What mechanical function, complication or system comes to mind when you think of Vacheron Constantin? There’s no right or wrong answer to this question — a major corollary of being a brand like Vacheron Constantin, with multiple areas of expertise and centuries of history, is that there isn’t just one thing that stands out. It all depends on your point of view.
For connoisseurs of high complications, the most prominent aspect of the brand might be its chiming watches, particularly the acclaimed cal. 2755 from 2010 that is still counted amongst the best-sounding contemporary repeater wristwatches today. If you’re a fan of watch design, your foremost impression of Vacheron Constantin might be its shaped watches such as the asymmetric 1972, the sensuous Toledo, or the charming 1921. Lovers of vintage and antique Vacheron Constantin will leap immediately to one particular mechanism — the retrograde indication.
Some of the most beautiful and well-preserved historical watches of Vacheron Constantin from the early 20th century include the retrograde display, such as the “Bras en l’air” (Arms in the air) bi-retrograde pocket watch and the famous Don Pancho wristwatch of 1935 with retrograde date. The modern collections of Vacheron Constantin continue to incorporate retrograde displays regularly, but the Vacheron Constantin watches launched at Watches And Wonders 2023 puts this system centrestage.
The new Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date combines a precision moon phase display at 6 o’clock with a retrograde date indication on the top half of the dial. These two elements thematically reinforce each other, emphasising Vacheron Constantin’s focus on high-performance timekeeping.
Whereas the majority of moon phase indications accumulate one day of error after about two years and eight months, a precision moon phase display such as the one in the Overseas Moon Phase Retrograde Date will accumulate one day of error only after 122 years. This attention to precision is echoed in the retrograde date hand, which jumps smartly from one date to the next instead of moving in a continuous arc. Whilst some might question why such a complex movement has been placed in the brand’s most accessible collection, in my opinion having a precision moon phase and retrograde date in the steel Overseas is more accurately seen as a statement of Vacheron Constantin’s thorough familiarity with such exalted mechanisms. It is, as the kids today say, a subtle but cool flex.
The retrograde date is a recurring motif throughout Vacheron Constantin’s new watches at Watches And Wonders 2023 — we see it again in the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Retrograde Date Openface. While the name of the collection, Traditionnelle, suggests conservatism and old-fashioned aesthetics, the Tourbillon Retrograde Date Openface is a purely contemporary interpretation of the historically prestigious tourbillon and the retrograde display. Once again, the date hand is co-axial with the central hour and minute hands, but occupies only the top half of the dial. At 6 o’clock, a tourbillon with a Maltese-cross tourbillon cage and a bassiné tourbillon bridge rotates once per minute, mounted on an openworked plate that allows light to fully pierce the watch through the tourbillon aperture.
The final watch from Vacheron Constantin featuring the retrograde display at Watches And Wonders 2023 is the Patrimony Retrograde Day-Date. Check out our hands-on video that explores this watch in depth and provides an exceptionally close look at this creation.
