Watches & Wonders Shanghai: Sail Away With Vacheron Constantin’s Métiers D’Art Tribute To Explorer Naturalists

While each voyage of the Beagle brought new knowledge to Britain, this collection also honors Vacheron Constantine’s traditions. The movements are adorned with finishes that pay homage to traditional high watchmaking decorations, such as the Côtes de Genève pattern swept over by the 22K gold oscillating weight adorned with a compass rose.
 

But the Maison has also found new ways to interpret history, much as the naturalists aboard the Beagle were able to view history through a modern lens. For example, while the remote Strait of Magellan was discovered some 300 years before her voyage (by the explorer whose name it bears) the 19th-century explorers discovered abundant vegetation where palm leaves mingled with ferns.
 

This lush foliage is reproduced on the lower part of the dial, using enamels carefully layered over several kiln firings. The upper part of the dial is graced with a fine white gold engraving showing the Beagle sailing on blue-enameled waves.
 

This ten-piece limited edition is paired with a blue Mississippiensis alligator strap secured by an 18K pink gold folding buckle.

Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) is the archipelago at the southernmost tip of the South American continent. It has also been called “The End of the Earth.” Despite its imposing monikers, the naturalists travelling aboard the Beagle found the landscape to be full of enchanting flora and fauna.
 

Vacheron Constantin's artisans used period engravings to recreate the lush scenery the naturalists aboard the Beagle encountered. Housed in a white gold case, the upper dial features an engraving of a butterfly and two birds set against a hand-painted verdant landscape.

On the lower part of the dial, an ancient terrestrial map of Tierra del Fuego is reproduced in miniature enamel, along with a windrose – a diagram that shows the relative frequency, or frequency and strength, of winds from different directions – as a nod to the world of maritime travel.
 

This ten-piece limited edition is paired with a green Mississippiensis alligator strap secured by an 18K white gold folding buckle.

The last chapter of the Métiers d’Art Tribute to Explorer Naturalists tells the story of the Beagle’s return to Europe, where the crew navigated its way along the coast of the African continent and the perilous Cape of Good Hope.

Here, the passage is represented by a miniature enamel maritime scene on the lower half of the dial. Anyone lucky enough to hold this piece will be drawn in by the intricacies of the fine enameling. No detail of the Beagle has been missed.
 

To put the story into a contemporary context, the upper part of the dial depicts a landscape resembling a Garden of Eden, just as the naturalists observed when they stopped off at the Cape of Good Hope.

The delicate plumage of the birds perched amid the foliage and the languid silhouette of an iguana in repose remind us just how delicate the balance of our whole planet’s ecosystem is.
 

This ten-piece limited edition is paired with a green Mississippiensis alligator strap secured by a pink gold folding buckle.

Each Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Tribute to Explorer Naturalists limited edition is priced at €204,000, excluding taxes

For more information, please visit Vacheron Constantin's website.

(Photography by Pierre Vogel)