Elite Traveler Fall 2022

handcrafted using 69 individually cut pieces of fragile turquoise and yellow jasper that are then hand-placed in a remarkable marquetry that deftly blends the past with the present. Some of the pieces even have natural veining in them (making them even more fragile) to further emulate the original stonework. Even the sapphire crystal features laser-etched verbiage using the handwriting and language of that time period. A single artisan is responsible for the carved lion centerpiece, while another hand-cuts every one of the individual gemstones before meticulously putting them into place on the dial using tiny tweezers. While Vacheron Constantin

did not track the number of hours that go into the making of just one dial, experience tells us that each master artisan easily spends hundreds of hours executing his or her craft. For this series, Vacheron Constantin uses one of its most coveted movements: the 237-part Manufacture-made Caliber 2460/G4/2. The timepiece is totally devoid of hands so that the artists can use the entire dial of the watch as a canvas. The hours, minutes, day and date are depicted in four apertures along the top and bottom perimeter of the face. Each movement is hand-assembled and hand- fi nished according to the strictest standards of excellence commanded by the Geneva Seal.

The watch boasts a transparent sapphire caseback that allows viewing of the movement, which is completed with an oscillating weight engraved with the façade of the Louvre in the 18th century — another nod to the history of the museum and the revered Swiss watch brand. While the price of each of these watches is by request only, experts estimate that they should fall somewhere in the $150,00 to $250,000 price range — far less expensive than anyone familiar with the intense craftsmanship, time and commitment to excellence that went into their making could imagine.

Clockwise The caseback is engraved with the facade of the Louvre in the 18th century; stone marquetry being selected for color and size and being placed into the dial; cuneiform writings engraved by a metallization process on the sapphire crystal; a single artisan is responsible for the carved lion centerpiece

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