The walls are falling. That’s a fact. The urge among marketers and web designers to slot every contemporary creation into a dropdown menu is losing all meaning. Some brands, like Zenith, were among the first to break down the division between men’s and women’s watches. That choice wasn’t just practical. It was deeply political. And let’s admit it: philosophical. What right does any person—even a CEO—have to impose gendered archetypes on others?
That realization now seems obvious. Just look at the return of vintage watches: an overwhelming majority of male collectors are now wearing pieces sized 38 to 39 mm. The very sizes that, 25 years ago, those same brands would have labeled “ladies’ watches”
A Deeper Shift
Let’s hope this isn’t an isolated case, but rather the sign of a broader shift. Because beyond gendered watches, the same could apply to all the usual categories in watchmaking language. Starting with the classic, the traditional, or the sporty. And Vacheron Constantin’s new Overseas proves the point. The piece shifts from one category to another because it covers them all. By its collection, Overseas is a sport-chic watch. By its complication, a traditional one. But “Traditionnelle” is also the name of another Vacheron Constantin line. Should we call it “Classique”? But isn’t that... Breguet?
If there’s no obvious answer, perhaps it’s because the question is flawed. The Overseas Ultra-Thin Perpetual Calendar shows it—and proves it. At 41.5 mm, it has more presence than typical feminine standards, yet with a thickness of just under 8 mm, it suits virtually any wrist. With its two new dials (rose gold with golden dial, white gold with burgundy dial), the blending of styles is deliberate: there are no inherently masculine or feminine colors. Just combinations—some more successful than others. The ones proposed here by Vacheron Constantin are simple and effective—because they’re universal. Exactly what you’d expect from a watch designed to cross cultures and oceans. Isn’t that what Overseas means?
The Right Way to Use a QP
One might argue, finally, that the perpetual calendar—or QP—isn’t the ideal function for a travel watch. That’s a hard point to counter. The perpetual doesn’t love change—its very essence is consistency. So spending your time jumping between days, time zones, and dates seems at odds with a mechanism designed to run smoothly until 2100. But that objection is superficial: if the Overseas didn’t have a QP, how many collectors would be demanding one?
A number that can’t be pinned down—because the “typical client” doesn’t exist. Nor do their needs, which are anything but rational. The very nature of a customer is to want everything—and its opposite. Nearly 20 years ago, Blancpain introduced a dive watch (the Fifty Fathoms) with a tourbillon. Purists were outraged by the technical contradiction. Today, it’s worth its weight in gold. The same goes for the silicon hairspring—once controversial, now standard. And what about IWC’s perpetual calendar, accurate for 45 million years? It makes no practical sense for humanity, yet was praised for its technical feat.
These debates are, of course, pointless. So let’s pay tribute to the Overseas Ultra-Thin Perpetual Calendar—not for what it represents (a style, a gender, a genre, an era, a taste), but for what it is: one of the most beautiful perpetual calendars in contemporary haute horlogerie.
