on a white elephant. History says that the people of Kyoto were so charmed by the beauty of this image that they named it the “Zôhiko panel,” with “Zô” meaning the elephant and “Hiko” being the first part of Hikobei’s first name. This is the origin of Zôhiko’s company name.

Zôhiko has a longstanding relationship with the Japanese Imperial Court. The fourth Hikobei was one of the Court’s official suppliers, and the current director made the reigning emperor’s official seat. The workshop’s first exports date to the very end of the nineteenth century, upon Japan’s opening to abroad after the Meiji restoration. The company’s expanded horizons were the work of the eighth Hikobei (1887-1965). He was unanimously considered to be a pioneering figure in the lacquer industry. He also founded a maki-e school that became a standard of reference for many specialized lacquer artists.

The Métiers d’Art – La symbolique des laques is a limited series of 20 sets of three watches each per year. Each set is priced at SFr. 272,500.

Additional technical information

References 33222/000R-9506 – Pine Tree and Crane
33222/000R-9517 – Plum Tree and Nightingale
33222/000G-9521 – Bamboo and Sparrow

Movement 1003 SQ, skeletonised, 14-carat gold, ruthenium treated
Developed and crafted in-house by Vacheron Constantin
Stamped with the Hallmark of Geneva

Energy: Mechanical hand winding

Movement thickness: 1.64 mm

Movement diameter: 20.80 mm

Jewels: 18 jewels

Frequency: 18,000 vibrations/hour

Indications: Hours, minutes

Power reserve: More 30 hours

Case: 18-carat 4N rose gold
18-carat white gold

Diameter: 40 mm

Water resistance: 3 bar, equivalent to 30 metres

Dials: 18-carat gold coated with Japanese maki-e lacquer

Strap: Black alligator leather, large square scales
Hand-sewn, saddle-stitched

Clasp: Buckle in 18-carat 4N rose gold or 18-carat white gold
Polished half Maltese Cross

VACHERON CONSTANTIN-Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar

« Calibre 1141QP » in platinum
The rarest and most precious of metals for a legendary movement

Fine watchmaking has its quota of exemplary models that attract more than their share of collectors and fan the ardour of the true enthusiast. Only a few chronographs are worthy of belonging to this elite circle. Such factors as the configuration of the movement, its performance, reliability and finish inspire the awe in which they are held. The Vacheron Constantin Chronograph Perpetual Calendar “Calibre 1141QP” indubitably belongs among these legendary movements.

A fabled chronograph calibre

This jewel of the watchmaker’s art that’s only 7.40 mm thick is of the mechanical kind and wound by hand. It drives a column-wheel chronograph with a pivoting clutch as well as a perpetual calendar with moon phases. This outstanding mechanism has set the pace of some of the most exalted wrist-chronographs in the history of watchmaking and is regarded by all experts as the most technically and stylistically accomplished of its kind because of its extraordinary complexity and incomparable architecture.

To give it due honour, Vacheron Constantin this year presents it in a case commensurate with its status: a version in 950 platinum of the Patrimony Traditionnelle model that took its place from the outset among the reference masterpieces of the Geneva-based manufacturer.

The exterior of this superlative watch is equal to the movement it protects. The characteristic case in 950 platinum of the Patrimony Traditionnelle models obeys the conventions of elegant restraint. Its ample 43 mm diameter ensures that all the indications on the dial are clearly visible. The latter is available in an opaline silver finish with silvered subdials or in a velvety grey with snailed subdials in black rhodium. The varied hues recall the style of Vacheron Constantin’s former chronographs, and those who take an interest will recognize a particular affinity with the chronographs of the 1940s.

Vibrating 18,000 times an hour, the Calibre 1141QP can draw on a power reserve of some 48 hours. In addition to the hours and minutes with the small seconds on the left, it indicates the elapsed time with the central chronograph seconds and a 30-minute counter on the right. In the perpetual calendar, the days, months and leap years are nicely arranged in apertures while the moon phases and dates hand are displayed at 6 o’clock.

The smiling or melancholy moons are engraved by hand on a plate of solid platinum with a black patina. Like all Vacheron Constantin movements, the Calibre 1141QP is distinguished by the detailed manual labour that goes into chamfering the bridge plates decorated in Côtes de Genève and by the circular graining of the baseplate, also done by hand. These noteworthy finishes and the movement’s remarkable architecture can be appreciated through the sapphire-crystal caseback.

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar

Ref.: 47292/000P-9510 & ref.: 47292/000P-9590

References	:	Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar 47292/000P-9510 and 47292/000P-9590
Movement	:	1141 QP
Energy	:	Mechanical, manual-winding
Movement thickness	:	7.40 mm
Movement diameter	:	27.00 mm
Jewels	:	21 jewels
Frequency	:	18,000 vibrations/hour
Indications	:	Hours, minutes Small seconds at 9 o’clock Column-wheel chronograph 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock Centre chronograph hand Perpetual calendar and precision moon-phases at 6 o’clock
Power reserve	:	More than 45 hours
Case	:	950 platinum Diameter: 43 mm Convex sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inside Screwed-down exhibition back with transparent sapphire crystal
Water-resistance	:	3 bar, equivalent to 30 metres
Dial	:	Silvered or dark grey opaline Two finely snailed counter at 3 and 9 o’clock Black or white painted minute-track
Strap	:	Black hand-stitched, saddle-finish, square-shape scales alligator leather
Clasp	:	950 platinum folding-clasp Polished half Maltese Cross