Art To Watch Out For: The Louvre Is Partnering With Swiss Watchmaker Vacheron Constantin

The partnership, announced on November 12, will take the form of horological projects inspired by the masterpieces from the Louvre's collections.

Both "centuries-old" institutions stated that they will also work together on creative projects in the fields of craftsmanship, Haute Horlogerie, art and culture -- without sharing further details about the exact nature of their future collaborations.

"Our Maison has long since stood out in terms of both artistic commitment and cultural patronage. With the Louvre, we are beginning a very promising new chapter. We could not have dreamt of a better partner for a constructive dialogue on the themes of art and culture," Louis Ferla, chief executive of Vacheron Constantin, said in a statement.

This partnership arrived three years after Vacheron Constantin collaborated with the Parisian museum to restore an 18th-century astronomical clock, known as "La Création du Monde."

The horological masterpiece, which was originally intended to serve as a diplomatic gift, was notably presented to King Louis XV in 1754.

It later ended up in the national museum of Versailles and eventually at the Louvre.

Although "La Création du Monde" was repaired by various watchmakers over the past decades, the clock was never fully functional since the 18th century.

As Forbes reported, Vacheron Constantin had to rebuild the lunar cycle mechanism, the hours and equation of time hands and the winding system of the earth's rotation mechanism to restore the masterpiece to full working order.

The Louvre's partnership with the Swiss elite watchmaker is the latest of a slew of collaborations that the world-renowned museum has announced in recent years.

In April, the Paris institution teamed up with the home-sharing platform Airbnb for a competition giving two winners an overnight stay beneath its glass pyramid.

The initiative was met with skepticism in the French capital, which notably brought a lawsuit against Airbnb back in February in an effort to curb unauthorized rentals on short-term rental sites.