Vacheron Constantin Masks Art Collection
The watch makers and designers of Vacheron Constantin tried to express the idea of human adventure. The theme which seemed obvious was that of masks, since Geneva has one of the most beautiful museums of primitive art, the Museum Barber-Mueller. Its proximity was a decisive factor for Vacheron Constantin. Thus was created the Masks art collection, the fruit of reflection on the past, the present, the future and the eternal renewal.
Every year, for three years, a box set of four new masks in a series limited to 25 models will be created. By the end, the complete collection will include 12 masks, 300 watches in total.
Each chronometer is equipped with the automatic Calibre 2460G4 mechanism. This very special movement makes it possible to read time without any hands: thanks to a set of wheels and gears, four discs fit in counters - hours, minutes, day and date. The centre of the dial is left empty for the masks.
The case is made of white gold for the Alaskan mask, pink gold for the Indonesian one, yellow gold for the Chinese mask and platinum for the Congolese mask.
The writer Michel Butor tried to give word to the masks. His small prose poems, dedicated to each object, are written in gold letters on the sapphire dial. The sentences can be read only at one angle. This effect is achieved due to vacuum metallization, a sophisticated technology consisting in spraying the golden letters on a sapphire crystal.