Vacheron Constantin has unveiled the Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Celestial, a new 12-piece watch series that fuses technical finesse with artistic flair. It’s a poetic nod to the constellations, pairing the zodiac signs with their star patterns in a dazzling celestial display.
Each of the 39mm white gold watches features a unique dial dedicated to one of the 12 zodiac signs.
The dials are decorated using hand-guilloché techniques developed in-house, with each star sign rendered in an intricate array of guilloché triangles and highlighted by diamond-set constellations. Four of the signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius) also feature opaline detailing to reflect their human forms.
Crafting each dial takes about 16 hours, which is incredibly impressive.
Framing the dial is a bezel set with 96 baguette-cut blue sapphires, nearly 4 carats in total, using a floating channel-setting technique that creates a continuous ring of colour.
Additional sapphires feature on the crown, lugs and buckle, amounting to over 27 hours of gem-setting work per watch.
Underneath this stellar craftsmanship lies the Calibre 2160: an ultra-thin, in-house self-winding tourbillon movement. And, despite comprising 188 parts, it’s just 5.65mm thick.
With an 80-hour power reserve and a 22K peripheral rotor to leave the movement’s finishing visible, it’s as refined mechanically as it is aesthetically. A heat-blued screw, Côtes de Genève finishing, and a Maltese cross-shaped tourbillon cage round out the detail.
According to Sandrine Donguy, Vacheron Constantin’s Product & Innovation Director, the project is about more than fine watchmaking. “It expresses the very essence of the Maison: our equal respect for horological technique and artistic beauty,” she explains. “Here, we’ve brought together astronomy and astrology in a way that’s both technically demanding and poetically meaningful.”
The watches honour not just modern Western astrology, but a broader legacy of sky-gazing. From Mesopotamian stargazers to Chinese and Native American traditions, humans have long read meaning into the heavens. Vacheron Constantin taps into this cultural richness, drawing a direct line between timekeeping and celestial observation.
This isn’t the first time the Maison has explored the zodiac. Past efforts include its 1927 Art Deco table clock adorned with the signs, the 1996 Chinese Zodiac Mercator piece, and the ongoing ‘Legend of the Chinese Zodiac’ collection. But Tribute to The Celestial arguably represents its most complete ode to the night sky yet.
The Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Celestial is available now, with the price available on request.
Liked this? TAG Heuer’s new Carrera brings back the spirit of the Seafarer, just in time for summer
Read the full article here
