TIMELESS AND TANTALIZING!
With this Poinçon de Genève-stamped (Geneva Seal) 20-piece limited edition, the manufacture whisks us off on a spectacular journey that took three years to develop.
The past sparks sources of inspiration. Like the stylized design of Art Deco, the figurine with its theatrical stance on the Bras en l’Air pocket watch from 1930, Vacheron Constantin draws on avant-garde culture imagination to celebrate its know-how. In short, a golden titanium creature comes to life on the dial of the Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Quest of Time watch. Although this humanoid depiction may look like a far-distant cousin of the legendary robot in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), this representation above all takes on the features of an automaton that reigns in La Quête du Temps (Quest of Time) clock. Here, its arms replace the hour and minute hands. Their rotations are driven by a regulator to ensure perfect synchronization when they return to their starting point. What’s more, two time display modes are provided, retrograde and on-demand.
These choreographed movements are joined by the precise age of the Moon, which twirls at 12 o’clock, in line with its phase. The six-day power reserve display, indicated in two sectors that span 6 to 3 and 3 to 0, completes this kinetic scenography set on a translucent dial that delivers a breathtaking vista over the high-frequency (5 Hz) Caliber 3670. 512 components combine to create a masterpiece of miniaturization, just 34 mm in diameter and 7.8 mm high, hosted in a 43 mm white gold case. Three series-mounted barrels ensure the amount of energy needed to incite the ballet of time data and that of the astronomical complication is stored. A sky chart is showcased on the caseback showing the configuration of constellations on September 17, 1766, the date Vacheron Constantin was founded. Their real-time movement only requires a correction once every 9,130 years. This limited edition is much more than just a technical and stylistic tribute to the past, it redefines the horological experience. In a nutshell, a piece that’s fantastically fascinating.
