Feature: Vacheron Constantin flaunts its retrograde rarities, plus a new Overseas model
Vacheron Constantin’s highest level of artisanal watchmakers must have had their work cut out for them in recent years, especially if these Watches & Wonders releases are anything to go by. The brand has lifted the lid on a number of haute horlogerie pieces, as well as an exciting new Overseas model. Here are three we’ve picked from their latest line-up…
Platinum Patrimony retrograde day-date
A watch with a double retrograde display is not something you see every day, and it’s rarely the kind of watch produced outside of the rarefied world of high horology.
This vintage-looking model in platinum by Vacheron Constantin features the date running in an arc across the top of the dial, while the days are displayed in an arc running from 8 o’clock to 4 o’clock. The blued-steel pointer for each display instantaneously jumps back to the beginning at the end of each cycle—one of the great acrobatic display of watchmaking.
Despite these two displays taking up much of the salmon-coloured sunburst dial, this is still a beautifully balanced, minimalist design and recalls retrograde displays of the 1920s and 1930s, when this complication was a novelty among the fashionable young rakes of the day.
The stand-out feature of the manual-wind movement is, of course, the 18k pink gold rotor, hollowed out to feature a skeletonised Maltese cross logo, and there’s also the obligatory cote de Geneve striping. All this is on display through the open caseback.
It’s paired with a dark blue alligator strap.
Annual production of this watch will be limited, so this won’t be a piece you get to see in the wild very often.
Traditionelle Tourbillon Retrograde
If a mère retrograde display isn’t enough to satisfy your thirst for fine watchmaking, there’s always this masterpiece with a tourbillon to consider instead. Here the retrograde display plays second fiddle to the partially open-worked dial and the tourbillon beneath it. There’s also 18k gold slate-grey open-faced plates to admire and some exquisite guilloche work to ensure this is a watch you will never, ever tire of looking at.
The tourbillon carriage doubles as a small-seconds display and incorporates an intricate Maltese cross logo in case you need reminding that you are wearing a Vacheron Constantin—the world’s oldest continuously operating watch brand, lest we forget.
As for the 41mm case, it’s 18k pink gold and is complemented by matching dauphine hands and baton indices. The self-winding movement features the brand’s famed peripheral 18k gold rotor, therefore it doesn’t obscure the meticulously hand-finished movement which bears cote de Geneve striping throughout Definitely one for the deep-pocketed connoisseur.
Vacheron’s first sport watch with a retrograde display
The Overseas, one of Vacheron Constantin’s most sought-after models and the prestigious watchmaker’s answer to a luxury steel sport watch, has also received a retrograde display—a first for the collection. But this doesn’t mean the line loses any of its usual sporty-chic aesthetics. Vacheron spent several months researching how to bring such a luxurious complication—one that’s a classic signature of the Maison—to this sporty watch.
Everything contributing to the collection’s visual signature and horological qualities can be found in the new Overseas moonphase retrograde date (reference 4000V/210A-B911). The Overseas’ iconic striking blue lacquered dial features a play on light thanks to the velvet-finish flange and sunburst satin-brushed centre, it also flaunts luminescent 18k white-gold hour markers. Each complication is displayed with extreme legibility.
At the heart of its 41mm steel case beats the in-house self-winding Calibre 2460 R31L/2, which combines the retrograde date and the high-precision moonphase, for the first time in this collection. It also has a 40-hour power reserve, plus, you can admire the movement through the open caseback.
Wear your Overseas on either the classic steel bracelet or opt for a flexible blue rubber strap or a calfskin leather one—the choice is yours.
The entire spirit of the Overseas collection is concentrated in this new watch, and it’s one that is totally versatile and intrinsically horological.
