What happens when featherwork, paper sculpting and micro-origami are reduced to the size of a watch dial? Vacheron Constantin has explored the question through six concept watches under its One of Not Many Crafts Programme.
The Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom series brings together six artisans from disciplines not traditionally associated with watchmaking. Each was tasked with adapting their craft to a working timepiece, with wildlife serving as the common theme.
The six crafts are featherwork, glass sculpting, micro-origami, gold embroidery, paper sculpting and wood marquetry. The resulting dials feature a snake, octopus, manta rays, tiger, crocodile and falcon.
The work had to fit inside a 42-millimetre case, with only about 4 millimetres between the dial and sapphire crystal. That meant existing tools and techniques often could not be used. The artisans worked with Vacheron Constantin’s specialists to develop new methods and tools for the project.
The watches use the Calibre 2460 G4, which displays the hours, minutes, day and date through four apertures around the edge of the dial. This leaves the centre available for the miniature artworks.
For Feathersnake, French feather artist Julien Vermeulen used more than 200 small pieces of Lophophore feathers to create the serpent. The work took about 250 hours, including research and prototyping.
Italian glass artist Simone Crestani created Glassoctopus, using transparent glass to form an octopus that rises just 3.5 millimetres from the dial. Each tentacle and sucker was built up gradually with specially developed tools.
In Oraygami, artist Anya Midori folded manta rays from Japanese paper measuring as little as 9 millimetres before folding. She developed a new folding sequence after studying the movement and proportions of real manta rays.
The remaining three watches use gold embroidery for the tiger, embossed and layered paper for the crocodile, and 12 types of wood for the falcon. Each technique was adapted to work within the same tight space.
The six watches also feature a 22-karat gold oscillating weight engraved with motifs based on artisans’ tools. Their straps carry patterns related to the animals and scenes on the dials.
Rather than simply applying established decorative techniques, the project tests how crafts from outside traditional watchmaking can be adapted to the constraints of a mechanical watch.
