Vacheron Constantin has lined up a second drop of historic watches that will be displayed and sold at its boutiques on London’s Bond Street and in Harrods.
The watches, pulled together under the “Les Collectionneurs” title, have been sourced by the company’s watchmaking and heritage teams before being restored and sold with a blockchain-based certificate of authenticity and a two-year guarantee.
They are at Vacheron Constantin’s London boutiques from June 7 to August 8.
“Les Collectionneurs perpetuates this precious link between past and present, enabling our clientele of connoisseurs and collectors to acquire restored vintage pieces directly through the Maison, which is a real guarantee. As for the events organised around the world to unveil these pieces, they attract both seasoned collectors and young generations eager to delve more deeply into watchmaking history,” says Christian Selmoni, style & heritage director for Vacheron Constantin.
Watches at this month’s presentation (described by Vacheron Constantin) include:
18K yellow gold minute-repeater gentleman’s wristwatch (Inv. ref 11761) – 1951
Tear-drop lugs soldered to the middle. Silvered dial, circular guilloché hour-circle, 4/4 Roman numerals and 8 lapidated and pointed indexes, external pearled minute-circle. Yellow gold pointed baton hands. An exception grand complication, the reference 4261 combines an impressive thinness and superb aesthetics.
The minute repeater mechanism was the third type of complication to be miniaturised enough to fit into the space of a wristwatch after the calendar and the chronograph mechanisms. It has been developed around 1930.
The model 4261 was the first ultra-thin minute repeater produced by Vacheron Constantin. When it was launched in 1943 it was considered as one of the thinnest minute repeaters ever made. Less than 40 pieces were produced between 1944-1951, in yellow gold, pink gold and platinum. This watch is one of the last pieces produced.
The reference 4261 is most probably the most sought-after Vacheron Constantin timepieces, from the collector’s perspective.
18K yellow gold open-face worldtime pocket watch (Inv. Ref 10394) – 1949
Silvered dial made in 3 parts. 24 hours disk divided in two zones, dark blue zone for the night hours and silvered for the daylight hours. external fixed disk graduated with the name of 41 cities and places.
In 1932 the Vacheron Constantin first World Time pocket watch displays the Cottier system capable of displaying the 24 time zones on the same dial, rotating with the movement. The Maison assigns model ref 3372 to this brand new watch.
Watches indicating 24 time-zones were progressively named “Universal time, “international time” (ref. Vacheron Constantin archives) and then “World time” for most contemporary watches. In 1936 seeking to show that the complication was worth perfecting. Vacheron Constantin presented two new version of its international time model whose featured 31 international cities for reference 3650.
In 1946 Vacheron Constantin assigned reference 4414 to the world time model with a dial comprising 41 cities. This reference was ordered by famous watches collectors as well as the Agnelli family in 1941. King Farouk of Egypt in 1946 or 52nd United States secretary of States John Foster Dulles who received a world time 4414 model from dramatist and diplomat Mrs Clare Booth Luce in 1955.
Vacheron Constantin Worldtime watches are not indexed on political/state time zones but under the Meridian for each of 24 time zones (a kind of geographic hour). Following this concept, each time zone is spaced by 15° longitude.
