Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin is building on a creative relationship with the Louvre Museum that the two institutions have maintained since 2019.
Adding four new design references, the second installment of the brand’s Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations series uses items from the Louvre’s ancient world holdings as source material. Each new watch in the now-extended line, released April 16, is constructed around a specific sculpture from one of four civilizations, in a nod to a partnership between Vacheron Constantin and the French art institution, grounded in a joint dedication to the preservation and handoff of rare artistic techniques.
Ancient articulations
The Bust of Akhenaten from the Egyptian New Kingdom, the Lamassu of Sargon II from the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Athena de Velletri from Ancient Greece and the Tiber de l'Iseum Campense from Imperial Rome are Vacheron Constantin’s four subjects for the part-two drop.
Where previous Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations editions opted for gold central dial figures, the brand’s update delivers a significant material departure: those appliques are now rendered in stone glyptics, hand-carved under a binocular microscope at micron-level tolerances.
Vacheron Constantin presents the second installment of the Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations series
The stone chosen for each watch matches the material of the Louvre's actual sculpture: Sinai limestone sandstone for the Akhenaten, Italian limestone for the Lamassu, Paros marble for both the Athena and Tiber. The four dials collectively draw on nine distinct decorative techniques, including micro-mosaic, marquetry, champlevé enamel, miniature painting, engraving and gilding.
The movement powering all four is Manufacture Calibre 2460 G4/2, which routes its time display through four dial apertures, a configuration that keeps the decorated surface clear of hands. Cases are 42 mm, with the Akhenaten and Lamassu in 18K white gold and the Athena and Tiber in 18K pink gold.
Each reference is capped at 15 numbered examples, sold exclusively at Vacheron Constantin boutiques.
Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre worked together a decade ago, when the watchmaker restored La Création du Monde, an 18th-century clock gifted in 1754 to France’s King Louis XV that is displayed in the museum (see story).
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For the launch, the Swiss watchmaker used items from the museum’s ancient world holdings as its source material, building each chronograph around a specific sculpture from one of four civilizations. Image courtesy of Vacheron Constantin 
