Vacheron Constantin

Métiers d¹Art ³Les Masques²

The Context

While we here at ThePuristS.com are often focused on the horological arts to the
exception of other artistic disciplines, it is worth pointing out that tribal
art is undergoing a renewed interest in the marketplace, with some works
fetching prices that would make a vintage Patek Philippe blush.

Why would VC take tribal art as a point of departure in the creation of a new
timepiece? To quote VC NA¹s Julien Tornare, ³Although telling the time is the
function, it¹s not the reason for buying a fine timepiece. It is a question of
passion, emotion, and pleasure.² With these mask watches, one can also add
³intellect² to the equation.

There are parallels on several levels between the masks and watches as objects.
In the context of their creation they were useful: The masks to serve ritual
practice and observance; watches to tell time. They are both objects that seem
to possess, but are denied, life. As some of the vintage watch collectors around
here know, these objects outlast, even as they punctuate, human life. They share
a displaced relationship between the creator and the possessor. Now that they
are not useful in the way that they were originally intended, their primary
function is as objects of art.

There is an historical parallel as well. In the 19th Century, with the
developing awareness of primitive arts by European artists and collectors, new
questions about art naturally arose. Artists responded with new ideas about
perspective, volume, and space. They challenged the relationship between the
real and the represented, looking for new ways to capture the truth of reality.
With Les Masques, VC is similarly questioning the art of watchmaking: It is
exploring the relationship between the horological, fine, and linguistic arts;
it is offering an alternative to the standard display of time; it is asking what
purpose a mechanical watch serves in this day and age.

I applaud Vacheron Constantin for introducing this new line, which
simultaneously raises and affirmatively answers these interesting questions
about the relevancy of modern watchmaking.

The Watches

Each set of four watches comes in a limited edition of 25 sets. In each year
over the next two years a new set of masks will be issued.

The original masks are housed in Geneva¹s Barbier-Mueller Museum. VC¹s artisans
fashioned the gold masks from three dimensional images of the originals made at
the Geneva Engineering School, carefully engraving the fine details of the
originals into their miniaturized form and cleverly coloring the gold to match.

Michael Butor is the poet who wrote the poetry that circles around the masks.

Each timepiece is equipped with the automatic Calibre 2460G4 movement.
Originally developed for the 2005 Métiers d¹Art, ³Les 4 saisons² collection,
this in-house movement bears the Geneva Seal.

The case is 40 mm in diameter. The case material :

Mask China 18K yellow gold
Mask Alaska 18K white gold
Mask Congo 950 Platinum
Mask Indonesia 5N 18K pink gold

China

Death Mask
China. Quidan people, Liao Dynasty (907-1125)
Gilded bronze, excavation patina
Height: 24.5 cm
Former collection of Michael Steinhardt
Inv: 221-52

The poem in translation:

The light is concentrated
in the gold where I close my eyes.
Through my eyelids, I see
the sleep of my descendants;
I slip into their dreams
to give them my news
and light up the impasses
where adversity lies in wait

Alaska

Frontal mask
Alaska, north-west coast of the United States, Tlingit Indians. 19th century
Polychrome wood
Height: 18 cm.
Collected by Lieutenant Emmons around 1900.
Former collection Heye Foundation, Museum of the American Indians, New York

The poem in translation:

If I stick out my tongue,
it is to show the trust
I have in you,
following your movements
on the sea between storms and in
forests between vast conifers
on which your genealogical myths
will be inscribed

Congo

Facial mask
Congo Brazzaville, upper reaches of the Likuala River
Mahongwe or Ngare people
Semi-hard polychrome wood (black, white and red)
Height: 35.5 cm
Former collections of Aristide Courtois (before 1930)
Charles Ratton and MoMA, New York (1939)
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva

The poem in translation:

They wanted to deepen the shadow
where you will set your eyes
so that the flashes of sun
and flames will penetrate further
with their arrows to tattoo
not only your face
and the skin of your whole body,
but the secrets of your night

Indonesia

Facial mask, Wayang Topeng theatre
Island of Java, Indonesia
Polychrome wood (white, black, several shades of red)
Height: 21cm
Former collection of Professor Czeschka, Hamburg; acquired before 1918

The poem in translation:

Bewitcher, I observe
the shapes of girls who pass;
my eyebrows are like a bird
ready to take wing and circle
its prey, my moustache
like a serpent ready
to strike at the least sign
of weakness or assent

.

e

All the beauty of les Masques Collection is only possible to be better understood in an historical and artistic perspective. And thank you, Bill, for your thought and interpretation!

 

From my humble understanding, VC took a deeper step, with this collection, into the horological art, following its tradition in alternative time displaying, among which are outstanding examples its historical Mandarin pocketwatch, its Mercator lines, etc., where, to some extend, the mere time telling is not any more the primary objective, but rather an integral part of a work of art. Without any doubt, as the debate around functionality of art is still a story with no end, les Masques collection will give a lot to talk in the coming years.

 

As a side note: regarding the poems in the dial, I find it to be a very thoughtful detail. Somehow, it reminds me of the Chinese painting tradition, in which entire poems – in good calligraphy, of course -, and artistic seals, form an inseparable part of the paiting. Even generations of owners of a certain painting added their poems and seals on it, to be seen as part of the whole artistic object.

 

Thanks again, Bill!

 

Jian

 

 

This message has been edited by JWU on 2007-04-30 13:21:52

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edited to increase font size    - Anthony 
This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2007-04-30 16:59:49

Here are some pics I took.  Not the best of quality, but they give u a better feel of how these watches look in the flesh.

Cheers,
Anthony

I bet there will be two distinct prevailing emotions to describe this VC series:  Love it or Hate it.

Eitherway the decision to proceed with the project was brave. 

All the research that went into modeling the masks for the dials, the museum curators, and the craftsman at VC involved with bringing these watches into reality deserve our accolades.

My vote is: Love it!

Thanks again,

Mike

Courtesy of Mark Gordon



Courtesy of Mark Gordon



Courtesy of Mark Gordon


Bill,

Thanks for a great introduction to tribal and traditional masks...spooky....but thanks.

Regards,
MTF

series!

TM

No message body

All I can say is as wonderful as Bill's pictures are, you really have to see these in person to get the full effect of this artistry. Bravo VC!

Larry