Can you diffuse the concept of time? A new scent-infused timepiece by Vacheron Constantin attempts to do just that. Égérie—The Pleats of Time, is the result of a collaboration between the Swiss watchmaker, Paris-based couturier Yin Yiqing, and Dominique Ropion, the rockstar perfumer who has bottled blockbuster scents such as Paco Rabanne’s Lady Million and insider favourites like Frédéric Malle’s Portrait Of A Lady.
“We wanted to create a unique object that would be exceptional in design and symbolic significance,” explains Sandrine Donguy, product and innovation director at the Geneva-based watchmaker. From the outside, the Égérie Pleats of Time looks like any other watch. It does of course tell the time, with Midas-touched hands moving across a lilac mother-of-pearl dial with a pleated pattern—a nod to Yin’s couture signature—embraced by a diamond bezel. It even displays the moon phases in a charming, star-dotted window between one and three o’clock—all the better to make the most of lunar energy in our life. But the watch’s essence—figuratively and literally—is in the strap.
Here, nanoparticles are woven into the calfskin bracelet, adorned with silk embroidery and mother-of-pearl shards, to diffuse the scent of passing time. So what does time smell like? “To transform the concept of time into a scent, I referred to the sun, our ultimate source of light and warmth, which gives rhythm to our lives, and amethyst, with its deep, time-evoking colour. These elements have allowed me to translate these vast ideas into scents and the abstract notion of time into discernible fragrance notes,” Ropion says.
The predominant accord is a vigorously fresh marine aroma that instantly transports me to the shores of Praia d’El Rey in Portugal, my go-to place to re-energise with long walks on the beach as the mighty Atlantic Ocean roars in the background, crashing and foaming on the sand and tickling my toes.
Because Ropion has packed the scent of four seasons into invisible nanoparticles that release a perfume when rubbed against the skin while moving, every step randomly triggers different memories and moods. One second, I’m sniffing the salty tang of immortelle flowers that whisk me home to a sofa, curled up in a duvet with a cup of hot chocolate in hand, spending the long winter evenings watching The Crown. The next, I’m basking in a comforting hug of orange and lemon—a godsend during London’s drizzly, “will-it-won’t-it” spring season. I’m hoping that when the ticking clock of approaching deadlines threatens to send stress levels sky-high, a whiff of calming lavender may come to the rescue.
As luxury brands increasingly move mountains to lavish customers with exceptional products and unforgettable experiences, this wrist candy promises to tick several scent-meets-haute-horlogerie boxes at once. The world’s first perfume watch doesn’t just keep time, its fragrance encourages Proustian “Madeleine moments”, that jolt us from the present to the past and back again. Where do you wish it will transport you?
This article was originally published in British Vogue.
