With an official debut soon at SIHH 2010 in January here is a peek at two new Vacheron Constantin watches - the Historiques 1955 (round dial) and 1968 (square dial). Both watches are going to be smaller in size and much thinner than what we are used to. The 1955 is 36mm wide and the 1968 watch is a 35.2mm wide square. Vacheron Constantin is on this "vintage kick" lately. so expect to see more of these retro-themed watches. They don't have the wow factor you are used to when looking at them, but they are comfy to wear, and surprisingly easy to read - trust me. Worth the big prices though? Maybe, if you are a brand enthusiast.

Most of the appeal is inside the watch as they each have 100% in-house made movements. Each is super thin, and manually wound. The Historiques 1955 has a caliber 1003 movement, while the 1968 has a caliber 1120 movement in it. Interestingly enough, the movements are in 18k yellow gold. The watch cases themselves are in something called 4N gold. The alloy is somewhere between yellow and rose gold in color. The watches will be officially unveiled in January in Geneva, and I will be there to take lots of paparazzi style pictures.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Each year the popular (in Switzerland) watch magazine Montres Passion releases a few "Watch of the Year" prizes. The most important of which is the jury award that the magazine itself gives based on their editorial considerations for the best watch. The second most important category is their public chosen prize.

Winning the 2009 Watch of the Year prize is the Vacheron Constantin Historiques American 1921 watch. To be honest it is not one of my favorites, but I can't deny that it is interesting and attractive. The very classic looking watch is a remake of a timepiece originally made by Vacheron Constantin in the 1920s based upon a request by an American client of theirs. He wanted something that could be read easily, without having to turn his arm as much toward himself.

The watch is 40mm wide and cushion shaped in a 18k rose gold case. You can easily see how the dial itself is skewed. Inside is Vacheron Constantin manufacture made Calibre 4400 manually wound movement with subsidiary seconds dial. As an homage to classic watches, a timepiece like this is hard to beat, but I am curious as to why that alone allowed for it to be judged Watch of the Year 2009 by the learned watch editors in Switzerland. You'll soon see how it compared with the public prize.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Vacheron Constantin recently opened up a new boutique in Hong Kong. To celebrate, they have also released three new limited edition Dragon watches. There will only be nine of each of the three watches made in this highly limited edition. The dragon motifs are each hand made, involving an incredible amount of delicate work. in addition to the hand applied decoration, there is also a fair amount of guilloche machine engraving that also requires a very skilled artist to apply.

Each of the three watches is done in a different shade of gold, along with a different image of the Chinese style dragon. Vacheron Constantin is well versed in artistic watch creations such as this. The Mask collections come to mind when thinking of their talents here. Inside the watches is a manufacture made Vacheron Constantin movement, and each is attached to a high quality black alligator strap. Vacheron Constantin is serious about China, not just Hong Kong, as the country is poised to breed a new generation of watch buyers given the current economic growth there in comparison to the rest of the world. Plus, Hong Kong remains one of the most important watch market capitals of the world - so the opening of the new "Flagship Boutique" by Vacheron Constantin there makes sense. I suspect it is the only place that these watches can be acquired.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Using their brand new manually wound Caliber 4400 movement, Vacheron Constantin releases a new rare pocket watch. This is actually the first time since 1992 that the exclusive Swiss brand has released a new pocket watch. While demand for pocket watches is not nearly the same as for wrist watches, it is a matter of heritage and of course personal style for some.

The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine pocket watch will be included in their Excellence Platine collection for the timepiece is totally done in platinum. It is a smaller in size for a pocket watch, being 43mm wide, but is still heavy given the luxurious material. The dial is classic Patrimony collection-- stark, simple, and elegant. All of the watch itself is in platinum including the case, dial, and hands. The watch comes in a leather pouch with a leather strap to hold the pocket watch. It will be limited to just 50 pieces.

Images via The Hour Lounge.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

History is filled with special occasion mementos - gifts and relics that help symbolize the times and people we admired or looked to. Watches seem to have a historical relevancy during such instances. Where commemorative watches are either produced for a special event, or just naturally thrown into such events. Old (as well as perhaps modern) Hollywood was filled with the exchange of celebratory gifts. Watch makers located in Hollywood at the time no doubt had a network of personal engravers waiting to personalize a watch - no matter what the request. I find it fascinating to see the many styles of engraving that was done at the time. Here you see engraving that is meant to look more formal, though obviously done by hand, and I've also seen engravings meant to replicate someone's hand writing.

This all has to do with this timepiece being auctioned off later this month by Antiquorum in New York. This is a Gold cased Vacheron Constantin watch that was given to Marlon Brando by Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1954. The watch was produced around that time as well, and represents a style of guilloche engraved dial decoration that you don't see these days anymore. It is said that the watch was given to Brando by Gabor when "On The Waterfront" was released in theaters. The movie went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as Best Actor for Brando. It is interesting to think about the message she wrote to him. Space was of course limited on the back of the watch, but other than the fact that Gabor was giving it to Brando on a specific date, it is hard to delineate what their relationship was. Maybe it included a message that only they understood. A Vacheron Constantin watch was a luxury watch back then, as it is now. Conservative auction estimates have this watch going for only $3,000 - $8,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Combining a moon phase with a power reserve indicator is a rare mix of complications to have with the time (when it is just these three), though it makes sense on this manually-wound watch. This is the new Vacheron Constantin Malte Moon Phase Power-Reserve watch and it comes with an in-house made Caliber 1410 movement that bears the Seal of Geneva.

Vacheron Constantin's classic line of watches continues to evolve, slowly but surely. It is hard to separate this watch from the rest of their collection, but enthusiasts should be able to pick out the differences. The case is in various shades of 18k gold and 39mm wide in a tonneau shape. The moon phase is specially made to be accurate for about 100 years, while the round dial helps with legibility even though it is in a barrel shaped case. The mix of applied Roman and Arabic numerals makes for a sophisticated look that I don't recall seeing in other Vacheron Constantin models. The watches each have a silvered gold dial. Which begs the question of why they even used gold to begin with. The watches comes with a brown or black alligator strap with a folding deployment. Overall the timepiece is a satisfying rendition of what people enjoy most about Vacheron Constantin without straying much from the core appeal of the brand.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

This is the third and final collection of "Les Masques" (the Masks) watches from Swiss watch maker Vacheron Constantin. The watches are in a limited edition of 25 sets, each with the four watches. My understanding is that you must get all four together. A few lucky people out there will have the entire collection of 12 Les Masques watches from all three collections. Each watch is 40mm wide and has a Vacheron Constantin in-house made automatic mechanical movement. The watches come in a different metal each including 18k yellow, pink, and white gold, as well as one watch in platinum.

For this collection the watches have been inspired from four new historic cultures. We have the pictured mask from China, as well as masks from Indonesia (Oceania), Gabon in Africa, as well as from Mexico. Each is done marvelously and by hand. The masks are incredibly hard to make taking a long time even from master craftspeople. Once a mistake is made, they often have to start all over again. Each watch has a different poem (in French) on the dial. Complications include the hours, minutes, date, and day - each displayed dia a disc visible on four corners of the watch. Really nice timepieces for those who connect with the emotion and history behind the masks and their respective cultures.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reivew site aBlogtoRead.com.

Please don't tell me that gray is the new black. Vacheron Constantin's new Overseas Gray watch at least wants to suggest that, and the slate colored look of the popular sports watch from the thankfully conservative watch brand seems to suggest just that. Having undergone but just a few minor tweaks over the past decade or so, the Overseas line of diver-themed watches from Vacheron Constantin is the watch to wear for those who like the idea and heritage behind the brand, but aren't too keen on the highly traditional looks of much of the watch line (and who, like me, are not into the design of the "experimental" Qaui de l'Ile watches).

Another way to look at the Overseas Gray watch is that it has been pulled from a black & white movie. The tonalities of the watch in its multi-shade monochromatic glory suggest just that. Can't you see picking this watch right out of a classic film before "glorious color" supplanted the days of forever noir. Accordingly, the Vacheron Constantin Gray is based on a design from 1933, which has been reinterpreted by the brand a few times over the ages.

Two versions of the 42mm gray nickel-coated 18k white gold cased watches are available. The three-hand and chronograph housing an automatic Vacheron Constantin caliber 1226 and 1137 respectively. The dial is a satin finish with white gold hands and hour indexes. The watch will come with a "mouse grey" alligator strap and a black rubber strap. Check for these new pieces of history soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the popular watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Flame on! This jewelry watch from Vacheron Constantin features the newest officially recognized diamond shape, the "flame cut." The shape, that looks like a small flame, is emphasized in the dial as well as the use of 200 flame cut diamonds all over the watch, 20 on the case, 60 in the dial, and 120 used on the bracelet. The settings and case of the watch are all made from 18k white gold. Being a jewelry watch, the Vacheron Constantin Kalla Flame is a pretty wild looking piece, but still retains the grace you have come to expect from the brand.

Interestingly, Vacheron Constantin chose to retain a mechanical movement for the small profile watch. Inside is a manually wound 1005 movement, that is just 3.6mm thick. Don't expect too much life out of it though as you need to wind it at least every 30 hours - certainly enough for a good night (and morning) out. With a total of 36.5 karats of the attractive new flame cut diamonds, the Lady Kalla serves its purpose well to highlight a novel, but classic looking piece of watch jewelry for women.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

At SIHH 2009 this year, Vacheron Constantin really showed the watch world what it does best. The presentation featured several wonderful classic looking watches that stressed the company's heritage and skill set (nothing like the confusing departure to "modern" watches that we've seen in the past).

My choice for Vacheron Constantin's star of the show would be this Skeleton Patrimony Traditionelle watch (the 38mm wide 18k white gold version). It starts with a vintage 1967 Automatic 1120 SQ movement. The movement is remarkably thin at 2.45mm, even though it is an automatic. Everything unnecessary has been stripped from the movement, and the rest has been beautifully decorated and skeletonized as you can see. Even the mainspring barrel has been cut with the hallmark cross of Geneva. There is also a smaller 30mm wide version available that uses a tiny 1.64mm thick manually wound 1003 SQ movement from 1955.

The Skeleton Patrimony Traditionnelle features a diamond bezel (82 diamonds on the 38mm size) set version as well as a plain white gold bezel version. Despite the aesthetic focus on the watch, I like how Vacheron Constantin has not neglected function. The dauphine hands follow a full number index ring around the face with diamond hour markers, that makes telling the time comfortable. This is easily the most function focused high-decoration watch that I've seen from Vacheron Constantin or anyone else.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin has just come out with the newest model in its Les Historiques line, the distinctive American 1921 (above). Les Historiques was "born out of the desire to highlight the richness of Vacheron Constantin's heritage by reviving emblematic legendary models conveying the brand's spirit and savoir-faire in contemporary reinterpretations." The American 1921 is a cushion-shaped, daigonal reading timepiece with a crown at one o'clock, nearly identical to a model produced in very limited numbers by the Geneva-based manufacturer specifically for the American market during the Roaring Twenties.

Priced at $24,900, the watch is crafted in 18K rose gold with a diameter of 40 mm. The dial features a sand-blasted finish, 12 Arabic numerals painted in black, and a minute-track also painted in black. The Breguet hour and minute hands are in black oxidized 18K gold. The case, featuring a slightly convex sapphire crystal, has a transparent back, and the watch comes on a dark-brown, hand-stitched, saddle-finish, square-scaled alligator leather strap adorned with an 18K pink gold buckle in the shape of a half Maltese cross.

Every luxury watch brand has knock-off versions, in varying degrees of quality and effort, but if you want a timepiece that can't be copied then the Quai de L'ile by Vacheron Constantin is for you. The Qaui de L'ile is named after the watchmaker's historic address in Geneva and has a laundry list of high-tech features that are said to make the watch "counterfeit-proof." Some of the most interesting are tiny words printed with special inks like those used to make money, laser engravings on the dial so small they can't be seen without a magnifying glass, and layers of invisible markings that only show up clearly under UV light (you can almost see one, a sun symbol, in the picture above between the 1 and the 2 on the dial).

The Vacheron Constantin Quai de L'ile was just launched last month and, depending on features, is priced between $29,000-$60,000.

Via DVICE

Apparently not everyone is feeling the bite of the recession. A European mogul has commissioned luxury Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin to create a one-of-a-kind $6.5 million timepiece that will instantly become one of the world's most expensive watches. The design, which may take years to complete, will be many times more precious than Vacheron's Tour de l'Ile timepiece (above) created for the company's 250th anniversary in 2005. Only seven examples of the Tour de l'Ile timepiece, billed as the "world's most complicated double-faced watch", were made for an astounding $1.5 million apiece. A few more commissions of this sort and the luxury watch industry will have nothing to worry about.

[via Affluent Page]

Vacheron Constantin has revealed the latest in their Explorer series of watches. The two new models celebrate Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus (previous models were devoted to the Chinese admiral Zheng Hé and Magellan). The enamelled dial is made of two parts that partially overlap. The top part features a map of the explorer's journeys and the bottom part shows twelve hour numerals traversing a 132° minute scale on the lower part of the dial. The case is 18K gold and measures 40mm and the movement is the automatic Vacheron in-house caliber 1126AT, with 36 jewels, beating at 28,800 bph and with a power reserve of 40 hours. There are 60 watches of each explorer.