How do you respectfully honour one other tradition’s design legacy? Effectively, you name within the specialists to be sure to get it proper. That is precisely what the Swiss marque Vacheron Constantin has accomplished for his or her newest Métiers d’Artwork Tribute to Conventional Symbols assortment.
The set of 4 restricted version watches function two interpretations of the “Seawater Cliff”, a famed Chinese language motif that dates again to the Ming dynasty and was formally named below Emperor Wanli. VC artisans labored with the Former Affiliate Analysis Librarian of the Palace Museum, Mr Track, whose speciality discipline of examine is the cultural custom of Imperial China, to create dials that emulate a motif discovered on court docket buildings, furnishings, porcelain, and most famously, Imperial dragon robes.
The Everlasting Stream design is made through an initially Chinese language approach referred to as Jintai Blue, a type of cloisonné enamelling, which depicts mountain peaks caressed by tidal waves and set in opposition to a starry sky.
220 gold wires had been used to delineate every a part of the motif, taking up 50 hours to finish. Layers of enamel are then positioned—what number of depends on its color and depth—and it’s fired in a kiln in between every coating. A polish after which an enamel coating is positioned to boost the ultimate product.
The second design choice, Moonlight Slivers, has a depth impact on a monochrome base. With hollowed waves, blue enamelled components and raised diamonds set in opposition to an 18K white or pink gold (relying on which you select) mannequin, this fashion is a barely extra refined choice in comparison with the previous.
It additionally makes use of enamel strategies, whereas the waves within the background are engraved into the dial to create volutes. Every sea tide is delicately hand-set with diamonds to evoke the moon slivers that impressed the identify of this piece.
Behind the dial, the watches are powered by an in-house calibre 2460 with a 40-hour energy reserve. The 22K gold rotor echoes the symbolism of the dial, for the reason that oscillating weight is delicately engraved with a motif recalling the motion of waves and tides.
This text was first seen on Esquire Singapore.
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