In addition to the new and highly innovative Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, Vacheron Constantin introduces the one-of-a-kind Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar and the first-of-its-kind Overseas Tourbillon for SIHH 2019.
Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar
In the 18th century, the most experienced Geneva watchmakers exercised their talent in light-filled workshops called ‘cabinets’, located on the top floor of the city’s buildings. Crafting extraordinarily complicated bespoke watches, these alchemists of time came to be known as ‘cabinotiers’. Accomplished masters of their art, they cultivated a blend of technical and manual skills backed by vast scientific knowledge and curiosity for new ideas, nurtured by the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment. In response to the highest technical, aesthetic and artistic challenges, the one-of-a-kind Vacheron Constantin models now crafted in its Les Cabinotiers department, heir to this prestigious past, are a delight to the most demanding connoisseurs of haute horlogerie. The new Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar is a further illustration of this exclusive approach.
A movement inspired by a legacy of historical calibres
The one-of-a-kind Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar is equipped with a revisited movement: Calibre 1731 QP, combining minute repeater and perpetual calendar functions at the heart of a delightfully slender 42 mm-diameter gold case. The challenge for the manufacture’s watchmakers lays in pairing two of the most sophisticated horological complications within an ultra-thin movement measuring just 5.70 mm thick, while ensuring precision, reliability and user friendliness.
Among the technical feats accompanying the birth of this watch is a perfectly silent strike governor serving to control the cadence of the hammers in striking the gongs. No less than 438 components, some of them no thicker than a hair’s breadth, make up this complex manual-winding movement. Beating at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) and endowed with a 65-hour power reserve, it drives the full set of hours, minutes, day, date, month, leap-year indication, moon phase and minute repeater functions.
Pure lines, mechanical complexity
Despite the complexity of this watch, Vacheron Constantin was determined to make it a paragon of elegance and discretion. The 42 mm-diameter case in white or pink gold features extremely pure lines. Only the minute repeater slide on the left-hand side of the case expresses the complexity of the watch.
The gleam of gold beautifully frames the deep colour of the midnight blue or brown dial, depending on the version. The day, date and month indications, appearing in the upper part of the dial, are displayed in an extremely legible manner, leaving plenty of space for the gold moon to mesmerise. The arrangement of the various dial indications ensures a pleasingly balanced and elegant watch face, while the blue or brown colour lends a modern touch.
Overseas Tourbillon
The Overseas collection welcomes its first ever model powered by a self-winding tourbillon movement. Through the harmonious lines of its stainless steel case, its characteristic six-sided bezel as well as its emblematic blue dial, the Overseas Tourbillon combines technicality with elegance.
Calibre 2160
In addition to the elegance of an openworked carriage shaped like the Manufacture’s Maltese Cross emblem, the ultra-thin 188-part Calibre 2160 – first presented in 2018 and measuring just 5.65 mm thick – opts for a 22K gold peripheral rotor. This ensures a clear view of the mechanism beating at a stately frequency of 2.5 Hz, visible through the transparent sapphire crystal caseback. It also reveals the exceptional level of traditional finishing. The bar of the tourbillon carriage is entirely hand-bevelled, a task requiring around 12 hours for this component alone.
The new Overseas Tourbillon features central hours and minutes, and a tourbillon with seconds indication at 6 o’clock, all displayed on a blue-lacquered sunburst satin-finished dial. For low- or no-light visibility, the hands and hour-markers have been coated with Super-LumiNova®.
One watch, three faces
Thanks to the simple and reliable strap interchangeability system developed by Vacheron Constantin, the Overseas Tourbillon can be worn on a steel bracelet or a blue leather or rubber strap, thus enabling the wearer to play with varying styles. As is the case with previous stainless steel Overseas models, all three straps come with the watch.
Technical Specifications
Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar
Reference 6610C/000G-B511 (white gold/blue dial) and 6610C/000R-B510 (pink gold/brown dial)
Calibre 1731 QP; Developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constan; Mechanical, manual-winding; 32.80 mm diameter, 5.70 mm thick; Approximately 65 hours of power reserve; 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations/hour); 438 components; 36 jewels; Hallmark of Geneva certified timepiece
Indications Hours, minutes; Perpetual calendar (day of the week, date, month, leap year); Moon phases; Minute Repeater
Case 18K white or pink gold; 42 mm diameter, 10.44 mm thick; transparent sapphire crystal caseback
Dial Blue or brown opaline; 18k white or pink gold hour-markers; moon in 18k white or pink gold
Strap Dark blue or brown Mississippiensis alligator leather, hand-stitched, saddle-finish, large square scales
Buckle 18K white or pink gold folding clasp; Polished half Maltese cross-shaped
Box Les Cabinotiers winding-box made of Makassar ebony wood, interior in Nabuka
Accessories Delivered with a corrector pen
One-of-a-kind timepiece “Les Cabinotiers”, “Pièce unique”, “AC” hallmark engraved on caseback
Overseas Tourbillon
Reference 6000V/110A-B544
Calibre 2160; Developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin; Mechanical, self-winding, peripheral rotor; 31 mm (13½’’’) diameter, 5.65 mm thick; Approximately 80 hours of power reserve; 2.5 Hz (18,000 vibrations/hour); 188 components; 30 jewels; Hallmark of Geneva certified timepiece
Indications Hours, minutes, small seconds on tourbillon carriage; Tourbillon
Case Stainless steel; 42.5 mm diameter, 10.39 mm thick; Soft iron casing ring ensuring anti-magnetic protection; Transparent sapphire crystal caseback; Water-resistant tested at a pressure of 5 bar (approx. 50 meters)
Dial Translucent blue-lacquered, sunburst satin-finished base with velvet-finished flange; 18K white gold hour-markers and hours & minutes hands highlighted with white luminescent material
Bracelet/straps Steel bracelet, half Maltese cross-shaped polished and satin-brushed links; Delivered with a second strap in blue Mississippiensis alligator leather featuring a blue nubuck lining with a micro-perforated effect, hand-stitched, large square scales; Delivered with a third strap in blue rubber
Clasps Stainless steel bracelet secured by a stainless steel triple-blade folding clasp with push-pieces and comfort-adjustment system; Delivered with a second stainless steel triple-blade folding clasp with push-pieces and patented interchangeable system compatible with both additional straps
