Two timepieces born of the creative collaboration between Vacheron Constantin and its “One of Not Many” talent Yiqing Yin: one is a concept watch combining Haute Horlogerie, Haute Couture and Haute Parfumerie; the other an exclusive 100-piece limited edition bearing Yiqing Yin’s name engraved on the caseback.
Égérie – The Pleats of Time, a concept watch:
• A diamond-set pink gold case, a lilac mother-of-pearl dial adorned with a ‘pleats’ pattern and an original Haute Couture strap woven with exquisite embroidery and mother-of-pearl shards: a horological experience that, above and beyond the watch, makes time stand still.
• An innovative concept watch: Yiqing Yin called on master perfumer Dominique Ropion to create a dedicated fragrance, encapsulated in the strap and randomly released in step with wrist movements.
Égérie moon phase:
• A dial aesthetic reflects Yiqing Yin’s creative universe.
• Three interchangeable straps in colour shades developed by the Haute Couture designer.
A “One of Not Many” creation
This is a singular creation, as much for its looks as for the creative process leading to its birth.
The Égérie concept watch stems from an artistic collaboration between Vacheron Constantin and Yiqing Yin, a “One of Not Many” talent.
United in their quest for refinement and a shared vision of excellence, the Manufacture and the Haute Couture designer have come up with the Égérie The Pleats of time, a concept watch. This creation orchestrates a dialogue between three worlds: Haute Horlogerie, Haute Couture and Haute Parfumerie. The roundness of the 37 mm pink gold case embellished with diamonds, the ‘pleats’ pattern adorning the powdered lilac dial, as well as the asymmetrical geometry so cherished by the Maison whose name appears at 8 o’clock in a diagonal with the moon phase and crown at 2 o’clock. All combine to create a refined and original feminine silhouette into which Yiqing Yin has instilled an aesthetic appeal that awakens the senses. The Maison and the Haute Couture designer also called on French master perfumer Dominique Ropion to craft an original fragrance that is encapsulated in the watch strap.
Above and beyond the object, a sensory experience
Under Yiqing Yin’s impetus, the Égérie collection reveals a new facet of its personality through a markedly different aesthetic, infused with the designer’s inimitably ethereal universe.
The dial is freed from hour-markers, extending an invitation to experience time in an intuitive and emotional way. Crafted in mother-of-pearl, it is draped in a ‘pleats’ pattern that unfolds in two stages across its entire surface: in the centre, encircled by fine gold ‘pearls’, as well as around the edge, extending the folds and hollows. Yiqing Yin chose a soft lilac colour, “a feminine, evanescent shade like a delicate embodiment of a daydream”. This hue also adorns the moon phase sculpted in mother-of-pearl. A row of diamonds enhances the complication, swept over by extremely slender hours, minutes and seconds hands.
Yiqing Yin has designed an exclusive strap adorned with exquisite artistic embroidery, in which mother-of-pearl shards are inlaid between silk threads. According to the designer, “this work recounts the sinuous course of water in a natural landscape, unfurling its scalloped volutes, somewhere between the fragility of shed snakeskin and the elegance of abstract lace. The irregularities adorning the strap bear the imprint of the human hand, creating a visual dialogue with the pure geometry of the dial.” Invisible yet essential to the personality of this timepiece, a fragrance imagined by master perfumer Dominique Ropion is encapsulated in the strap.
A scent of innovation
The dedicated fragrance specially created for this concept watch stems from numerous exchanges between the master perfumer and the Haute Couture designer. “Dominique is an alchemist of emotions. Our initial idea was to create a watch offering a singular and sensorial perception of time”, says Yiqing Yin. Then came a wealth of creative and brainstorming sessions to combine emotions and formulas until the scent that would embody the Égérie – The Pleats of Time watch came to life.
As Dominique Ropion explains when evoking the core aims of the process, it was about “creating a fragrance that would be universal, like time itself. A mineral scent with pastel, wintry, powdery and iridescent notes, playing with the sun and wisps of smoke.”
To ensure this fragrance would echo Yiqing Yin’s approach, a meticulous combination of ingredients was created: a mineral and marine accord of ozonic notes and galbanum; notes of lavender and orange blossom; winter freshness based on a honeysuckle and immortelle accord; iridescent highlights with tuberose and ylang-ylang; sunshine in a bottle conveyed by orange and lemon; wisps of time passing through incense (olibanum, myrrh, opoponax) and oud.
Once the fragrance had been defined, the idea was to encapsulate it in the heart of the strap and “accept the passage of time in order to breathe and be receptive to wonder”, as Yiqing Yin points out.
This led to a comprehensive innovative process in which the droplets of fragrance concentrate were encapsulated. Each component of the strap (lining, loop, embroidery, etc.) was then steeped in these encapsulations. The perfume contained in the nanocapsules is released randomly, as the strap rubs against the skin and in step with wrist movements.
