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Imagine a cushion shaped mono-pusher chronograph wristwatch from a storied brand like Vacheron Constantin, that dates to 1930.  A watch such as this is surely a valuable one and the type of thing an auction house like Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Antiquorum, or Bonhams would love to have.  In fact, the Vacheron you see above, the reference 2990 mono-pusher from 1930 is in fact a watch that was sold by Christie’s in May of last year (2011) for over $ 56,000.  In other instances, examples for the 2990 mono-pusher from VC has broken $ 100,000. 

But, if you happen to be cruisin the ‘Bay (that’s “browsing watches on eBay” for those who don’t speak watchnerd), and enter “vintage Vacheron,” you will come across a watch that looks very much like this one.  Actually, the seller claims it is this one – a Vacheron Constantin reference 2990 mono-pusher chronographer in a solid gold cushion style case from 1930.  And, it’s only at $ 2,175!  What a bargain!

Except it’s a total fake. 

From:HODINKEE

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The vintage minute repeater – who made them? Patek Philippe? Sure, but not many.  Vacheron Constantin? Yup, but even less.  In fact, Vacheron only made 36 watches in the early to mid 20th century that were minute repeaters, and all of them (as far as we know) bore the reference 4261.  And, out of those 36 minute repeaters, only ten used a 13mm diameter movement, inside an oversized case.  All 36 minute repeaters were in fact ultra-slim, with a movement of just 3.1mm thick and were typically made from yellow or pink gold, sometimes platinum.

And then we have the watch we saw yesterday at Christie’s, which will be coming up in their May Geneva sale.  This is indeed a vintage Vacheron repeater, and indeed it uses a wide (13mm ligne diameter) but ultra-slim (3.1mm) movement in an oversized case (36mm, but it feels more like 38mm), but it is not a reference 4261 like all the others. 

From:HODINKEE

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We’ve discussed the glory of vintage Vacheron Constantin before.  You’re talking true top level work at prices often well below where one might expect to see them (see here, here, and here for examples of what we mean). 

In Antiquorum New York’s coming auction, there an exceptionally cool vintage Vacheron that you rarely see offered publicly.  The watch is a 1950s triple date moonphase VC, that you often find in gold.  But this one isn’t gold, it’s steel.

From:HODINKEE

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Vintage Vacheron chronographs are, in our humble opinion, massively undervalued.  When you compare what the average vintage VC chrono sells for compared to the average vintage Patek chrono – you’ll see what we mean.  Vintage VC chromos feature the same type of movements and finishing you’ll see with the Pateks, and in many cases, the actual design of the watch itself is arguably more interesting.

Take for example the quintessential vintage Vacheron chronograph, the reference 4178.  The dial, those perfect teardrop lugs, and the fantastic manually wound movement make this watch a must for a VC collector, and it’s a watch so good, that when Gene Stone, the author and travel watch collector whom we featured here, was chosing the cover image for his seminal horological book “The Watch,” he chose the 4178.

And if you’re looking for 4178, there isn’t a better one available than the one present in Antiquorum’s Geneva sale this Sunday.  We stopped by the office just yesterday to take these pictures of it

The condition of both the dial and case are superb, and it even comes on beautiful Vacheron alligator with a VC buckle.  At an estimate of $ 16 – 22k, could you ask for a more beautiful watch?

Click here fore more details.

Click through for more pics.

From:HODINKEE

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Well, we can’t say we saw this one coming.  The guys over at Timezone have just announced that the Gronefeld One Hertz has been named the Timezone Watch of the Year, upsetting such logical favorites as the Patek Philippe 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, The Jaeger-LeCoultre Grand Reverso Tribute to 1931, and the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony World Timer. 

This is an important win for independent watchmakers everywhere, and what is so impressive is that we have to assume that the vast majority of the 29% of the TZ population that voted for the One Hertz has never even seen one!

Still, congratulations to Tim and Bart Grönefeld, two of the most talented watchmakers (and nicest guys) we know in the industry today.  Visit their official website here for more info and read our posts on Grönefeld from months past.

Here is a video of the Timezone award winning watch as explained by Tim and Bart Grönefeld themselves:

From:HODINKEE

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Vacheron Constantin unveiled its newest creations at the 22nd annual SIHH 2012 in Geneva Switzerland showcasing new additions to the Patrimony, Malte, & Metiers d’Art collections. Please enjoy the candid interview with Hugues de Pins, President of Vacheron Constantin North America!

From:The Breitling Watch Blog

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Say hello to my bulging friend – the Malte. Yea, I said it. Vacheron Constantin redoes its classic Malte watch case for 2012 as a “bulging barrel” design that is not universally liked, but is distinctive. I for one am actually a fan of the new more exaggerated tonneau style case and thin profile of this casually elegant range of watches. For men there are three versions this year.

For a long time the Matle has been part of the Vacheron Constantin line up. It has housed all sorts of movements – many with very high complications. The new range is much more simple and wonderfully chic in my opinion. The conservative brand offers only one style of each this year – with more to follow for sure in the coming years.

My favorite version is a limited edition of 100 pieces model in 950 platinum called the Vacheron Constantin Malte 100th Anniversary Edition. It is the 100th anniversary of the Malte this year by the way… The watch is a simple two-handed with cool sandblasted silver dial and black Roman numerals. It contains the Vacheron Constantin in-house made Calibre 4400 manually would movement.

The main Malte case for 2012 is quite thin and curved a bit. On the wrist is it extremely comfortable and I love how it looks. Size is decent at 36.70mm wide and 47.61mm tall. Aside from the tourbillon, the watch have very simple solid casebacks. One the dial the hands are those lovely models that are sort of dauphine shaped with small ends and have that contrast polishing of satin and polished for a bold, legible look.

The simple standard Malte model for 2012 is the Vacheron Constantin Malte Small Seconds. It differs from the limited edition model in terms of the dial case material and movement. The movement is actually the same base, but here offered in the Caliber 4400 AS version with a small seconds dial. The dial for this model is more in line with the contemporary Vacheron Constantin aesthetic. Applied baton hour markers in gold with Roman numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock. Also a very nice piece on the wrist. This year the Malte Small seconds will be offered in 18k pink gold only.

There is also a smaller Malte model for women but I won’t cover that here. The high complication version of the new Malte, is the Malte Tourbillon. The case here is slightly bigger due to the movement, and is 38mm wide by just over 48mm tall. It is also thicker and contains Vacheron Constantin’s Calibre 2795 manually wound tourbillon movement. The great looking watch has a tourbillon window that looks massive due to the case design – but is no larger than on most other VC watches of today. The watch has an exposed caseback and the movement is as pretty as ever. Well integrated into the new Malte case, the Tourbillon is a strong looking high-complication watch with a relaxed personality.

Each of the new Malte watches for 2012 will be strong sellers in what feels like all Vacheron Constantin markets. As they redevelop the US market I think simple yet distinctive pieces like this will have a strong appeal to consumers looking for an elegant watch from a top Swiss brand. Prices are as follows: $ 24,600 for the Malte Small Seconds, $ 51,300 for the Malte 100th Anniversary limited edition, and $ 183,900 for the Malte Tourbillon.

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From:aBlogtoRead.com

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Vacheron Constantin is doing its good deed for the holiday season. 

The vintage Vacheron above was lost in a prominent NYC restaurant recently.  Vacheron was contacted by that restaurant about the loss, and now they have put out a call to the watch collecting community to help try to find its rightful owner. 

The watch has been identified as reference number 4413 and houses a manual wound 17 jewel movement, caliber P454/5B within an 18 carat yellow-gold case and dates to 1955.  Even more impressive? It still has the original domed crystal!

Vacheron is in possession of the watch, and whoever can identify where the watch was lost, approximiately when, and provide some historical background as to how they received the watch, will have it returned to them free of charge!

If this is your watch, or you know whose watch it is, contact Vacheron directly at 877.701.1755 or concierge.us@vacheron-constantin.com.

Don’t you wish all watch companies cared this much?

From:HODINKEE

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The owner of this watch named it the Vladimir. He was able to call it whatever he liked because he custom commissioned it from Vacheron Constantin. The brand is among the few that will entertain clients who not only want custom watches, but also custom watch movements. This is part of their highly exclusive “Atelier Cabinotiers” department. Do you know what it takes to design, prototype, perfect, manufacture, finish, and test a watch movement? Usually those costs are built into some type of economy of scale. Now think of all that for just one movement. We are talking incredible prices due to all the time and effort involved. Million bucks minimum. Luckily this client didn’t need to go through all of that, but Vacheron Constantin would have done it for the right price.

Call me crazy but I am guessing that the buyer of the Vladimir watch is Russian or Chinese. Clearly interested in astronomical complications, he wanted Vacheron Constantin to design and build him one of the most complex watches in the world. In 2005 Vacheron released what this piece is based on, the Tour de l’Ile. A limited production super watch that someone wanted to be even fancier (and more exclusive).

With about 900 parts the caliber 2750 manually wound movement is amazing. Vladimir needed something a bit more fancy, so VC added a running week counter (which tracks which of the year’s 52 weeks you are in). In addition to that I think that this piece unique model improves on the dial of the Tour de l’Ile watch in most every way. The dial is nicer, the hands are more attractive, the design is more polished, the colors are more luxurious, and the case overall is pretty awesome. It is like a celestial temple on your wrist. Why wasn’t the production version this nice?

The 47mm wide case is in 18k pink gold and the client wanted custom engraved animals around the sides of it. These are meant to represent the Chinese zodiac characters and look really nicely done. There is more gold on the dial, and all that lovely engraving and texturing (the dial itself is 18k white gold and hand machine guilloche engraved). I like the dauphine hour and minute hands much more than those on the non-Vladimir model.

So what does the Vladimir watch do? well the in-house made Vacheron Constatin caliber 2750 movement does a lot actually – couldn’t you tell? It has the time, seconds via the tourbillon, power reserve indicator for time, minute repeater (with cool bezel activator), power reserve for minute repeater, second timezone, moon phase indicator (lovely looking), perpetual calendar with day, date, month, leap year indicator, week in year indicator, sunrise time, sunset time, equation of time, and a celestial sky chart.

Some of those latter functions are set to a specific city – which of course the Vladimir owner set. What an amazing watch. According to Vacheron Constantin it took over 20 experts to create this one watch. I don’t even want to think of the price, but I am really jealous as this watch is totally amazing. This not-so-little-guy on the auction block in a few decades will no doubt fetch a mint.

Technical specs from Vacheron Constantin

Reference:                                80253/000R-9593   Atelier Cabinotiers Vladimir

Calibre:                                     2750           Stamped with the Hallmark of Geneva

Energy:                                    Mechanical, manual-winding

Movement diameter:                 36.00 mm

Movement thickness:                 11.25 mm

Jewels:                                     38

Frequency:                               18’000 Vibrations / hour (2.5 Hz)

Indications:

Hours, minutes, second on tourbillon

Minute repeater

Perpetual Calendar

Power reserve

Second time zone

Moon phase indication, age of the moon

Striking-mechanism torque

Perpetual time equation

Sunrise, sunset

Celestial map

Week number indication

Power reserve:                          Approx. 58 hours

Case:                                         18K 5N pink gold, 47.00 mm in diameter

Convex sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on one side

Manual engraving of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs on the side of the case

Water-Resistance:                      None

Dial:                                          18K white gold, Hand-guilloched

Minute-track painted in white

8 applied hour markers in 18K pink gold

Strap:                                      Brown Mississipiensis alligator leather, square scales, hand-stitched, saddle finish

Clasp:                                       Buckle in 18K 5N pink gold, Polished half Maltese Cross

Unique piece

Case-back engraved with “Les Cabinotiers” identification and “AC” Hallmark

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From:aBlogtoRead.com

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