Art calls for art. Watchmaking is like whiskey: the older it is of quality, the more delicious and valuable it is, and in the world of springs and hands this also means shining with your own light, that is, being able to offer pieces looking at both the present and the past.
Recently the Replica Vacheron Constantin manufacture had the brilliant idea – or at least it is especially for it which can boast 260 years of existence – of restoring and selling its vintage replica watches uk in events organized in its boutiques around the world.
Okay, that’s a commercial gimmick and you don’t need a 1755 birth certificate to get one, you might be thinking. Sure, but do you have any idea what it’s like to have connections with your vintage market for centuries?
A private collection of more than fifteen hundred pieces. An archive of almost three hundred years containing every model ever produced cataloged, with the “instructions” and the savoir-faire to get used to it. Does it seem little to you?
But how does it work?
The Vacheron Constantin Heritage team is responsible for bringing together its vintage watches, both pocket and wrist. All channels are used: auction rooms, personal contacts with private individuals with an approach and knowledge of timepieces that no one – if not those who made them – can boast.
Pocket watches mainly covering the years 1910 to 1930 and wristwatches prior to 1970 – with a preference for the period 1940 to 1960 – are then subjected to a double evaluation.
First, the department says, a historical evaluation is carried out to authenticate the piece with reference to its archive which for a century and a half has listed the cases and movements by serial number. Then follows the technical evaluation to determine what interventions may be necessary, from the simple cleaning of the watch to its restoration with the aim of preserving these timepieces in a state as close as possible to their original state.
Obviously, if the case were to make it necessary, each piece is put back into operation using period components, of which Vacheron Constantin obviously has great availability, or reproduced from the drawings in the old way and in identical form within the manufacture.
At the end each watch is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a two-year guarantee, which is the same one that comes with all the models of the standard collections of the Maison and all this without having to consult Doc and Marty! Isn’t that wonderful?
We leave it to lucky collectors to be able to have the result of a similar alchemy in their hands, but in the meantime, let’s shine our eyes with these three pieces.
Rare “open” pocket watch with minute repeater – 1928
At the beginning of the twentieth century, platinum became appreciated for its modern appearance, its resistance and its workability which facilitates the manufacture of the case. Thanks to its rarity and its physical qualities it instantly becomes the noblest material.
During the Art Deco period, Vacheron Constantin combined it with rock crystal, colored stones and skeletonized movements to make extraordinary pocket watches. Since time immemorial Vacheron Constantin has been regarded as a specialist in the production of ultra-thin striking mechanisms.
This piece was sold in New York in 1929. Silver dial, black enameled Arabic numerals, small seconds at 6 o’clock, external chemin de fer minute track, minutes. Manual winding.