A web site dedicated to the future Vacheron Constantin parisian boutique
By MyWatch
On the occasion of the opening of the Vacheron Constantin Parisian boutique, 2 rue de la Paix in Paris, in the middle of January 2013, Vacheron Constantin launches a dedicated web site: www.2ruedelapaix.fr
Five holders of Vacheron Constantin watches illustrate, by their history and their lifestyle, the values which they share with Vacheron Constantin. Under the objective of the photographer Thierry des Ouches, they tell their watch, their Paris and their love of the exception.
Hélène Avril
Press attaché in the luxury hotel industry
“While I love travelling the world to get a change of scenery and find inspiration, I am loyal and remain true to fundamental values. I wear my grandmother’s Vacheron Constantin watch. I love its seductive style and elegance that remain unchanged from one generation to the next.”
Romain Réa
Watchmaking expert
“Watches have been my passion since the age of five. I know them all. What attracted me to my watch? It is the embodiment of traditional know-how and timeless style, where extreme precision and attention to detail meet.”
Paul Szczerba
Entrepreneur
“My clothing line looks to combine creativity and timeless elegance. I dream of them becoming iconic pieces. Just like my Vacheron Constantin, a blend of creative daring and tradition that perfectly complements a trendy or classic wardrobe.”
Dominique Faye
Fine food exporter
“I inherited my passion for fine food and the riches of the French soil from my father. Because I travel a lot to promote them and encourage others to appreciate them, my Vacheron Constantin watch must – like me – keep Paris and New York time. My wife gave it to me and I’m deeply attached to it.”
Pauline Ambrogi
Academic-writer
“As a historian specialising in Latin America, I concentrate on retracing the adventures of migrants and their sensitive relationship to time and space. My Vacheron Constantin watch? A reflection of my sensitivity. A companion that follows me wherever my curiosity takes me.”
Vacheron Constantin in France
Vacheron Constantin is the oldest watchmaking manufacture in the world with a history that has continued unbroken since 1755. The House has maintained extremely close ties with France since the early 19th century. In 1810, its business adventure began with the founding of a first watches warehouse and a centre for shipping timepieces, via Le Havre and Caen, to England, Portugal, the United States, Brazil and Havana. This gateway to the world consequently made France a major part in expanding the brand’s renown.
During the Paris World’s Fair in 1855, there was unanimous recognition of the advances in Swiss watchmaking, in which Vacheron Constantin indisputably played a key role. It was also due to the demand from French customers attracted to the brand that Vacheron Constantin would create a series of equally innovative and original pieces (a watch with a geographic dial, a ball watch and a sidereal time watch) and techniques (the Hora Christi watch, the predecessor to the 2nd time zone, and the dead seconds watch, the precursor to the chronograph).
During the Art Deco period, the House’s creativity continued to flourish with pieces linked to its expertise in the Métiers d’Art – decorative crafts. In 1972, Vacheron Constantin received the “Prestige de la France” award for excellence in the salons of the Ritz hotel in Paris for the creation of the 1972 asymmetric watch. In 1979, French jewellers helped to create a watch entirely paved with baguette diamonds, considered to be the most expensive in the world: the Kallista.
The watchmaking brand, following its different patronage activities (Opéra de Paris, Musée du Quai Branly) and through its unique know-how, remains a pioneer in the development of unique pieces associated with the Métiers d’Art: the “les Masques” and “Chagall et l’Opéra de Paris, Hommage aux Compositeurs Illustres” collections.
Vacheron Constantin and culture in Paris
Each of Vacheron Constantin’s creations is a work of art that embodies the creativity and know-how of craftsmen and artists who bear witness to their age. They reflect a philosophy that could only but create a close connection between Vacheron Constantin and the world of the arts.
In watchmaking as in the arts, achievement is a question of the meeting of minds, perpetuated and shared know-how, and areas of craftsmanship expertise on which time has no hold. It was in Paris, in 2005, to mark the “Man and his masks” exhibition organised by the Barbier-Mueller Museum at the Jaquemart-André Museum, that the idea was born of a collaboration with this institution and the creation of the Métiers d’Art “Les Masques” collection presented in 2007 on the Barbier-Mueller Museum’s 30th anniversary.
Vacheron Constantin has been supporting combined talent through its partnership with the National Paris Opera since 2007. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris (AROP – Friends of the Paris Opera and Ballet), in 2010 the Vacheron Constantin Manufacture created the Métiers d’Art – Chagall & l’Opéra de Paris collection in homage to the composers who inspired Marc Chagall’s frescos on the ceiling of the Palais Garnier.
