Jan 17

Jan 17 The Vacheron Constantin Toledo 'Cioccolatone' History

Vintage Watches, Watch History, Watch Reviews, Vacheron Constantin

The Vacheron Constantin Toledo was first released in the early 1950’s. It was a truly unique case shape that provided diversity to the classic watch shapes that Vacheron Constantin typically made. The case is described as being a ‘curved square’ and the Toledo later became known by collectors as Cioccolatone by Italian collectors. This referred to chocolate squares that are very popular in Italy.

The first reference that was released was the reference 4821. It was a time-only piece that ran off the caliber 453. The reference 4822 was released around the same time and ran off the 454.

As self-winding watch movements became more popular in the late 50’s, the reference 4737 was released by the manufacture. This watch ran on the caliber 1019 which was released in 1959. This watch came in yellow gold, in pink gold which is more rare and lastly in white gold where there are only two known examples. This is one of the more collectible references due to the rarity of the variations. The caliber 6440 and 6440Q were released after the 4737 and the ‘Q’ reference featured a date function.

Then, Vacheron released their most desired reference in the reference 4764. This watch ran off the caliber 485 or 489 and has a day, date month and moonphase complications. The proportions of this watch are truly spectacular and as normal with vintage Vacheron watches, sits really nicely on the wrist.

Vacheron Constantin reference 4764 side view

The 1990’s saw a rebirth of heritage inspired watches for Vacheron Constantin and naturally the Cioccolatone was included in the lineup. The reference 42100 was released during this time and Vacheron’s modern line also includes variations of the Toledo including both a calendar moonphase and time-only version.

Enjoy!