This watch is from a small series of watches made in the late 1990s. Since 1994, Vacheron Constantin has sought to showcase the various specialized applied arts used in watchmaking, the "Métiers d'Art". One of the most important of these is the art of dial making, and specifically the decoration of the dial. The art of enamel was featured when Vacheron Constantin commemorated the 400th anniversary of the death of Gérard Mercator in 1994, with the famous "Mercator" series of watches with painted on enamel, cloisonné and champlevé enamel dials. The success of the Mercator series encouraged the firm to continue to produce small series of watches with enamel dials, including the "Audubon" series, of which this watch is an example. The dials of these watches were inspired by the drawings of John James Audubon (1785-1851), well-known American naturalist and painter.