Since its founding, Vacheron Constantin has remained consistently committed to art and culture. Initiated in 2019, the Maison's special partnership with the Louvre Museum enables it to offer its clients an experience reaching well beyond the simple personalisation of a timepiece. Following the example of Les Cabinotiers – Homage to Pierre Paul Rubens, La lutte pour l'étendard de la Bataille d'Anghiari, a single-piece edition watch created for the "Bid for the Louvre" auction in 2020, Vacheron Constantin is now proposing a new experiential offer called "A Masterpiece on the Wrist".

A new experiential offer born from the cultural and artistic partnership between the two institutions: "Masterpiece on your wrist"

This new "A masterpiece on your wrist" offer involves the creation of a bespoke single-piece edition watch with a dial featuring an enamel reproduction of an artwork kept in the Louvre Museum and chosen by the purchaser. Most of these works are not on display. A certificate of authenticity from the museum will certify the reproduction. The experience will be accompanied by a private tour of the Louvre in the company of its experts and the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin to meet its master watchmakers and master artisans.

In a thoroughly modern way, Vacheron Constantin is thereby perpetuating the grand tradition of the Cabinotiers in the Age of Enlightenment, which the Maison began to practise on 17 September 1755 when Jean-Marc Vacheron signed his first apprenticeship contract with a young watchmaker in Geneva. At that time, the city’s artisans worked in cabinets installed in attics, on an overhanging floor called a "dome" because it was bathed in daylight. They were known as cabinotiers. The name has stuck, as has the duty to adopt a resolutely demanding approach to their craft.

A long-term partnership

After its support for the 2016 restoration of the clock named The Creation of the World – a major work of 18th-century precision horology presented to King Louis XV in 1754 and deposited with the Louvre by the Musée National des Châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon – Vacheron Constantin entered into a partnership with the Louvre in 2019. This collaboration echoes the respective legacies of the two institutions, which share the same respect for history, culture and heritage.

This year, the Manufacture is pleased to announce the continuation of this important partnership.

"I enthusiastically welcome this collaboration between our two institutions, both centuries-old yet firmly rooted in the 21st century, as evidenced by the favour they enjoy among an audience of connoisseurs", said Louis Ferla, CEO Vacheron Constantin. "Our Maison has long since stood out in terms of both artistic commitment and cultural patronage. With the Louvre Museum, we are writing an extremely promising joint history by combining our fields of competence and our wildest dreams.”

Since its founding in 1793, the Louvre has been both a showcase for the finest masterpieces of Vacheron Constantin's common heritage and home to contemporary creative talents. It shares with the Maison a concern for long-term perspectives, excellence and dialogue between past and present-day artists.

"I am delighted with this collaboration, which is full of fruitful exchanges between our teams and marked by a shared desire to serve Beauty", points out Laurence des Cars, President and Director of the Louvre. " Born in the Age of Enlightenment, our two institutions share the mission of passing on a passion for art, heritage and the excellence of ancestral craftsmanship. While firmly rooted in history, they are resolutely open to the contemporary world.”

This partnership with the Louvre confirms Vacheron Constantin's cultural commitment, covering areas specific to centuries-old, world-renowned institutions, for which the archiving, conservation and restoration of heritage are determining factors. This attachment to the splendours of the past and the transmission of know-how is synonymous with great respect for the craftsmanship that is essential to Vacheron Constantin's creations and the Louvre's activities.

About Vacheron Constantin

Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world's oldest watch 'Manufacture' in continuous production, faithfully perpetuating a proud heritage of watchmaking excellence and stylistic sophistication through generations of master craftsmen.

At the pinnacle of high horology and understated elegance, the Maison creates timepieces with unique technical and aesthetic signatures and a high level of finishing touches.

Vacheron Constantin brings to life unparalleled heritage and a spirit of innovation through its key collections: Patrimony, Traditionnelle, Métiers d'Art, Overseas, Fiftysix and Historiques. It also offers its discerning clientele of connoisseurs the rare opportunity to acquire unique and bespoke timepieces by means of its "Les Cabinotiers "collection.

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