Nine Decorative Crafts and a New Collection Tribue to Great Civilisations: Vacheron Constantin’s Dazzling Coup

Vacheron Constantin is opening a new chapter in its partnership with the Louvre, which began in 2019, with a new Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations series. It is one of the brand’s most ambitious projects in this field.

These creations pay homage to four major works: the Bust of Akhenaten, the Lamassu of Sargon II, the Athena of Velletri and the Tiber from the Iseum Campense. Through them, Vacheron Constantin successively evokes Pharaonic Egypt, the Assyrian Empire, Ancient Greece and Imperial Rome. The strength of this series lies in the richness of its execution. The Maison has drawn upon nine artistic crafts for this collection, including glyptic, micro-mosaic, engraving, sculpture, enameling, marquetry, gilding and miniature painting. In the interests of historical accuracy, some reproductions have even been crafted from stones of the same type, or even the same provenance, as those used in the original works at the Louvre.

This collection of four timepieces was conceived in close collaboration with the museum’s curators and artisans. Sandrine Donguy, Director of Product, Marketing, Innovation, Design and Métiers d’Art, explains: “With this new Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations edition, we wanted to demonstrate our commitment to preserving craftsmanship and to putting technique at the service of aesthetics. The context of our partnership with the Louvre is unique. It offers us the opportunity to select works of art from the museum, which gives us exceptional narrative power. With this new collection, we have gone a step further, opting for rarer artistic crafts, including glyptics on natural stone – in this case, on sandstone and marble – on the scale of a dial.”

Since their partnership was formalised in 2019, Vacheron Constantin and the Louvre have undertaken numerous joint projects, from the ‘Bid for the Louvre’ auction in 2020 – a charity auction organised by Christie’s – to the first Métiers d’Art Tribute to Great Civilisations series launched in 2022, right through to the presentation at the Louvre of the exceptional ‘La Quête du Temps’ clock, unveiled in September 2025 to mark the brand’s 270th anniversary.

In an interview that Laurent Perves, then Chief Marketing Officer of Vacheron Constantin (he is now the brand’s CEO), gave to Luxury Tribune in December 2020, he was already explaining the foundations of the partnership: ‘[…] there are many avenues for partnership; we are thinking of creative collaborations, exchanges on craftsmanship and expertise. For both of us, restoration lies at the heart of our expertise, and we have much to learn from one another.”

Vacheron Constantin is therefore continuing its dialogue with the Louvre today, offering enthusiasts of culture and the watch industry timepieces whose dials serve as a canvas for artistic expression, where the mechanics give way to the visual composition. Powered by the in-house calibre 2460 G4/2, the four models feature a peripheral display of the hours, minutes, day and date, freeing the central space of any hands. Sophie Donguy continues: “This edition took a good three years of work; it is a long creative process. It took us over a year to find the central subject and the decorative elements that would enhance it. Then there is a genuine partnership between the design and development teams to find the right relief, the right angle and the right juxtaposition of the various elements. Then the work continues with selecting the right raw materials with our partner, and the right pairing of stones when it comes, for example, to the bust of Akhenaten, as there are two surface levels between the bust and the hieroglyphs. It’s a collaborative effort with the Louvre, the design teams, the development teams and external partners. The collaboration with the Louvre enriches our narrative and enables us to surpass ourselves. The theme of great civilisations, central to the Louvre’s history, has inspired us to strive for artistic and technical excellence, and to embody our motto: to do better if possible, which is always possible.”

Beyond the craftsmanship, this new collection further establishes the brand’s heritage value. Cultivated for many years through the Cabinotiers collections, and more recently through partnerships with the Louvre and the Met, this ‘Tribute to Great Civilisations’ edition—along with the recent unveiling of the ‘La Quête du Temps’ clock—gives it a new dimension. In a market where rarity is no longer always enough to justify exceptional status, seeking value through museum recognition is key. With this ‘Homage to the Four Great Civilisations of Antiquity’ collection, the Geneva-based watch industry once again engages with history, its heritage and the passing on of tradition. The recent launch of the first ‘Vacheron Constantin Concours d’Élégance Horlogère’ is closely linked to the care the brand takes in nurturing its international community of collectors. This new edition of four Tribute to Great Civilisations watches, produced in a limited run of 15 pieces each, seems perfectly designed to fit into this context.