Next year, Christian Selmoni will celebrate 30 years at Vacheron Constantin and he has left his mark in various departments apart from the watchmaking studio.
"I find it difficult to screw and unscrew things, and if you give me a screwdriver, that can be dangerous," Selmoni joked in explaining why he was never an horologer.
Though born to a Swiss family of watchmakers in the Vallée de Joux, he studied finance instead and joined the Geneva-based maison in 1990.
His career path had taken him from sales administration and purchasing to production and product creation. Selmoni was the artistic director for seven years before his appointment as head of heritage department in 2017.
"I had opportunities to do various jobs. Now in the heritage department, my team and I are like investigators on a treasure hunt that leads to endless discoveries," he said. "Vacheron Constantin has a very rich heritage, and from our archives we extract watches and stories that are interesting and share them on our Instagram via the @thehourlounge account."
Since Vacheron Constantin was founded in 1755, the archives date from the 18th century to the present. The inventory currently comprises 800 machine tools and pieces of workshop furniture, 1,000 registers of the maison's models, 1,500 timepieces, and other historic references.
The variety of watches range from 1920s cushion-shaped and 1970s asymmetrical models to feminine diamond-set timepieces dating back to the 1920s, 30s and 70s.
The heritage department is a bridge between the past and future of the Swiss brand's mechanical watchmaking. Inspiration for new watches often comes from research and the expertise of team members.
For instance, the retro Fiftysix family, which made its debut last year, is a modern interpretation of the iconic Reference 6073, launched in 1956 and inspired by the Maltese cross.
Housed in a slender case, the Patrimony, with finely balanced proportions, taut curves and pure lines is also inspired by 1950s models from the archives.
"We use our creative eyes to pick a watch from the archives for reinvention. I personally like the minimalist Patrimony watches because they are difficult to design," said the former artistic director.
The 2019 novelties include pink gold Patrimony manual, self-winding and retrograde day-date models with the dial in midnight blue with sunburst satin finishing, and stainless steel Fiftysix self-winding and complete calendar models in petrol blue with opaline centre and sunburst exterior. The blue shades and finishing were specifically designed to match the spirit of each collection.
Other new models include stainless steel Overseas Tourbillon and pink gold Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin, and platinum Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, which showcase technical mastery.
"We have such a long history, of 264 years, which is driven by innovation -- otherwise, we wouldn't still be here. It took four years to develop the fantastic Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, which demonstrates our vitality and creativity in technical watches," he said.
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