The advent of scratch and sniff stickers was something quite remarkable, but have you heard of scented watches? Of course not. That’s because until this year, no such thing had occurred in high-end watchmaking. Hear us out. We see colours, we hear sounds, we feel textures. But how do we view the passage of time other than the shifting of our thoughts, and well, the closing and opening of the curtains?

If there is such a thing as a sixth sense – the ability to understand our relationship with time – Swiss watchmakers, Vacheron Constantin, endeavour to usher it to life by summoning a new frontier for watchmaking. Bringing a sense of synaesthesia to your wrist, the experts in timekeeping hold hands with haute couturier Yiqing Ying and master perfumer, Dominique Ropion, to create the Égérie – The Pleats of Time, A Concept Watch. Fusing together three worlds of alternative craftsmanship, the Maison makes history with a lilac timepiece, adorned with the embroidery of couture techniques, while harbouring a scent, delicately activated through the movement of the wrist.

Through this collaborative triage that welcomes the debut of two concept watches, you not only see time, but you can smell it. You can hear the gentle rhythm of time, but you can touch it too. In a bid to alter our perception of time as something so linear, discover how Vacheron Constantin ripped apart the rulebook, put the kudos back into collaboration, and proved there’s no such thing as being too on the nose. Inhale altogether now.

Scarlett Baker This multisensory collaboration combining different artistic spheres, is the first of its kind in haute horology. What does it feel like to have a collaboration like this?

Yiqing Yin I’m so grateful for this encounter, but most of all, I’m grateful for the freedom and the trust the Maison has given me to push forward a concept that is so audacious and original. It’s not just a point of marketing; we really combined our common values and ways of working, the contrast and also meeting points across each industry. Everything has been really organic and natural. I feel really honoured.

SB Has it broadened your awareness of the watchmaking world?

YY Definitely. I never wore a watch before working with Vacheron Constantin and I think it really is a type of
expertise you need to educate yourself in to appreciate the
value. The definition of value is something we need to talk about to the consumer, which differs from the fashion industry as this is another level of craftsmanship as it’s about perfectionism. It’s putting the value on the poetry of the human hand, the poetry of the mind, and that’s something also shared with haute parfumerie, too. That’s why I wanted to explore the idea of infusing time with emotional depth which is often covered by the technical prowess of this industry.

Sandrine Donguy Yiqing really the main direction in terms of artistry. We’ve been working with Yiging since the creation of the Egerie collection in 2020, but we choose the colour collaboratively.. Yiqing said that lilac was really speaking to her because of her dreams, as she dreams in lilac. It’s a really constructive collaboration because Yiqing really gave us a different feeling as to how we can interpret time and how you can integrate this into a watch. She managed the artistic direction of the entire timepiece, the colours, the rhythm of the pleats.

YY It was a real dialogue between all worlds, because I was really stepping into a world that is so different from my own. I’m used to working with supple materials and fluidity, and there’s an immediate impact on the shape of something you construct. Whereas with the watch, there are a set of rules and codes that are so ingrained in the history and heritage of the house. There’s values you need to respect and consider, so it’s a delicate advancement working together. We ask: how can we purify the dial, how can we liberate time from its markers and its measure? So we ended up freeing the dial from numeral markers and constructed a double pleated prism cascade that is also …reminiscent of the pleating in my dresses, conveying weightlessness and an unrestricted state where time is floating and suspended. That was the true message.

SB When people see the watches, what do you hope they learn from them?

SD A feeling of exploration. Exploring new territories and binding universes of haute parfumerie and haute couture. It’s an experiment, a vision to see where we can go. The road is more important than the results.

YY It’s perhaps proposing a new relationship with time, to anchor it in something that is positive and inspiring, rather than a constant race or division of time as we all know it. It’s a perspective of expansion.

SB If this watch was a question, what would it be?

YY How can you truly free time? How can you experience it and incarnate the present and experience all of its emotional candor?

SB One of the main features on the dial is the moonphase. What prompted you to include this?

YY Moonphase has a relationship with time that is devoid of realistic measure and opens a door to an intuitive experience of life. It’s the most poetic complication to me and helps connect to another realm of consciousness. The
moon is so evocative.

SB One of the remarkable facets of this partnership is that you’ve created a watch that has its very own smell. How did this sensory decision take shape?

SD If we look back at the history of the Maison, many requests we received from women were requesting innovation. From reducing calibres, different winding methods and pushing the boundaries. This is a true demonstration of how we want to explore, while continuing the legacy of who we are. It’s something unexpected.

SB How do you navigate working with three parties in a creative collaboration?

SD It’s all about translating intentions and finding a common language. Particularly for Dominique Ropion and the world of perfume, it can get very abstract very quickly. He’s a technician in his field, so it’s about turning chemistry into emotion and finding balance.

SB How long does it take for a collaboration of this kind to come to life?

SD For the perfume, it’s a development over months, for the watch, it’s a creation of over two years. As we didn’t have any expectations from the beginning for something specific, it’s more about the journey to how you get there.

YY It feels daring and as though it’s planting seeds for a new kind of approach in watchmaking.

SB When you hold the watches in your hands, how do you feel?

SD We did it! From the early intentions, we’re finally here.

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