Vacheron Constantin Won This Year, Watches and Wonders 2022
It is no secret that Vacheron Constantin is one of my favourite Swiss watch brands. I always hold my breath when they release new watches in the hope that it displays the incredible abilities of the historic brand. This year, Vacheron Constantin really brought their ‘A-game’ and released what I believe will be some of the highlights of the year.
Vacheron Constantin expanded their Overseas collection this year by releasing a pair of Overseas skeleton tourbillons - the first time such a watch has been added to the Overseas collection. Prior to the launch of this watch, the brand had released skeletonized Oversea models as well as a Tourbillon, but this is the first time they combined both ideas into one watch. The watch displays the incredible caliber 2160 which was released in 2018 which is a sight to be able to set your eyes on. It has a beautiful gold oscillating weight that adds a really nice touch of colour to the baseplate and bridges which are finished with a dark grey tone matte finish. The watch is 42.5mm in diameter and come in 18k pink gold and in titanium case metals.
Next, to mark 2022, Vacheron Constantin re-released their famous reference 222 with the Les Historiques 222. It is a common misconception that Gérald Genta designed the 222 but it was actually a designer names Jorg Hysek. The original 222 is extremely rare and of course, very sought-after for its sporty design and rarity - 5000 were made in steel, 150 in gold and under 100 in two-tone. The new 222 is almost an exact copy of the famous watch, which was a smart move by Vacheron. The modernized the movement and used the in-house caliber 2455/2 instead of the caliber 1121 which was used in the original. The watch is 37mm in diameter with a yellow gold case and yellow gold bracelet. Vacheron Constantin has delivered a watch that meets every expectation you could have for a re-issue.
Salmon dials have been incredibly popular over the last few years, and so Vacheron Constantin decided to add the dial tone to their reference 5000T, a perpetual calendar chronograph. The 5000T was released in 2016 and is a standout compared to other brands that have similarly complicated watches. The watch they released this year comes in a 43mm platinum case with a salmon dial. It is always striking to look at the detail of the moonphase on this reference, and the salmon dial seems to emphasize the details just a bit more on this version of the 5000T.
Finally, Vacheron Constantin released a piece unique from the Les Cabinotiers department. The watch is a minute repeater tourbillon split-second monopusher chronograph. Now to have all these complications in one watch, one case certainly feel like their is not enough dial space, but Vacheron executed perfectly. The watch is 45mm in diameter and comes in a 18k pink gold case. The watch has the hours and minutes sub-dial as 9 o’clock, a running seconds at 6 o’clock, and 30 minute chronograph counter at 1 o’clock.
The watch runs on the in-house manually-wound caliber 2757 that has an intense amount of detailed finished to it. Luckily, when one turns the watch over you can see the beautiful tourbillon beating away. As a chronograph nerd, I found an interesting fact about this watch to be that the split-second chronograph hands are actually made of lightweight aluminum to reduce the energy needed to run the chronograph and in turn, increases the potential life of the power reserve. These are the watches that push innovation forward. Congratulations Vacheron Constantin!
Enjoy!
