When most watches tell time, Vacheron Constantin’s latest creation contemplates it. To celebrate 270 years of uninterrupted watchmaking, the maison has revealed the Métiers d’Art – Tribute to the Quest of Time, a double-sided wristwatch driven by the new Calibre 3670: a manually wound movement with 512 components, four patent applications, and three years of development behind it.
The movement is formidable. Running at a high frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour and powered by three barrels, it provides a six-day reserve while fuelling one of the rarest configurations in modern horology: a dual-mode retrograde display. Hours and minutes are indicated by the outstretched arms of a golden figure set against a star map of Geneva’s sky on 17 September 1755, the day the maison was founded.
In a nod to Vacheron Constantin’s 1930 pocket watch, Bras en l’Air, the time can be revealed on demand, activated by a pusher at 10 o’clock. Unlike the original, however, Calibre 3670 allows the arms to run continuously if desired. The mechanism borrows inspiration from the 2019 Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, whose “standby” and “active” modes set a new standard in movement design.
Flip the watch over and the technical ambition becomes even clearer. The reverse dial houses a laser-engraved celestial vault charting the constellations in real time, accurate to within a day for more than 9,000 years. Sidereal time is displayed alongside a three-dimensional moon phase, made from titanium and shaded in gold and deep blue PVD. It is not just a decorative feature but a scientifically precise representation, showing both the moon’s phase and its exact age.
As always with the Métiers d’Art line, aesthetics carry equal weight with mechanics. The figure on the dial is finished in patinated titanium with golden PVD, the arcs for the retrograde scales are cut in 18K white gold, and the sapphire crystal dial layers are metallised to reproduce the 1755 Geneva sky. The maison even consulted astronomers from the Geneva Observatory to verify the accuracy of the star map. On the movement side, all 512 components are individually finished, a commitment to the Poinçon de Genève seal of quality.
The proportions are as wearable as they are impressive: 43 mm in diameter and 13.58 mm thick in white gold, with the entire celestial spectacle contained within a case no larger than many sports watches.
Only 20 collectors will be able to secure this piece, which remains strictly price-on-request. But for Vacheron Constantin, this anniversary edition is not about accessibility. It is about staking a claim at the summit of haute horlogerie – where art, science, and engineering converge.
The Métiers d’Art – Tribute to the Quest of Time is more than a watch. It is an assertion that time itself can be reimagined, displayed as theatre, and rendered in precious metal with the kind of precision that will outlast its owners by millennia.
