Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Grandes Complications

Platinum, the purest, rarest and most enduring of metals

for the new major complications by Vacheron Constantin

The trend for 2010 is an exclusive and sophisticated grey

Platinum, at the top of the hierarchy of precious metals, denotes the highest prestige in fine watchmaking. Extremely rare, it can be used to protect only watch movements of the most elaborate complexity. Vacheron Constantin thus gives full honour to this most precious of metals by choosing it to encase the very complicated movements of three models introduced in 2010.

The Patrimony Traditionnelle "Calibre 2253" model in the Collection Excellence Platine is an outstanding timepiece and chief among the Grand Complication models presented by Vacheron Constantin at the SIHH 2010. In addition to the tourbillon escapement, it includes such astronomical complications as the perpetual calendar, the times of sunrise and sunset and the equation of time. Furthermore it has an exceptional running time of 14 days. Only 10 numbered pieces will be produced in this limited edition.

The Patrimony Traditionnelle "Calibre 2755" watch in platinum concentrates the major complications in which Vacheron Constantin excels both technically and stylistically. It combines the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar with a minute-repeater that features an original and completely silent mechanism to pace the strike.

The third model, also in platinum, is the Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar "Calibre 1141QP", which embodies the Vacheron Constantin convention in styling. It brings together a chronograph and a perpetual calendar driven by a highly regarded hand-wound movement. The Calibre 1141 is an exceptional design that has been used in some of the best chronographs. Experts consider it a model of highly complex chronograph construction.

Proficiency in watchmaking excellence:
from deceptive simplicity to great complications

Founded in 1755 during the Enlightenment, Vacheron Constantin stands alone in horology as the oldest watch manufacturer with more than 250 years of uninterrupted and skilled production. However, no time has been lost in the creation of horological movements and timepieces that have, in one way or another, represented their era. These witnesses to centuries of technical and artistic inventiveness constitute a watchmaking heritage of inestimable worth. Every type of watchmaking bears the mark of ingenuity: ultra-thin movements, horological functions, the artistic treatment of watches and their mechanisms, automata, clocks and above all, the ultra-complicated mechanisms. Vacheron Constantin thus displays the lively and prolific spirit of Geneva watchmaking over the past two-and-a-half centuries.

Patrimony Traditionnelle Collection

In the world of Vacheron Constantin, the Patrimony collection best expresses the manufacturing company's genetic makeup – the inher-itance of skills painstakingly acquired since its inception. Their round cases span the past and the future as an eternal design of natural elegance that needs no adornment, for the simple beauty of time-honored workmanship is sufficient to denote Swiss watchmaking of the highest order.

The Patrimony Traditionnelle collection remains true to the artistry apparent in some of Vacheron Constantin's finest historical work. Beyond the studied restraint of the styling, the collection symbolizes certain values shared by those who treasure fine horology. Those who know something about watches will appreciate the finer points of the company's "special reserve" watchmaking: the thin bezel, the knurled surround of the screw-held caseback with its sapphire-crystal window, the perfectly ground trapezoid marking each hour – with a pair for the 6 and the 12 – and the faceted Dauphine hands on silvery dials of varied hues. The case, with welded lugs, has a stepped profile bisected by a cleanly drawn caseband. The artistic heritage of the Patrimony Traditionnelle collection, expressed in today's terms, serves as a reminder that tradition and modernity coexist as a matter of course at Vacheron Constantin.

Such established artistic parameters can be readily applied across the range of watches in the Patrimony Traditionnelle collection, from a self-winding wristwatch confined to the hours, minutes and seconds, to a minute-repeating tourbillon watch with a perpetual calendar. Extending from straightforward to extremely involved mechanisms, the collection proclaims Vacheron Constantin's spirit of invention and pays tribute to two-and-a-half centuries of history.

The Collection Excellence Platine

Platinum's rarity, purity and incorruptibility qualify it as supreme among symbols of excellence. Vacheron Constantin started working with platinum in the early 19th century to offer its clients pieces in the most valuable of all metals.

While 18-carat gold contains 75% of the pure metal, platinum is 95% pure. Platinum is also 30 times scarcer than gold and there are very few deposits. Its hardness and density make it more resistant than any other metal and thus the best choice for an everlasting object. A scratch in platinum displaces rather than removes material, avoiding the loss through wear and tear of a softer metal. Platinum's ability to retain its full weight and value has made it popular as a token of eternity. Platinum has other remarkable features: it is malleable and very ductile. A gram of the metal can be drawn into a thread almost two kilometers long.

To herald the start of another quarter millennium in 2006, the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin, in tribute to the most extraordinary and aristocratic of precious metals, decided that all platinum watches would henceforth be initially produced in limited editions of never more than 150 pieces. Their availability would be reserved for collectors and connoisseurs. The Collection Excellence Platine was thus born. In addition to a platinum caseband, each watch in the collection has a rare watchmaking feature that distinguishes it from other watches in this metal. These might include a clasp, a winding crown or hands in platinum, as well as a brushed platinum dial, discreetly hallmarked "PT950". Attention to detail is taken to the extreme of using platinum thread entwined with silk to sew the dark blue alligator straps fitted to these watches.

Long reserved for royalty, platinum conveys unrivalled distinction, attracting both arbiters of taste and well-informed collectors. Such owners of Vacheron Constantin timepieces in platinum know that they belong to a most exclusive club.