WHL
[VC Moderator]
4922
Les Masques
Métiers d¹Art ³Les Masques²
The Context
While we here at ThePuristS.com are often focused on the horological arts to the
exception of other artistic disciplines, it is worth pointing out that tribal
art is undergoing a renewed interest in the marketplace, with some works
fetching prices that would make a vintage Patek Philippe blush.
Why would VC take tribal art as a point of departure in the creation of a new
timepiece? To quote VC NA¹s Julien Tornare, ³Although telling the time is the
function, it¹s not the reason for buying a fine timepiece. It is a question of
passion, emotion, and pleasure.² With these mask watches, one can also add
³intellect² to the equation.
There are parallels on several levels between the masks and watches as objects.
In the context of their creation they were useful: The masks to serve ritual
practice and observance; watches to tell time. They are both objects that seem
to possess, but are denied, life. As some of the vintage watch collectors around
here know, these objects outlast, even as they punctuate, human life. They share
a displaced relationship between the creator and the possessor. Now that they
are not useful in the way that they were originally intended, their primary
function is as objects of art.
There is an historical parallel as well. In the 19th Century, with the
developing awareness of primitive arts by European artists and collectors, new
questions about art naturally arose. Artists responded with new ideas about
perspective, volume, and space. They challenged the relationship between the
real and the represented, looking for new ways to capture the truth of reality.
With Les Masques, VC is similarly questioning the art of watchmaking: It is
exploring the relationship between the horological, fine, and linguistic arts;
it is offering an alternative to the standard display of time; it is asking what
purpose a mechanical watch serves in this day and age.
I applaud Vacheron Constantin for introducing this new line, which
simultaneously raises and affirmatively answers these interesting questions
about the relevancy of modern watchmaking.
The Watches
Each set of four watches comes in a limited edition of 25 sets. In each year
over the next two years a new set of masks will be issued.
The original masks are housed in Geneva¹s Barbier-Mueller Museum. VC¹s artisans
fashioned the gold masks from three dimensional images of the originals made at
the Geneva Engineering School, carefully engraving the fine details of the
originals into their miniaturized form and cleverly coloring the gold to match.
Michael Butor is the poet who wrote the poetry that circles around the masks.
Each timepiece is equipped with the automatic Calibre 2460G4 movement.
Originally developed for the 2005 Métiers d¹Art, ³Les 4 saisons² collection,
this in-house movement bears the Geneva Seal.
The case is 40 mm in diameter. The case material :
Mask China 18K yellow gold
Mask Alaska 18K white gold
Mask Congo 950 Platinum
Mask Indonesia 5N 18K pink gold
Les Masques
