Shell Watch by Vacheron Constantin at the SIHH 2012

At the annual Salon Haute Horlogerie SIHH 2012 the Swiss company Vacheron Constantin has presented a new model from the series Métiers d'Art - Les Univers Infinis - the Shell watch.
For creation of the novelty the company’s designers are inspired by the Netherlands artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, whose mosaic pictures are based on a game of visual images and the psychology of space perception. In his pictures he used a symmetrical mosaic, which is based on the surface separation into the contact fragments of the same shape, covering each other with no gaps.
The idea of such "partition" became the basis for the wristwatch Shell, the dial of which depicts the yellowish seabed with perched on it shells and starfish. To create a mosaic image have been used two techniques of decoration - engraved and notched enamel Grand Feu.

Twisted composition of stars and shells on the surface of the dial causes the engraver: with a "dry" needle are applied the contours of the “sea inhabitants” and then are created the reliefs that enhance the visual depth of the created composition. The engraving process is followed by enameling and firing, carried out at a temperature of 800 ° to 850 ° C. Firing is performed several times to give the image the required color tone. After firing, the disc of the dial is polished and varnished, and then the engraver does finishing the latest touches to the composition.
An elegant work, created in tandem of engraver and enameller, "is enclosed" in the round case of 18 K white gold. The watch on both sides is protected by a strong sapphire glass. Through the transparent case back you can enjoy the work of the artfully decorated mechanism 2460 SC, assembled and engraved by hand.
The model is released in a limited edition: to buy the watch will be able only for 20 watch art admirers all over the world.