The 2024 edition of Homo Faber, a biennial fair held in Venice to celebrate superior craftsmanship, opened Sept. 1. And among its exhibitors are independent watchmakers and several high-end brands, all celebrating their skills in métiers d’art and art-related projects.
Miki Eleta, a self-taught Swiss clockmaker who typically produces just one piece a year, is showcasing two of his recent table clocks: the Minute Muncher, a gold-plated brass automaton that symbolizes the brevity of life by having a small black fantasy creature appear to eat away at the minutes, and BY 21Dez12ME, a complex U.F.O.-shaped structure populated by miniature green aliens. The intricate piece has several complications, including jumping hours, in which the hour hand jumps, rather than sweeps, to the next hour; moon phase; and world time.
“I am proud to share my two pieces during the Homo Faber exhibition in Venice,” Mr. Eleta wrote in an email. “I create art; a piece made by me must speak my language, express my thoughts and philosophy.”
Frank Jutzi, another Swiss independent maker, also is presenting a table clock, but in a more classic style: featuring a hand-engraved mainspring barrel and drive wheel, powered by a tourbillon (a mechanism that helps the clock counter gravity’s effect on timekeeping) and encased in a rectangular glass case.
Given that Homo Faber is organized by the Michelangelo Foundation, the brainchild in 2016 of Johann Rupert, the chairman of the Swiss luxury goods group Richemont, and Franco Cologni, a former Richemont executive, perhaps it should be no surprise that Richemont’s watch brands are participating.
Venice itself was a particular focus of Jaeger-LeCoultre, which introduced the Reverso Tribute Enamel Venice Series, three limited-edition timepieces in its signature Reverso design (prices on application). The case back of each watch bears an enamel reproduction of Claude Monet’s paintings of Venice: “San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk,” the island where Homo Faber is held, opposite St. Mark’s Square; “The Grand Canal”; and “The Doge’s Palace.”
The miniatures used a variation of Monet’s distinctive impasto, or layering, effect, applying as many as 14 layers of enamel, each one requiring several separate firings at as much as 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 degrees Fahrenheit).
“This is not our first time attending Homo Faber,” said Matthieu Le Voyer, the brand’s chief marketing officer, “and the experience has been immensely rewarding. It has allowed us to connect with a global audience that deeply appreciates fine craftsmanship.” (The brand has participated in all three fairs, in 2018, 2021 and this year.)
Some of the 20 young artisans supported by Jaeger-LeCoultre through the Homo Faber Fellowship program are exhibiting their work in fields including silversmithing and ceramics, too. During the seven-month fellowship, all worked alongside a master in their respective fields, participated in a monthlong residential class with the Portuguese contemporary artist Joana Vasconcelos and completed a business workshop certified by ESSEC (École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales), a business school in Paris.
The art and science of restoration is the focus of Vacheron Constantin’s display. Timepieces from the company’s collection, including a 1908 pocket watch, three wristwatches with diagonal time reading developed for the American market in 1921 and a diamond-encrusted Lady Kalla from 1985, are being shown to demonstrate how movements work for generations.
Christian Selmoni, the brand’s style and heritage director, wrote in an email that the show would surprise visitors: “Restoration is not usually a visible or accessible profession for the public to see or discover.”
And in a celebratory mood for its 150th anniversary, Piaget is showcasing its goldsmithing savoir-faire by juxtaposing the elaborately decorated golden chains and straps made by the house’s artisans for its pendant and cuff watches.
“Homo Faber, of course, brings visibility,” said Jean-Bernard Forot, the brand’s head of patrimony, “but the most significative moments happen before the event, when the maisons get the chance to work with incredible artists and curators, like Luca Guadagnino this year.”
Mr. Guadagnino, an Italian film director, and Nicolò Rosmarini, an architect who is a project manager at Mr. Guadagnino’s studio, curated the 2024 fair to the theme “The Journey of Life.” More than 400 craft professionals from 70 countries are expected to have participated by the time the event ends on Sept. 30.
Other Richemont brands at the event include Panerai, sponsoring a conceptual light installation by the Back Studio, an artistic duo in Turin, Italy; Montblanc, marking the 100th anniversary of the Meisterstück pen with the introduction of a model that sucks ink rather than requiring it to be poured into a reservoir; Cartier, offering demonstrations in which a sculptor and a jeweler create a tiger-inspired jewel; and Van Cleef & Arpels, showcasing the making of its prongless Mystery Set for gems. It also is exhibiting Fée Ondine, the first automaton table clock in its Extraordinary Objects collection, introduced in 2017.
As Alberto Cavalli, the executive director of the Michelangelo Foundation, wrote in an email, “Homo Faber is a unique opportunity to present aspects that are at the roots of every authentic luxury brand: artisanal skills, specific and unique techniques, the centrality of human beings in the creation of bespoke objects.”
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