With the FiftySix collection, Vacheron Constantin is reaching out to a wider section of the public than its previous audience of super-wealthy customers. The FIftySix Automatic is now the entry-level piece in Vacheron Constantin’s range, available in steel at a price of €11,800. So it’s still a very expensive watch, but Vacheron Constantin is a…
The Overseas by Vacheron Constantin has become an iconic sports watch, with an identity forged above all by its bezel that expresses an engineering style of design, with a hexagonal geometry based on a portion of the Maltese cross emblem. The black dial creates a tough and minimalist effect. The other notable feature of Overseas…
The perpetual calendar chronograph is a neat concept because it can measure intervals of time that range from the smallest feasible for a mechanical watch, an eighth or sixth of a second, right through to the four years of the leap-year cycle. The combination of these two classic complications creates complex, expensive watches. Only a…
The Harmony Pulsometer Chronograph, introduced by Vacheron Constantin in 2015, is what a pulsometer chronograph should look like, as least as regards the scale. The pulsometer scale at the edge of the dial is subdivided into units as far as is practical, up to a pulse rate of 80. And the chronograph seconds scale is…
The Patrimony perpetual calendar that Vacheron Constantin presented in 2017 is a new version of an existing watch – last year it was presented in platinum with silvered dial. All the calendar information is shown on three subdials, day of the week at 9 o’clock, date at 3 o’clock, month and leap year cycle at…
The Les Cabinotiers Symphonia Grande Sonnerie 1860 byVacheron Constantin demonstrates that the brand is undoubtedly part of the top tier in the so-called watchmaking pyramid. The top tier comprises A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin, and it is defined principally by the price, prestige and complexity of their…
Vacheron Constantin has redesigned one of its legends, the Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar, giving it a new movement, Calibre 1142 QP. It is available in two versions, platinum and pink gold, and it is surprisingly large at 43 mm in diameter, 12.94 mm thick. The price is also large, around $150,000 for the platinum version.…
The Patrimony Moon Phase and Retrograde Date is classically beautiful and very expensive, a perfect example of Vacheron Constantin’s traditional watchmaking brilliance. The two versions, white gold and pink gold, give you the choice between a more discreet or a more colourful timepiece. The principal features of the watch are the retrograde date on the…
Things have changed at the top. Just a few years ago, virtually all high-end Swiss watch brands were enjoying double-digit growth. Already at the start of this year Richemont cut watchmaking jobs in Switzerland, affecting principally Cartier, Vacheron Constantin and Piaget, and, according to trade union reports, there are plans to axe another 200 jobs,…
Slim enough to be a dress watch, but with one of the most challenging complications of all: the minute repeater. The Patrimony calibre 1731 by Vacheron Constantin is now available in platinum, in addition to the 2013 pink gold version, with two dial colours that add style and sobriety. The 1731 movement is 3.9 mm…
Until this piece was presented in September 2015, the record for the most complicated watch in the world was held by Patek Philippe and its Calibre 89, a gigantic pocket watch 9 cm in diameter, 4 cm thick, weighing 1.1 kg, containing 1,728 parts, two dials and 24 hands, for a total of 33 functions…
These four watches are new models of pieces already launched in November 2014. Vacheron Constantin are presenting them as a preview to the watch fair SIHH that begins on 18 January 2016. The watches are 37 mm in diameter and set with 194 diamonds, and each has a different style of decoration. In my view…
Company profile: Vacheron Constantin was founded in 1755 by watchmaker Jean-Marc Vacheron in Geneva. He was 24 at the time, and the date of 17 September 1755 is the day that he took on his first apprentice, as proved by a contract. According to other sources, the 1755 document is in fact a record declaring…
We have just begun the year of the goat (19 February 2015-7 February 2016), and several watch brands have launched goat watches thinking specifically of the Chinese market. While I can understand this, to be honest these goat watches are so far removed from the brands’ habitual style that they may seem more of a marketing…
SIHH (19-23 January 2015) is the first major watch show of the year, and even though it includes just 16 brands, all part of the Richemont group, it provides some indications on trends and developments in the watch industry. The brands exhibiting at SIHH were A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, Baume & Mercier, Cartier,…
At SIHH in Geneva this year, there were some brands that surprised for how few new watches they presented, and others who surprised for the richness of their product launches. Vacheron Constantin definitely came in the second category, with five new calibres making 2015 a milestone year for the brand. 2015 is Vacheron Constantin’s 260th…
This article on the best minute repeater watches 2014 looks at timepieces that tell the time by chimes as well as by the usual hour and minute hands. They are complicated and very expensive. They are nearly always limited editions because, even though the luxury market continues to thrive and the number of millionaires in…
Caars, washing machines, electric drills and so forth have to comply with certain rules and regulations before they are put onto the market. For watches, this is not the case. For some categories, such as diver’s and pilot’s watches, there are some standards, but a brand can decide whether to comply or not. The only…
Vacheron Constantin continue their 12-year journey through the Chinese zodiac with this watch dedicated to the year of the goat, which begins on 19 February 2015. This limited edition is available in two variants, pink gold and platinum, with 12 pieces for each. So definitely a piece for Chinese collectors, presumably with a price tag…
The first watch made by Jean-Marc Vacheron in 1755 already had an openworked, engraved balance-cock, and over its 260 years of history, the brand’s craftspeople have become expert in this art. The Malte Tourbillon Openworked, reference 30135/000P-9842, is a mechanical, manually-wound watch, in a large case in platinum, 38 x 48 mm, 12.73 m thick.…