Bespoke…

“Eventually, you reach a point when you want what others don’t have,” says Dominique Bernaz, director of Vacheron Constantin’s Atelier Cabinotiers.  Indeed.  Vacheron’s Atelier Cabinotiers is the manufacture’s special-order division established in 2006 to serve its most exclusive clients (more on Atelier Cabinotiers here).  Be it a unique dial or an entirely proprietary movement, Atelier Cabinotiers can make it happen.  For a multi-million dollar price tag, of course.

It goes without saying that at this high level of watch collecting, discretion is part of the unwritten rule of conduct.  In other words, it is likely that the existence of most of the spectacular commissioned creations of Atelier Cabinoteirs are not widely known.  They do not it make it into a press release or watch magazine — they exist solely for the pleasure and enjoyment of their wealthy owners.   What a nice surprise and pleasure it is then that the owner of this watch, the Vacheron Constantin Philosophia, has agreed to allow a glimpse of his (or her) amazing watch over at Vacheron’s self-hosted discussion forum.

Vacheron Constantin Philosophia

(pre-production graphic)

Minute repeater, Moon Phase, Power Reserve, Tourbillon

The word on  The Hour Lounge is that the owner’s original idea for this piece was to have a tourbillon minute repeater with no hands.  For reasons unknown to me, though, the owner obviously decided to add one hand (it advances in 24h cycles) and a moonphase indicator.  The base movement is Vacheron’s Caliber 2755, appropriately modified.  Most other details of the watch remain unknown, but I think the price was easily >$1 million.

Vacheron Constantin Philosophia, No. 1/1 (Un/Un)

personalised power reserve indicator on the caseback showing the Big Dipper constellation

Pretty cool, eh?

Two-tone…

It was just 10 days ago that I featured a special Vacheron Constantin Overseas for Greece.  Now it seems to be next-door neighbor Turkey’s turn!

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph in steel with rose gold bezel, crown and pushers

limited to 150 pieces for the Turkish market; set on a black rubber strap & also comes with a black crocodile leather strap

Unlike the Greece version which was specially decorated with a Greek Trieme, the case back of this watch bears the “standard” sea vessel that appears on the Overseas watches – the Amerigo Vespucci (see below).

pic: The Hour Lounge.

I would guess that price might be in the 20.000 EUR range.

Crisis befalls not every man…

Prestigious Swiss watch brand Vacheron Constantin has launched a 100 piece limited edition Overseas Chronograph specially for the Greek market.  The overall design keeps with the look of the Overseas collection as it has been since being “refreshed” in 2004 — so what makes it special for Greece?  Primarily, the case back is not engraved with the habitual Amerigo Vespucci sail boat but with a Greek Trireme (seen below).   Also, the color is new — a dark blue guilloché dial matched with a blue rubber strap (which actually looks pretty cool, in my view).  The watch also comes with an extra dark blue croc strap (also pictured).  Price is EUR 14.600 (including VAT).  All photos are (c) The Hour Lounge — click through the link at the bottom to sign up and see more pics.

The Vacheron Constantin Overseas “Greece”

42 mm steel case, Maltese cross inspired bezel, screwed-down pushpieces, water resistant to 150 meters

Caseback:  A Greek Trireme (as opposed to the usual Amerigo Vespucci)

At one point I might have suggested that the timing of the introduction of this watch is “interesting” to say the least, but to be fair, new watches are constantly being introduced — during good times and bad — are they not?  Besides, the locals know their market best, do they not?

If you would like to know more about the iconic Vacheron Constantin Overseas collection, check out my 2009 writeup on the Vacheron Constantin Overseas titanium models — there is a good chronology of the watch in this article.  And as I noted above, more  pics are on display over at The Hour Lounge, Vacheron Constantin’s in-house forum.

Love the color and materials, dislike date sub-dial…

After the very sharp, very “Vacheron” looking chronograph and time-only models of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas models that were launched this time last year (see: Vacheron Constantin Overseas:  Dressed in Grey, 04/16/09), 2010 sees the launch of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time.   The watch will be available with a grey croc strap as well as a black rubber one.   The Dual Time uses Vacheron’s automatic caliber 1222 with a soft-iron antimagnetic inner case.  The price on this particular piece is likely to be in the $15,000 – $18,000 range by my estimation.

42 mm steel case, titanium “Maltese cross” inspired bezel (fantastic!), water resistance 150 meters, motif of the three-masted sailing ship “Amerigo Vespucci” engraved on the caseback

(c) The Hour Lounge

(c) The Hour Lounge

(c) The Hour Lounge

My only nit-pick about this watch is its date sub-dial –  it is quite poorly designed.  And in fact this poor design is nothing new  – no fewer than 11 different Vacheron Constantin models use this same sub-dial design.  However on this particular watch it looks even more striking in comparison to the much more minimalistic dual-time sub-dial at the 6 o’clock position.  What do I mean by poor design?  Well, as I’ve highlighted below, you can see that the days 1-31 appear very crowded on the sub-dial – and most oddly the “1″ looks like it almost got squeezed right off the dial!  Makes no sense whatsoever to me.  Sure it is a small detail, but discerning buyers of a watch of this high a caliber have good reason to obsessed with little details such as this.

Lest I end on too sour a note (particularly for those of you not familiar with the brand), I will point out  that Vacheron Constantin is one of the pre-eminent watch makers today, right up there with Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and others — generally speaking, a Vacheron Constantin is second to none!

蒔絵 – The Making of a “Sprinkled Picture”

Like a highly skilled watchmaker, the maki-e artisan is able to create with his hands something so intricate, so delicate, so amazing…it’s hard to put it into words.  All I will say is that these artisans are skilled in ways that I deeply respect and admire.  Watch:

You can read more and see close up photos of each of these watches on our SIHH 2010 forum by clicking here (scroll down the page a bit).

About Maki-e

Maki-e  – which literally means “sprinkled picture” – is the most sophisticated of all lacquer techniques, designating a decorative operation in which the design is created by delicately sprinkling gold or silver dust over lacquer – usually black – while it is still wet.

The lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, Rhus verniciflua. This tree, a relative of poison ivy, originated on the high plateaus of central Asia or Tibet. Today, it grows only in southern China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan, but it seems to have had a much wider range in the past. In Japanese, the word for the substance and the name of the tree are the same: urushi.

Lacquer techniques vary from country to country and are based on the quality of the lacquer and the use to which the objects will be put. The three categories most representative of the lacquer arts are carving, inlay, and maki-e. The number of possibilities is almost infinite, and the invention of maki-e and its variations by the Japanese is one of the most remarkable marriages of technical mastery and aesthetic sophistication in all the history of art. This decorative technique developed very early in Japanese history. It matured as an art form between the eighth and twelfth centuries A.D., becoming the predominant method of ornamentation beginning in the seventeenth century and remaining so to this day. It does not seem to have been used in China – or if it was, it disappeared very early on. It was highly prized there, however, as evidenced by the many orders placed from the continent over the centuries. Maki-e’s own rise allowed the techniques it involves to blossom as well. Beginning in the mid-tenth century, this technique far surpassed all its rivals and was heavily preferred over them for the delicacy of its execution, its quality of being distinct yet misty at the same time, and its incredibly poetic presence.

One of the greatest beauties of lacquer is that it can decorate the most precious of objects as easily as those used in everyday life. Lacquerware bowls and crockery have come down through the centuries, as have variously shaped boxes with all sorts of uses: document holders, tea caddies, incense boxes, paintbrush holders, inkwells, card cases, pill boxes, etc. While there has always been lacquered furniture, the preference has almost always been for small objects, for work that is enchanting in its meticulous perfection.

So many spectacular watches today! Team Perpetuelle was crunching the keyboards hard today and we ended up posting somewhere around 100 new models of watches today on our SIHH forum.  Time flies when you are having fun and we hope you enjoyed all the action.  Stay tuned for Jaeger-leCoultre tomorrow

Anyway, in keeping with the them of trying to post a few watches here on the blog – those that “caught my eye” – I thought I would share here one of the new Vacheron Constantin’s.  There were several from Vacheron that are really phenomenal looking watches and that I would like to post here but let’s just take this one at a time, shall we?  This Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Chrono is a real looker.  It is cased in one of my favorite metals – platinum.  Yes it looks good, doesn’t it?  Case size is generous, too, at 43mm.  If I recall correctly, this watch was released last year in pink gold, but I must say I like this year’s version much better.

The movement in this watch is the Vacheron Calibre 1141QP, a caliber that has “set the pace of some of the most exalted wrist-chronographs in the history of watchmaking and is regarded by all experts as the most technically and stylistically accomplished of its kind because of its extraordinary complexity and incomparable architecture.”  Yes indeed well said by Vacheron.  I probably have a close up of the movement somewhere around here but you can get a fair idea of its beauty and intricate workings from the partial photo below.  Oh – worth noting that it is a manual wind movement, with 48 hour power reserve.

One detail I like on this watch is the “smiling” or “melancholy” moons – engraved by hand on a plate of solid platinum with a black patina.

I’m not sure of price, but I think this one could be in excess of $100k.  Can you say Pt950?  Cha-ching!

Would love to hear if you have any thoughts on this watch, or any other Vacheron’s that you like / dislike.  Feel free to leave a comment below.

Right after the “Only Watch 2009″ charity auction in which Vacheron Constantin’s one-of-a-kind Quai de l’Ile sold for $75,000, Vacheron Constantin announced it was going a step further and would launch an exceptional series of 100 Quai de l’Ile watches to further its support of the fight against the currently incurable Muscular Dystrophy (you can check my original announcement of this here: Vacheron Constantin Goes From 1 to 100 for Charity). The cool thing about these watches was that the case was to be made of 2 very special metals that are rarely seen in watchmaking – tantalum and palladium.  Inside the special case would be a mechanical self-winding Vacheron Constantin 2460 movement bearing the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, and each of the 100 pieces would be numbered and engraved on the back.

Well, just today it seems that Mr. Alex Ghotbi, the esteemed Moderator of Vacheron Constantin’s The Hour Lounge Discussion Forum, got his hands on both of the watches and had time to take several picture.  So I thought I would share a few of the pics that he took with you.  Mr. Ghotbi did a great job with the pictures!  Despite his own side note that the blueish tint of tantalum was difficult to capture in the photos -  I must say that the watches look pretty incredible!  Check it out:

The Vacheron Constantin Qua de l’Ile for “Only Watch” 2009 (unique piece)

Vacheron Constantin Quai de l’Ile Tantalum Palladium (limited to 100 pieces)

You can see several more photos of the tantalum/palladium Qua de l’Ile as well as join in the forum discussion over at the Hour Lounge by clicking here.

My favorite time of year – previews of the new watches coming in 2010!  The first event of the new year is SIHH, formally known as the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, and it is held in January.  Prior to the event, each manufacturer in attendance usually releases a preview of one or two of the many new watches that it has been working on and plans to release in 2010.  I’ll be highlighting most of the previews here on First In Watches, but for the official event most of the action will be on the Perpetuelle.com Forums (which by the way have been redesigned and upgraded…and will be unveiled before the end of this year).

So let’s get on with today’s preview, shall we?  This one – actually two – hot off the press from Vacheron Constantin – for SIHH 2010 Vacheron Constantin will be introducing two new extra slim models in the Historiques collection: 1955 (round case) and 1968 (square case).  There are not many details yet, but what I do know is this:  the Historiques 1955 will house a manual wind caliber 1003 (now a 100% inhouse movement, and in 100% yellow gold), and the 1968 will have a VC automatic caliber 1120.    Both models are in 4N gold which I understand has an interesting tone to it somwhere between yellow and rose gold.  Also, the Historiques 1955 has a 36mm case and the Historiques 1968 is 35.2mm x 35.2mm (not including lugs) – as we have already seen from Panerai, and now Vacheron Constantin, this may be the year of the smaller watch (but I’ll be writing more on that later)!

Here’s a look at the pics VC released thus far.  Below the pics is a nice historical summary of Vacheron Constantin’s long history of innovations and leadership in thin/ultra slim watch category.

“Historique Ultra-fine 1968” (left) and the “Historique Ultra-fine 1955” (right)

“Historique Ultra-fine 1955”, currently the world’s thinnest watch measuring just 4.10 mm thick

inspired by one of the three historical models introduced in 1955 – reference 4961

Look at this beautiful profile!

The redesigned Caliber 1003:  1.64 mm thickness – still a market slimness record – and its 21.10 mm diameter remain unchanged in tribute to the original movement. Bridges and mainplate are now crafted from 18-carat gold – 117 parts – and a 30-hour+ power reserve, despite its tiny size!

And this will be viewable through the sapphire crystal exhibition caseback!

And here’s the 1968:

Here is the nice history on Vacheron’s ultra-thin watch heritage (as provided by VC):

Extreme slenderness is traditionally not considered as a horological complication, in that it does not itself contribute an additional watch function in the same way as a date or a chronograph. It would nonetheless be entirely legitimate to describe it as such, due to its highly complex nature that often pushes micromechanical boundaries to the limit. Although many try their hand in this field, few are successful.

While the first ultra-thin Vacheron Constantin calibres were produced in the 19^th century, the manufacturer became most prolific in this speciality during the 20^th century, which is generally considered as the ultra-thin “golden age”. It was indeed in the early 20^th century that wristwatches began to gain popularity, and weight and thickness thus became crucial factors in ensuring the wearer comfort of such models.

The Vacheron Constantin heritage comprises extraordinary ultra-thin creations and a succession of slimness records.

Right from the start of the 19^th century, the Vacheron Constantin archives (including a letter written by Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron to a certain Mr. Girod in Paris, dated May 18^th 1912) feature references to thin watches. Another letter dated January 28^th 1829 and written by Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron to François Constantin also mentions the production of “a few thin pieces”.

Vacheron Constantin’s historical records for 1911 also include three 8,9 and 10-ligne calibres, each measuring 2.82 mm thick. The remainder of the century witnessed an impressive number of ultra-thin calibres, representing impressive horological feats and becoming ever slimmer over the years: 2.25 mm in 1917, 1.88 in 1924. Some were used to create such extraordinary models as a rock crystal watch presented in 1926 and equipped with a 2.63 mm red gold movement.

In 1931, Vacheron Constantin set a new world pocket-watch record with a mechanical movement measuring 17 lignes 5/12 in diameter and less than 1 mm thick – exactly 0.94 mm to be precise !

Ultra-thin movements continued to inspire the Geneva-based manufacturer, leading it in 1981 to present the “Structura” collection, which set a highly original stage for one of these movements by reversing it and fitting the hands on the bridge side, thereby enabling connoisseurs to admire the full complexity of its structure.

In 1992, Vacheron Constantin confirmed that its expertise in the field of extreme slenderness also extends to Grand Complication movements by presenting the thinnest minute repeater wristwatch movement to date, measuring 3.28 mm and earning the Geneva-based manufacturer set another record.

Nor was Vacheron Constantin lagging behind when it came to self-winding movements. From 1945 onwards, it began developing ultra-thin self-winding  movements such as the 477 9/12 which was to be the first of an entire generation : the 498 in 1951, the 499 and the 1019 in 1953, followed by the 1071 in 1958.

Sure, pocket watches are a bit “old school” – but this is still kinda cool. For the first time since 1992, Vacheron Constantin has presented a new pocket watch.  Case, dial and hands are in platinum. The watch is limited to 50 pieces.  Reference No. 82028/000P-9490.  Manual wind caliber 4400.  Delivered with an alligator leather cord, or you can special order it on a platinum chain (definitely the way to go) – both variations are pictured.  At 43mm diameter, it actually seems a bit small for a pocket watch, but this is the way of the gentleman, you see.

The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine Pocket Watch

Understated.  Sophisticated.  Dandy!

Would look good with a Brioni 3-piece made-to-measure, wouldn’t it?

After its one-of-a-kind Quai de l’Ile sold for about $75,000 at the recent ONLY Watch 2009 charity event, Vacheron Constantin has decided to launch an exceptional series of 100 Quai de l’Ile watches to further its support of the fight against the currently incurable Muscular Dystropny.  Vacheron Constantin will donate 1,000 CHF per watch sold for a total donation of 100,000 Swiss francs to the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy.

Commenting on the new special collection, Vacerhon Constantin CEO Juan-Carlos Torres stated:

“Driven by a desire to transcend the gift we had made to the auction, we simply asked ourselves how we could open up a new and more lasting channel of funding on behalf of the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy over which Luc Pettavino presides in such a charismatic manner. We have therefore decided to launch the development and production of a special series of 100 numbered watches dedicated to the association, the sale of which will enable us to make a further direct contribution of 100,000 Swiss francs. We sincerely hope this initiative will pave the way for other ideas of a similar nature.”

These special Quai de l’Ile watches are constructed of a case made in tantalum and in palladium; equipped with the mechanical self-winding 2460 movement bearing the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva; numbered and engraved on the back; and specifically dedicated to this noble cause.   They will soon be available from the 100 Vacheron Constantin points of sale around the globe that already offer the exclusive Quai de l’Ile collection.

If you are not familiar with Vacheron’s Quai de l’Ile series, I also recommend you watch the excellent video I am including below.

Vacheron Constantin Quai de l’Ile -Special series dedicated to the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy