With Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Celestial, Vacheron Constantin delivers a suite of twelve watches that read less like timepieces and more like miniature observatories. Dedicated to each zodiac sign and its celestial constellation, the series positions horology as a poetic form of astronomical storytelling.
WATCHES
Every dial becomes a map of myth and precision, where hand-guilloché figures and diamond stars plot the arc of the night sky.
The visual structure of the collection is anchored by a vivid blue palette and the shimmering geometry of baguette-cut blue sapphires, 96 per piece, set using a channel-setting technique that eliminates visible metal. The bezel, lugs, crown, and buckle gleam with the sapphires’ floating brilliance, encircling the dial in an uninterrupted halo. At 39 mm, the 18K white gold case balances refinement and presence. Each watch reveals a different zodiac figure, rendered not with abstract patterning but through a new figurative guilloché technique pioneered by the Maison’s master guillocheur. This technique uses tightly packed triangles, each etched at a different angle, to build complex imagery from light and line alone.
The four zodiac signs associated with human figure Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius, receive added texture through opaline details. Stars from each constellation are marked with brilliant-cut diamonds, grain-set from the reverse side of the dial, reinforcing the impression of stars embedded in deep cosmic blue. To create a single dial requires around 16 hours of guillochage, plus an additional 27 hours for the gem-setting across the entire case and accessories.
Underneath this celestial artistry is Vacheron Constantin’s ultra-thin Calibre 2160, a self-winding tourbillon movement only 5.65 mm thick. Despite comprising 188 parts, the movement maintains mechanical elegance with an 80-hour power reserve, a 22K peripheral rotor that leaves the movement fully visible, and Côtes de Genève finishing. Small seconds are marked by the rotation of the tourbillon cage, shaped in the form of the brand’s Maltese Cross. Every piece is stamped with the Poinçon de Genève, certifying both precision and craftsmanship.
The concept of “mirror skies” extends beyond zodiac symbolism. Each dial functions as a contemporary artifact of ancient observation, reframing the historical link between astrology and astronomy. In Babylonian and Greco-Roman traditions, the zodiac was both timekeeper and mythos, a belief system that blended science and fate. Vacheron Constantin’s reinterpretation finds a new visual language for this duality. The watches speak equally to celestial order and the human impulse to find meaning in the stars.
The Tribute to The Celestial is not a first for the Maison, past zodiac-themed creations include the 1927 Art Deco table clock made with Verger Frères and lapis lazuli, the enamelled Legend of the Chinese Zodiac series, and most recently, the Sky Chart Leo Constellation Jewellery from 2021. But this latest collection pushes the integration of movement, métiers d’art, and myth further than ever before.
Rather than isolating technical mastery from decorative finesse, these watches bind them into a single act of horological storytelling. They are constellations cast in gold, dials that track the seasons of myth, and mechanical objects that pulse with symbolic gravity. With Métiers d’Art Tribute to The Celestial, Vacheron Constantin renders the zodiac not as nostalgia but as a living system, visible, wearable, and constantly in motion.
