Notable for depicting dancers on canvas, Edgar Degas painted ballerinas in pink, green and blue tutus as well as portraying them in dance classes, rehearsals and performances on stage.
Hommage à l'Art de la Danse models with miniatures of Edgar Degas' paintings adorning their dials.
The French artist's mastery in illustrating movement is demonstrated in his paintings — three of them miniaturised on exceptional timepieces by Swiss luxury brand Maison Vacheron Constantin.
Its Metiers d'Art series previously presented watches with a detailed reproduction of Marc Chagall's painted ceiling of the Opéra Garnier, flowers inspired by the illustrations of Robert John Thornton's The Temple Of Flora and now Degas' works on dials of Hommage à l'Art de la Danse models.
Master enamellists were challenged to miniaturise The Dance Class (1871), Ballet Rehearsal On Stage (1888) and Dancer On Pointe (1877) on round dials, with these paintings chosen to highlight the life of a ballerina — learning, training, and performance.
Self-winding Calibre 2460.
Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin continues to use traditional techniques to give watches an aesthetic appeal, with the Grand Feu grisaille enamel creating an authentic depth effect to the miniature paintings.
Demanding patience, meticulous care and intense concentration, the enamel artist re-interpretated the gestures, the pose, and the perspective, playing on chiaroscuro of light and shade effects, in the same manner as Degas, who's regarded as one of the founders of impressionism.
The finesse of the Grand Feu grisaille enamel reveals intricate details, whether the fold of the tutus, the transparency of tulle and muslin and the smooth velvet of the ribbons encircling the ballerina's neck.
The grisaille technique is generally applied to black enamel, but Vacheron Constantin's artisan decided to work with a translucent brown enamel base in order to accentuate the depth effect while lending a soft nuance.
A rare powder, Limoges is mixed with oils, resulting in a white enamel that is applied on the base and drawn out using needles, fine brushes and even cactus thorns to create a gradation of shades.
Each of the layers requires a firing operation that must be timed to the nearest second. With each firing, the enamels change, become more intense and retract, and the artisan's experience plays an essential role in ensuring that it's not overdone.
The art-inspired dials are housed in a finely polished 40mm diameter case of the unisex Hommage à l'Art de la Danse models.
Ballet and horology share in common the importance of choreography. For superb performances on stage and for precise time-telling, the watches are fitted with a self-winding Calibre 2460, developed and crafted in-house with superlative finishes keeping with Genevan traditions of haute horology.
The trio of watches thus bear the prestigious Poinçon de Genève that testifies quality, craftsmanship and reliability of timepieces produced in Genevan territory.
The Ballerinacollection.
