When Vacheron Constantin launched Égérie, its dedicated women’s collection, in 2020, the Swiss watchmaker drew a connection between haute horlogerie and haute couture. Both fields share the quality of handmade exclusivity—echoing the brand’s tagline of ‘one of not many’. That same year, Vacheron Constantin announced the face of the collection. Not a celebrity, as many brands are wont to do, but an actual, honest-to-goodness couturier in the form of the designer Yin Yiqing.
Now, the brand is taking its partnership with Yin to a new level, releasing its first creative collaboration with the designer on Égérie timepieces. There is a completely novel and mind-blowing concept watch and a limited-edition Égérie Moon Phase model that taps into the couturier’s design sensibilities.
The Égérie collection is defined by a number of subtle details. The first, and most obvious, is an off-centre subdial positioned between 12 and three o’clock. It’s deployed, depending on the model, to display either the date or a moonphase complication. This ring is framed, like the case, numerals and applied indices, in gold. Its neighbouring three o’clock index, in curved type, is neatly cut to accommodate the intersecting ring.
But a curious eye might notice that the cabochon moonstone crown is set at two o’clock and the Vacheron Constantin logo is similarly positioned off-centre at eight o’clock. The subtle effect is a line drawn between the crown, ring and logo on the diagonal of the watch—a wonderfully understated callback, perhaps, to the diagonal bias cutting of fashion designers.
It’s a possible allusion perhaps to the manipulations of haute couture fabrics. One of the most classical is the art of plissé, or pleating. On the Égérie’s design, this is realised through guilloché on the dial to create a folded, pleated texture.
These nods to haute couture are all present, of course, in Yin’s 100-piece edition of the Égérie Moon Phase. The difference is a design that taps directly into the couturier’s creative language. Firstly, a dreamy lilac mother-of-pearl dial in both smooth and pleated finishes. The latter is particularly impressive as it taps on Vacheron Constantin’s guillochage expertise in working with a fragile material. The iridescent colours and textures commingle to create a dial that’s exceedingly elegant to look at.
All watches in the Égérie collection feature an interchangeable system and a selection of straps. With Yin’s edition, the straps are chosen to complement and provide a contrast to the timepiece’s unique colours. There is lilac alligator for a tone-on-tone look, night blue calfskin with a slick satin effect that’s ideal for evenings and powder pink grained calfskin leather for a sweet look. Trust an haute couture designer to understand the importance of having an outfit for different moods and occasions.
The June ‘Impact’ issue of Vogue Singapore is now available for sale online and at newsstands.
