Watchmaking at its Best
Celebrates the 65th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China with a special exhibition of timepieces in Beijing
Vacheron Constantin
An elaborately engraved pocket watch from 1690, a golden cage with three singing birds and striking watch from 1814, and a 200-year-old decorative box with an automaton are among the highlights of a 350-piece exhibition that watchmaker Vacheron Constantin is organising at Beijing’s Capital Museum, in cooperation with the Geneva Museum of Art and History (MAH).
The exhibition, Geneva at the Heart of Time: The Origin of Swiss Watchmaking Culture, runs from April 24 through August 12. It features the watchmaking and enamelling collections of the MAH, considered to be one of the most important watch and clock collections in the world.
The lineup includes exclusive heritage pieces from Vacheron Constantin’s collection. The uninterrupted activity of the manufacture since 1755 makes it one of the major players in the history of watchmaking, and the wealth and exhaustiveness of the company’s collection round out the remarkable selection from the MAH.
Timepieces, as well as objets d’art, machinery and watchmaking equipment, will be presented in a 14,000sqft space designed specifically for the occasion. It’s inspired by a painting of an 18th-century Geneva cabinotiers workshop by Christophe François von Ziegler, also housed in the MAH. All the objects presented trace the history and the excellence of Swiss watchmaking that has earned the city of Geneva its enduring