Each of the three Vacheron Constantin Ballerina watches is individually hand enameled.
By Samantha Walsh
For those with a passion for the arts, Vacheron Constantin’s new additions will be right up your ally, as these stunning Hommage a l’Art da Danse watches combine the elegance of ballet, the beauty of enameling, and the technic prowess of watchmaking. Inspired by the life of a ballerina, these three unique watches bring a new flair to the brand’s much-loved Métiers d’Arts collection.
Vacheron Constantin — the oldest Swiss watch brand in continual operation — has been a patron of the Opera National de Paris since 2007 and with each on-going cultural and musical event, the brand continually evolves. Now, it has developed this series of three watches in honor of the ballerina.
The painting is done with a tiny single-hair brush and requires multiple layers and firings.
The face each watch is created by an enamel artist who drew inspiration from a few of Degas’ paintings. These paintings represent various highlights in the life of a ballerina. One of the wristwatches depicts two elegant ballerinas at dance school, which was drawn from Degas’s Dancers Practicing at the Barre, dated 1877 and on show in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA).
Each watch was inspired by the elegant moves of the ballerina, and by Degas paintings.
Another of the pieces depicts the training aspect in a dancer’s life, backstage of a dress rehearsal drawn from Degas’s Dancers near a Set, dated 1888, and belonging to a private collection. The last exquisite piece depicts the performance – the pinnacle of a ballerina’s life drawn from Two Dancers Entering the Stage, painted circa 1877-1878 and exhibited at the Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, USA).
the enamel work is incredibly time consuming, requiring hundreds of hours.
These beautiful pieces of art are framed by a 40 mm 18-karat white gold case. This entirely hand crafted piece required not only meticulous detail and care in the making, but also hundreds of hours of undivided attention. Thus, each is created as a unique piece.
