Vacheron Constantin Debuts Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Animal Kingdom

There is a rather magical occurrence that takes place when creatives step outside the confines of their usual mediums. That is exactly the case for Vacheron Constantin’s latest Métiers d’Art project, “One of Not Many Crafts Programme” where the storied Swiss watchmaker invited six non-horological, independent artisans to adapt their signature artistic techniques onto the dial of a watch, translating their large-scale practices onto a miniature 42mm canvas.

Titled “Tribute to the Animal Kingdom,” the collection of six concept pieces honors the Maison’s 270-year history of celebrating fauna. Given carte blanche, each artisan was entrusted with a customized, self-winding Calibre 2460 G4 as their starting point. By arranging the time and date indications across four peripheral apertures at the dial’s edges, the center remains completely open as an unobstructed canvas for expressive storytelling.

Master plumassier Julien Vermeulen spent over 250 hours composing the Feathersnake, sculpting an iridescent serpent from more than 200 micro-cuts of rare Lophophore feathers atop a silk-paper framework. Italian glass artist Simone Crestani utilized custom tungsten instruments to build a transparent glass octopus dot-by-dot (a process akin to manual 3D printing) over a deep-blue guilloché dial to capture the mysterious beautify of under the sea. The octopus rises just 3.5mm above the dial, taking over a year of development to avoid optical glass distortions. Micro-origami pioneer Anya Midori spent two years developing a bespoke folding method to construct six ethereal paper manta rays, each measuring just six millimeters, floating weightlessly beneath a moiré-patterned crystal.

Specialist hand-embroidery artist Laura Baverstock adapted centuries-old goldwork to stitch a prowling tiger using 9-karat gold and ceramic-coated wire directly onto a perforated titanium dial plate. Parisian artist Marianne Guély transformed monochromatic white cotton paper into the frozen, architectural relief of the Papercroc, while woodworker Anna Le Corno relied on binocular magnification to layer 12 distinct timber species—including smoked eucalyptus and blue-dyed birch—into the dramatic, feather-by-feather wingspan of a falcon. Accompanied by hand-engraved 22K gold oscillating weights and embossed calfskin straps, the art pieces are a masterful blend of high craftsmanship, material experimentation, and unbridled creativity.

The preservation of creative endeavors has remained at the heart of Vacheron Constantin’s identity since its founding in 1755. The project builds naturally on the brand’s long history of cultural stewardship, most recently seen in its multi-year partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which encompasses both bespoke “Masterpiece on Your Wrist” enamel commissions and the 18-month Met x Vacheron Constantin Artisan Residency, which provides mentorship, research, and institutional support to three mid-career artisans. The work of the most recent artists in residence Aspen Golann, Ibrahim Said, and Joy Harvey, will be unveiled at the museum later in October 2026.