The Salon du Collectionneur, held at the Grand Palais in Paris from September 11th to 20th, will welcome for the first time the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. The Foundation will initiate visitors into watch culture and train the spotlight on watchmaking's “métiers d'art.”

Opening the Parisian art market season, the Salon du Collectionneur will take place from September 11th to 20th in the magical setting of the Grand Palais in Paris. The event, which alternates with the Biennale des Antiquaires, brings together antique dealers and gallery owners from across Europe and other continents. The Salon, whose theme is “Passions of today & Values of always,” will again present a vast array, in terms of style and period, of paintings, sculptures, precious metalware, furniture, rare books and coins, textiles, postage stamps, faience and porcelain.

It would be incongruous that the art of time measurement should not rank among these disciplines whose expertise collectors hold in such great esteem. This fourth Salon du Collectionneur has therefore invited the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie to initiate visitors and aficionados of fine watches into the mysteries of watch culture, with informative sessions devoted to this exceptional alliance of technical genius and outstanding beauty.

True to its vocation to promote the values of technical and precious fine watchmaking, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie will also present its collection of films on métiers d'art. These professions are unique to watchmaking and essential to the creation of an exceptional timepiece.

Whether concerned with technique, such as the master watchmaker, the movement designer, or makers of crystals or straps, or aesthetics, with the enameller, the engraver or the stone-setter to name but some, these metiers d'art sink their roots into the craftsmanship of centuries past. They perpetuate a tradition at the very heart of these timepieces which are considered as veritable collector's items. By welcoming the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, the Salon du Collectionneur pays homage to the men and women behind the scenes, the living treasures of watchmaking.

Source: Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie
www.hautehorlogerie.org