Vacheron Constantin Historiques Ref. 43039 Overview

I wrote a short piece on a seldom seen and briefly marketed model from the Patrimony Contemporaine family last year, the self winding reference 86180, which eschewed the date window as on the more popular but otherwise identical reference 85180:

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There is another Vacheron Constantin wristwatch that has always fascinated me despite it not having had much of a day in the sun. In writing my review on the new Patrimony Tradtionnelle Self-winding, ref 43075, I recalled a model that I had always found attractive but have never actually seen in person. It too has a round case, two hands, and the calibre 1120. Like all modern Vacheron Constantin watches it has a five digit reference number, 43039, but also a more poetic name, “Poinçon de Genève,” and it was marketed as part of the Historiques collection in the late 1990’s.


While Vacheron Constantin today focuses considerable attention to the fact that its movements comply with the Poinçon de Genève standards, that wasn’t true to the same degree in the 1990’s and earlier. While the polished two-part case and clean dial with radial hour markers and feuille hands are the essence of simplicity, the name was designed to focus attention on the movement.

During the late 1990’s Vacheron Constantin used many movements from outside suppliers, such as Girard-Perregaux, F. Piguet, and JLC, but only two movements bridged the gap from the pre-quartz era to watchmaking’s modern renaissance: the ultrathin manual winding caliber 1003 and the ultrathin self-winding calibre 1120, with both ebauche coming from JLC. While Vacheron Constantin famously used the 1120 as a base for complications like the Mercator, perpetual calendar, Heure Sautante and Saltarello as well as some skeleton pieces, it went virtually unused as the movement for a simple two-hand dress watch.

Taking a cue from those aforementioned skeleton watches, the rotor of the watch was openworked and hand engraved, giving a very clear view of the movement, which is why the calibre for this particular watch was given the 1120 MSQ designation.


The only change in the 1120 from the pre-quartz production, was that Vacheron Constantin had started to use an index regulator rather than the free-sprung Gyromax balance that was the original design for the movement.

While I have an old reference book that states that the Poinçon de Genève reference 43039 was limited in production to 220 pieces in yellow gold and 90 in white gold, Alex Ghotbi on the Hour Lounge wrote that production was “between 1996 and 1998 in WG and YG in 550 pieces,” though there was no breakdown between the two metals. It was not a numbered edition. Part of the confusion arises, I suppose, because there are two distinct dial options for the 43039 reference. What I am calling the Poinçon de Genève has all Roman numbers, but there is another poetic name, Chambellan, actually engraved into the case back of the designated models, with Roman numbers at the corners and baton markers between:


This Chambellan model was created to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1120 in 1998, and is claimed to be an edition of 200 pieces (120 YG, 80 WG).  We have ourselves a mystery, and I nominate tick-talk to get to the bottom of it!


Bill
VC Forum Moderator