Vacheron Constantin X The Met: A Masterpiece On Your Wrist' Program

Ever since its founding in 1755, a deep commitment to the arts has been at the core of Vacheron Constantin and remains integral today. The ongoing partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the latest way in which Vacheron Constantin continues to support, engage, and learn from the Arts community.

A long-term Partnership

The partnership between Vacheron Constantin and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), launched in 2023, is rooted in a shared commitment to safeguarding and passing on knowledge and expertise. Both institutions individually have extensive histories of conservatorship in artistic know-how and craft, and together seek to share in this commitment to the arts. For Louis Ferla, CEO of Vacheron Constantin, "the quest for excellence is a constant challenge in which we never stop learning.” This multi-year partnership will focus on the values shared between the two institutions and will support combined ideas and efforts to engage the artistic and creative community. Continued learning, and a support of the transmission of knowledge from master to apprentice, have been at the core of Vacheron Constantin since 1755.

Max Hollein, The MET’s Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, has shared: “We are delighted to partner with Vacheron Constantin and are grateful for their support of The MET’s mission, which aligns with the esteemed watchmaker’s own longstanding efforts to celebrate creativity and preserve artistic traditions. We look forward to collaborating on a number of unique projects that build on our mutual commitment to education and the arts.”

Vacheron Constantin and The MET’s partnership will entail a variety of mission-driven projects, including an artist-in-residency program and other educational initiatives, to be shared at a later date. The first project to be unveiled is the extension of the ‘Masterpiece on your Wrist’ program.

The Masterpiece on your Wrist Program

Initially launched in 2019, the ‘Masterpiece on your Wrist’ program offers connoisseurs the unique opportunity to realize a bespoke, single piece edition watch, featuring an enamel dial reproduction of a masterwork housed in the world’s preeminent museums. The partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art now broadens this offering, bringing a vast array of iconic and beloved artwork into the program’s catalog. “To fully illustrate this vision, Vacheron Constantin and The MET have rendered four examples to showcase how masterpieces from the Met’s catalog could be realized in the ‘Masterpiece on your Wrist’ including paintings such as Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh, Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet and Northeaster by Winslow Homer or sculptures such as Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, are offered.”

As a part of the ‘Masterpiece on your Wrist’ experience, the commissioning client will have the opportunity to experience a private tour of The MET in the company of its experts and curators, to guide selection of their Masterwork, as well as a visit to Vacheron Constantin’s Manufacture in Geneva to meet the master watchmakers and artisans who will undertake the project. The culmination of this process will result in a piece unique watch, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from both the museum and Vacheron Constantin, reflecting the taste and interests of its commissioner and offering a daily view of a masterpiece.

Métiers d'Art– Miniature Enamel PaintingMiniature Enamel Painting is an exceedingly rare craft, mastered by only a select few artisans worldwide. This technique consists of hand-painting in minutia a desired artwork or motif onto a base-layer of baked enamel. Applied in individual thin layers by color, the paint is fixed in place by successive firings. Once the painting is complete, the artisan protects the work with a transparent enamel flux to give it both brilliance and depth. Unlike other techniques, Miniature Painting is perfect for reproducing dramatic details, movement and colors due to its unique ability to imitate the brushstrokes and impasto depth of classical paintings.

Miniature Enamel Painting is the perfect technique for realizing masterworks such as: Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet (1899), Northeaster by Winslow Homer (1895 reworked by 1901), and Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh (1889).

Métiers d'Art – Grisaille Enameling 

The Grisaille enameling is a monochromatic technique often employed due to its unrivaled ability to suggest depth, luminosity and dimensionality. Grisaille is the perfect technique to create the illusion of sculpture, especially relief, due to the shading achieved in the process. Grisaille begins with a dark enamel base, usually black, as a background upon which the master artisan builds up translucent layers of Limoges white – a pasty white enamel – to obtain varying shades of grey. Each successive layer builds up a chiaroscuro effect, the representation of light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects, to suggest to the viewer an object in space. 
Grisaille enameling is the perfect technique for reproducing masterworks such as: Diana by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1893-94).