A creative collaboration with Yiqing Yin - Égérie : The Pleats of Time: a concept watch and Égérie moon phase
APRIL 12, 2024
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.
Égérie – The Pleats of Time, a concept watch
At the crossroads of Haute Horlogerie, Haute Couture and Haute Parfumerie
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.
A dress to prolong the experience
To accompany the Égérie concept watch, Yiqing Yin created a Haute Couture dress epitomising its spirit and which she describes in these terms: “The light fabrics swirl around the body, creating a pleated, swirling showcase of supernatural hues, evoking the moiré dial diffractions. This undulating silhouette, in harmony with the body, offers a suppleness suspended in time, culminating in the wearer’s movement and the caress of the elements. The evolving volume of the skirt unfolds in sunburst pleats, composed of cascades of iridescent satin that continue their journey in silk chiffon, creating superimposed transparency effects and ever-changing silky reflections that capture the splendour of each given moment. Inspired by the vitality of the elements, this creation celebrates movement’s inherent beauty, where infinity is gracefully reflected in fluidity.”
Exploring the latest fabric technologies, the designer combines manual bath-dyeing with eco-sensitive nanodyeing, steeping fibres and fabrics in mineral powders to create gradient-type haloes. This bespoke gown with its singular allure thus weaves symbolic and visual ties between Haute Couture, Haute Parfumerie and Haute Horlogerie.
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Interview
Yiqing Yin, Haute Couture designer and Vacheron Constantin “One of Not Many” talent
Sandrine Donguy, Product Marketing & Innovation Director, Vacheron Constantin
Dominique Ropion, Master Perfumer, IFF
Sandrine Donguy, this is the first time you’ve presented a creative collaboration with a “One of Not Many” talent. How did things work out?
The collaboration with Yiqing Yin was a very enriching experience that came about quite naturally – not only because the collection has been inspired by the world of Haute Couture since its creation in 2020, but also because Yiqing Yin has brilliantly personified it right from the outset. When we expressed the ambition to create an object that would be outstanding both in terms of the expertise involved in its design and its symbolic significance, Yiqing Yin immediately embraced the project. Every single detail – from the double-pleated dial in lilac mother-of-pearl to the fragrance notes and the braided lacework of mother-of-pearl shards on the strap – was jointly imagined. Yiqing Yin has preserved the personality of the Égérie collection while infusing it with a resolutely Haute Couture allure that echoes her own creations. The end result is a balance between three worlds, bound together by shared values and a shared quest for beauty, dreams and refinement.
Yiqing Yin, what did you want to express through this collaboration?
My goal was to infuse my intuitive creativity into the rigorously disciplined world of Haute Horlogerie, giving birth to a watch capable of releasing time and transforming it into an object of emotion. As a Haute Couture designer, I was confronted with the unprecedented technical constraints of watchmaking, seeking to find a point of convergence with my artistic process rooted in a perpetually moving visual narrative in dialogue with flexible shapes. I wanted to pare down the dial, transcending measured, linear time to offer a sensory, quasi-lunar experience, guided by the poetry of the moon phase and the more intuitive state of consciousness it induces. The dial simplification reveals essentials, a vibration embodied by the ‘pleats’ pattern featured on both the watch and the dress, becoming a space for breathing, suppleness as well as tremendous potential in reserve. It symbolises the freedom and expressiveness of an initially flat surface, while representing the emotional and sensory dynamics of time. In a state of creative somnambulism, the pleat becomes infinity, a weightless state with no spatiotemporal limits, expressing the generous power of time that I sought to convey.
Dominique, what was your approach to creating this fragrance and what did you try to express through the various ingredients composing it?
I had a lot of discussions with Yiqing Yin; we shared our thoughts on how to translate time into fragrance. Yiqing was referring to the cycle of the tides, the pleats characterising her work, the sun that lights and warms us with its beneficial rays and imparts a cadence to our days, along with amethyst and its colour of time. The ingredients I’ve selected represent a translation of these ideas into scents. Transcribing time into fragrance notes is a challenge that I found as exciting as it was complex. I’ve been working with Yiqing since 2010 and I’m familiar with her obsession with detail, which is similar to mine. Together we smelled dozens of raw materials and tests in order to capture time in a scent. Time plays a fundamental role in perfumery: it gives rhythm to the seasons that guide the flowers and natural ingredients we use; the incense that has been burnt since ancient times and is still part of the perfumer’s palette; the time it takes to diffuse a fragrance; the hours marked off by the evolution of the top, heart and base notes…
Sandrine, how is innovation part of Vacheron Constantin’s heritage?
Innovation has always been core to the creativity cultivated by Vacheron Constantin, which has distinguished itself throughout its entire history with technical developments aimed at pushing the limits of precision, while guaranteeing an elegant aesthetic that is often original and always singular. If it were not for innovation, we would have been unable to pursue our activities without interruption since 1755, as confirmed by our richly documented archives. In the course of its long history, many of Vacheron Constantin’s watchmaking innovations have been patented. In this sense, the collaboration with Yiqing Yin encompassing numerous innovative aspects is entirely in keeping with the enduring spirit of the Maison.
Yiqing Yin, has innovation been one of your priorities?
Experimentation has always been a constant in my creative approach, a guiding principle. In my work, I try to provoke encounters between different worlds, to create clashes between different spheres of expression. I like to work with people from universes I don’t master and I view design – particularly in Haute Couture – as a laboratory for challenging established techniques. I see knowledge and expertise as tools that can be misused. Each of us has his own technical and emotional language. I’m convinced that the key to creativity lies in taking risks and being willing to step out of one’s comfort zone to ensure perpetual reinvention. We have to be prepared to lose ourselves for a while in order to discover what we don’t yet know.
Dominique, what link do you see between perfumery and watchmaking, between a fragrance and the concept of time?
What perfumery and time have in common is that they are fleeting and invisible, while standing out like landmarks in history. A fragrance that one smells again – even after many years – has this singular ability to transcend time and bring back long- buried memories. I’m delighted to be able to play with the precious tool represented by fragrance and to embed special memories in time.
Sandrine, as the concept watch has been created under the collaboration with the same designer as for the limited edition piece, did she also take part in selecting the scent?
Yes, completely. Vacheron Constantin entered the artistic world of Yiqing Yin, who is part of the “One of Not Many” talents since 2020. This year, we decided to unite our two worlds with a third one: Haute Parfumerie. In 2021, Yiqing Yin created her Minima Naturalia olfactory dress concept for the French Pavilion’s permanent exhibition at the Dubai World Expo. At this occasion, she worked with the master perfumer Dominique Ropion to create a dedicated scent. This gave us the idea of extending her innovative olfactory creation from a dress to a watch strap entering our Haute Horlogerie universe. The fragrance for this concept watch was specially created through collaboration between Dominique Ropion and Yiqing Yin.
Sandrine, which new technique has been used to insert nano capsules of perfume into the watch strap? Was there any particular challenge to achieve this?
To infuse nano capsules of perfume into the watch strap, we partnered with a French company specializing in nanoencapsulation. This innovative process involved encapsulating fragrance concentrate droplets into the heart of the strap’s components, except for mother-of-pearl shards and “accept the passage of time in order to breathe and be receptive to wonder”, as Yiqing Yin points out. The scent is released randomly as the strap rubs against the skin and moves with wrist gestures, thanks to nanotechnology. The challenge was infusing nano capsules into delicate surfaces such as the Yiqing Yin embroidery.
Sandrine, how long does the scent last?
The longevity of the scent depends on how the capsules are treated within the strap. Regular twisting releases the fragrance with each movement, while leaving the bracelet untouched may prolong the scent’s presence.
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Égérie moon phase
A creative collaboration with Yiqing Yin
Inspired by the refinement of Haute Couture and Vacheron Constantin’s aesthetic heritage, the Égérie collection welcomes a moon phase watch issued in a 100-piece limited series developed with designer Yiqing Yin. Paired with a choice of three interchangeable straps, this edition with its 37 mm pink gold case and gemset bezel adopts subtle lilac hues while retaining the collection’s aesthetic codes: the mother-of-pearl dial is alternately smooth or decorated with a “pleats” motif, while the moon phase appears as part of a subtle diagonal line formed by the Vacheron Constantin logo and the crown.
An original creative collaboration
Since its 2020 debut, the Égérie collection has established its style credentials in the world of Haute Horlogerie dedicated to women. Picking up its aesthetic codes and instilling a new creative dimension were at the heart of the project developed with Yiqing Yin in giving life to the new Égérie moon phase that reflects her creative universe.
Recognisable by the ethereal allure of her creations and the blurred lines of her silhouettes structured by dainty pleated and draped effects, the designer’s signature is reflected in the work on the dial whose centre is adorned with a pleated mother-of-pearl motif. Yiqing Yin’s stylistic territory is also echoed by the choice of mother-of-pearl colour, which recalls her creation’s silvery mauve fabrics, overlaid with soft lilac or moiré Parma violet colours. According to Yiqing Yin, who has also chosen pastel shades for the three interchangeable straps, “these feminine, evanescent shades are the delicate embodiment of daydreams.”
An exclusive 100-piece limited edition
Softness, daydreams, elegance: these words apply equally well to Yiqing Yin’s creations as to the new Égérie moon phase watch. Softness is reflected in the lilac-coloured mother-of-pearl dial, which is either smooth or decorated with a pleated motif, echoing the first Égérie models. Mother-of-pearl, a particularly fragile material, has been meticulously crafted to create the pleated pattern surrounded by individually hand-applied fine gold ‘pearls’. The interpretation of the moon phase, also adorned with lilac mother-of-pearl and festooned with diamonds, is undeniably dreamlike. Elegance pervades the entire timepiece, expressed in the contours of the 37 mm diamond-set pink gold case, in the slender hands reminiscent of dressmakers’ nimble fingers, as well as in the Égérie collection’s characteristic asymmetry: a crown set at 2 o’clock aligned with the moon phase and the Vacheron Constantin inscription at 8 o’clock.
Clearly visible through the transparent caseback, in-house Calibre 1088 L ensures accurate timekeeping, while its hand-crafted Côtes de Genève motif is swept over by the delicately openworked 22-carat gold oscillating weight inspired by the shape of the Maltese cross.
This Haute Horlogerie signature is echoed by that of Yiqing Yin, whose name is engraved in full on the back, along with the number of this highly exclusive 100-piece limited edition.
A watch offering pleasurable variety
The Égérie moon phase watch owes its versatility to an ingenious system of interchangeable straps, present since the launch of the collection. In the blink of an eye, these enable the wearer to play on textures or create contrasts: lilac alligator leather for an elegant tone-on-tone effect, night blue satin-effect calfskin or powder pink grained calfskin leather.
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Interview with Sandrine Donguy, Vacheron Constantin’s Product Marketing and Innovation Director
The Égérie collection was born in 2020. Why did you wait to create a collection dedicated to women?
Women have always been integral to our history. Fine examples can be found at the turn of the 18th century, with pocket watches equipped with complications such as chiming mechanisms and featuring richly enamelled, engraved or gemset decorations. In the late 19th century, Vacheron Constantin unveiled its first wristwatches for women. Later, throughout the 20th century, the Maison demonstrated incredible inventiveness on behalf of its female clientele and Égérie is a continuation of this approach. Not to mention the influence of special or offset displays, one of Vacheron Constantin’s daring specialities that are still an integral part of the collection today.
How did this first creative timepiece collaboration with a talent from the “One of Not Many” campaign come about?
It is doubtless the very fact that Yiqing Yin is unfamiliar with the technical constraints of watchmaking that made this collaboration so rewarding. Without quite starting from scratch, she succeeded in transcribing her refined world into the watch. Through her creations, Yiqing Ying explores the dynamic capacities of pleats, imagining structures and volumes in motion, sculpting voids as well as seeking balances and breakpoints between floating and sculpted areas. A close look at the dial of the Égérie moon phase watch reveals a number of aesthetic parallels – not least the choice of mother-of-pearl colour with its complex shimmering reflections, reminiscent of the pastel tones found in Yiqing Yin’s creations.
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From Geometry to Artistry, the Maison’s annual theme
A Vacheron Constantin watch is far more than merely the sum of its parts. Starting from a sketch, a geometrical drawing and its technical extensions, a whole world of shapes, colours and textures is born. The complex structures of mechanical engineering combine with design; meticulous detail gives life to grace; artisanal intelligence sparks emotions. Based on formal, mathematical study, Vacheron Constantin timepieces are thus endowed with a touch of soulfulness and elegance representing the ultimate expression of artistic talent. The classicism of the Traditionnelle collection; the minimalism of the Patrimony watches; the allure of Égérie; and the sporty-chic spirit of Overseas: all vividly illustrate this alchemy within which art is inspired by geometric shapes, expressed through Vacheron Constantin’s 2024 theme.
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About Yiqing Yin
A graduate of ENSAD (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris), Yiqing Yin was awarded the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris in 2009. In 2011, she won the ANDAM Prize for First Collections at the ANDAM Fashion Award Paris and held her first catwalk show during the Paris Fashion Week. Yiqing Yin worked with prestigious brands such as Maison Léonard, Cartier, Guerlain, Hermès, Swarovski and Lancôme.
A resolutely all-round artist, she also explores other artistic worlds. She combined materials and light to create a dress, in collaboration with sculptor Bastien Carré. She worked in the world of dance, designing the stage outfits of étoile ballet dancers Dorothée Gilbert and Mathieu Ganio for their performance in Tristan and Isolde directed by Giorgio Mancini.
Yiqing Yin has been a regular guest at art exhibitions around the world, including A World of Feathers at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, or the Animalia Fashion exhibition in Florence, among others.
She has also contributed to the creation of costumes for a number of films, including Leos Carax’s Annette in 2020, for which she designed the dress worn by Marion Cotillard.
Since 2023, Yiqing Yin has been involved in the creation of a futuristic work, exploring the anthropology and archaeology of the future, part of the French Ministry of Culture’s Mondes Nouveaux programme, due to open at the end of 2024.
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About Dominique Ropion
His fellow perfumers consider Dominique to be an immense talent, indeed the greatest master perfumer currently exercising this art. The word ‘smell’ lies at the heart of Dominique’s inner ‘reactor’, his passion, his very essence. Dominique’s ambition is to rival animals’ sense of smell while bringing an artistic vision to bear. This is Dominique’s first invitation to a taste of freedom, an invitation to unite mind and body, another of Dominique’s great and generous gifts. Dominique sees the composition of perfumes as a mystical and mathematical act, expressing the creative power of a number and its combinations: “You take two raw materials and put them together, discover how they interact, memorise them, before picking three, then four, like Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites. Perfumers keep count when they work: they count evaporation in minutes and hours, observe how a fragrance behaves and track its imprint over time.”
Dominique Ropion has created some of the world’s most successful fragrances. He is a master perfumer at IFF, the New York-based global leader in the fragrance, bioscience, health, food and beverage industries. IFF’s perfume artists have been practising for six decades and form a creative team that is as visionary as it is eclectic. In IFF’s NYC headquarters, as well as in Paris, Grasse, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and elsewhere, its perfume artists create olfactory works ranging from international successes to more exclusively distributed products.
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TECHNICAL DATA
The Pleats of Time, a concept watch
Calibre
1088 L
Manufacture calibre
Mechanical, self-winding
30 mm (9”’) diameter, 5.03 mm thick
Approx. 40 hours of power reserve
4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour)
164 components
26 jewels
Indications
Hours, minutes, centre seconds
Moon phases
Case
18K 5N pink gold
37 mm diameter, 10.08 mm thick
Bezel set with 58 round-cut diamonds
Crown set with a moonstone
Transparent sapphire crystal caseback
Dial
Lilac mother-of-pearl, ‘pleats’ pattern
18K 5N pink gold ring set with 34 round-cut diamonds
Polished minutes track with 18K gold ‘pearls’
18K 5N pink gold moons behind mother-of-pearl clouds
Bracelet/clasp
Calfskin leather strap adorned with artistic embroidery worked from silk threads, inlaid with mother-of-pearl fragments and encapsulated perfume.
Total gemsetting
92 diamonds, totalling approx. 1.10 carats (guaranteed minimum carats)
One-of-a-kind creation, not for sale
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TECHNICAL DATA
Égérie moon phase
Reference
8005F/000R-H030
Calibre
1088 L
Manufacture calibre
Mechanical, self-winding
30 mm (9’’’) diameter, 5.03 mm thick
Approx. 40 hours of power reserve
4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour)
164 components
26 jewels
Indications
Hours, minutes, centre seconds
Moon phases
Case
18K 5N pink gold
37 mm diameter, 10.08 mm thick
Bezel set with 58 round-cut diamonds
Crown set with a moonstone
Transparent sapphire crystal caseback
Water-resistance tested at a pressure of 3 bar (approx. 30 metres)
Dial
Lilac mother-of-pearl, “pleats” pattern
18K 5N pink gold ring set with 34 round-cut diamonds
Circular track with applied 18K gold ‘pearls’
18K 5N pink gold moons behind mother-of-pearl clouds
18K 5N pink gold applied Arabic numerals
Straps/Buckles
Delivered with three self-interchangeable straps: Lilac Mississippiensis alligator leather, powder pink grained calfskin leather, and night blue satin-effect calfskin leather
Each strap is equipped with an 18K 5N pink gold pin buckle
Total diamond-setting
92 diamonds, totalling approx. 1.10 carats (guaranteed minimum carats)
Limited Edition of 100 individually numbered and engraved timepieces (X/100).