Art and Complication - A look at the Tribute to the Great Explorers

May 30, 2011,19:30 PM
 

It could almost go without saying (since I’ve said it so often!) that Vacheron Constantin makes some of the finest dress watches today. Vacheron Constantin also creates a number of watches with innocative and interesting complications. In the Metiers d’Art collection Vacheron Constantin bring an artistic approach to watchmaking. With the Tribute to the Great Explorers set of watches VC combines an interesting complication with an artisitc dial to create a masterpiece of haute horlogerie.








The Precedent


The spiritual predecessor to the Tribute to the Great Explorer watches is the Mercator. Introduced in 1994 upon the 400th anniversary of the death of cartographer Gerardus Mercator, the inventor of the “Mercator Projection” map, these watches feature a pair of retrograding hands representing dividers that measure distances on a map.





The hour hand jumps instantaneously one hour with the flyback of the minute hand, and both hands snap back instantaneously at one o’clock.





Vacheron Constantin used its venerable ultrathin automatic caliber 1120 as the base movement upon which it added the retrograding time display





The artistic dials, created by artisans Jean and Lucie Genbrugge, are based on histoic maps that employ Mercator’s innovations. The initial run was concieved to have enamel dials, 38 watches with the eastern hemispher and 12 of the western hemisphere. Other limited edition series champlevé enamel dials were created for specific markets: Japan, Germany, France, Hong Kong, China, Portugal, and North America.





Regular production Mercator watches had either a white or yellow gold dial that was etched and then enamel filled.





In the decade that the Mercator watch was in production, only 638 were ever produced.



Tribute to the Great Explorers

In 2004 Vacheron Constantin retired the Mercator from production. For those who liked alternative time displays partnered with artistically conceived dials, all was not lost, for the Tribute to the Great Explorer line was introduced. Again using dial makers Jean and Lucie Genbrugge to craft the champleve enamel dials, this time on two levels, Vacheron Constantin brought a wandering hour time display to the watch. The hour glides across a 120 degree arc like a ship sailing over the seas. The minutes are inscribed on the lower enamel dial.

The Tribute to the Great Explorers watches were concieved to be limited to 60 watches for each of four legendary explorers. All cases are in 18K yellow gold and are 40 mm in diameter, up from the 36 mm of the Mercator.

The first two explorers honored were Ferdinand Magellen, who lead the first circumnavigation of the globe:






And Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, who projected Chinese power into the Indian Ocean in the early 15th Century:






In 2008 ,the second pair of explorers was introduced. Marco Polo:





And Christopher Columbus, which I have had the pleasure of seeing in person:






The details are amazing.











I love the touch of green in the palm trees









The movement in these watches is Vacheron Constantin’s caliber 1126 AT. The JLC ebauche powers the in-house developed wandering hour display.






Both the Mercator and the Tribute to the Great Explorers show Vacheron Constantin at its best, partnering horological complication with an attractive, artistic display that no other watchmaker can match.

Bill

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Hour wheels

 
 By: aaronm : May 30th, 2011-20:11
I had always assumed they were painted sapphire disks, like the AP wandering hour, but they appear to be cut-out metal. Any idea what they're made of, they must be crazy thin! thanks for the report A

I don't know the material of the hands....

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:46
but will ask VC for the answer. Thanks for reading. Bill

Beautiful

 
 By: cisco : May 31st, 2011-00:59
One of the most amazing detail of this watch is the extreme thin enamel calendar, a real masterpiece to produce. It is very complicated to do an enamel dial in such a thickness.

I know making these dials is hard work....

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:48
and with only the two artisans making them, one can wait a long time for delivery of one of these Great Explorer watches. Bill

Artistic Excellence and Haute Horlogerie

 
 By: patrickh : May 31st, 2011-01:20
VC at his BEST. IMHO, The First Brand which combine at this high level these 2 perpetual knowledge with excellent worldwide artists. How not to fall in love for these creations. Thanks for sharing again and again..... Love them ;-)))) Cheers, Patrickh

While a lot of brands work hard to bring us

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:49
technical masterpieces, none combine technical excellence with artistic merit quite like Vacheron Constantin. Bill

great writeup and review. i just want to say these mercators are the independent's within

 
 By: a.ler : May 31st, 2011-03:50
vacheron's maison ! love the concept, love them and very collectible in my opinion, especially for us who daren't go a big way collecting the independent's for future's visibility and serviceability.

I remember listening to VC's Artistic Director...

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:53
Chiristian Selmoni talk about the development of the Great Explorer watches and how the Urwerk team had independently developed their own wandering hour display and filed their own patents at the same time as VC. It's hard to believe how the same concept ... 

Beautiful creations

 
 By: Davo : May 31st, 2011-05:04
These pieces always blow me away. Thanks for posting, Bill.

Thank you Davo...

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:54
It's always a pleasure to experience these great watches and write about them. Bill

Bill, this is a great summary

 
 By: respo : May 31st, 2011-06:00
I have been waiting for a history of these amazing watches from VC -- and you delivered!!! The Mercator has fascinated me for a long time now. It was probably the first Vacheron that really caught my eye even before I "discovered" the 1921. I slightly pre... 

The Mercator would fit well within your collection....

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:59
though I think the 36 mm case might be smaller than your would prefer. I know one of the 10 wrists that it sits on, so just let me know if you want an introduction... Bill...  

A tad small, yes, but...

 
 By: respo : June 2nd, 2011-20:05
arrrggghhhhh...so beautiful! And of course, you know a wrist upon which one sits. You kill me, Bill! Best always, respo

exquisite

 
 By: playtime : June 1st, 2011-20:30
a marriage the mechanical and the artistic thx for sharing J

Thanks, J. nt

 
 By: WHL : June 2nd, 2011-19:59

While I appreciate all the craftsmanship and hours of tremendous effort

 
 By: radekw : June 6th, 2011-14:35
that go into creation of these pieces of art these watches don't quite fullfil my expectations. First, Mercator, which I prefer for its unprecedented concept and design, is simply too small for my taste. It would be simply awesome to see this piece reintr...