Vacheron Constantin

a.ler
495

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a tale of 2 les historiques chronographs , a story retold ....

inspired by JWU thread :

vacheron.watchprosite.com=

the ref 49002 existence was unkown to me till an article from Alex's article on " the history of vacheron constantin's chronograph", my search for the watch was futile since then given the small issuance of 700 pcs in gold and 130pcs in platinum, until a gold one popped up in antiquorum. Determined to outbid others, i went for the roadshow in hong kong for that said auction, but was disppointed with the colour of the gold, which was too me a tad goldish and not as i imagined with a vintage oxidised appeal. so i passed.

the watch was forgotten as i thought there is no way i could ever get hold of one in platinum as the production is so small.  then browsing the net in search of my grail, an ad shouted at me with the reference 49002 in platinum ! i know i am in trouble as i am running out of watch budget as i am still searching for my grail VC. Weak in the will as i confront with VC's temptation , i pulled the trigger to complete my les historiques chronograph collection ( a lame excuse to wife : we only live once !) :

both watches drawn inspiration from VC's achive of beautiful vintage chronographs. the ref 47101 from ref 4178 and ref 49002 from ref 6026 or 4072. however in their modern re-iteration, the 47101 is a hand wound model and the 49002 is an automatic winding watch.
one similarity they have is the selection of  regarded slim movements cal 1141 and cal 1136 respectively , which i really like, and are still used in their current production. 

interesting to note is although the 47101 is 37mm and 49002 is 35mm , they look of almost the same size when worn, this can be explained by the stepped bezel of the 47101, as the dial size measures the same at 31mm for both.  the 47101 also draws more reflections than the 49002 as the glass is more convex.

i like the ref 47101 for the simplicity of the dial without the date , but the 49002 for the enamel dial with applied markers and the chronograph counters are smaller and  also more off-centre, and thus looks more balanced and closer to vintage.

both chronographs are calibrated for tachymeter, and the operations are VC standard, smooth .
 

both watches provide good heft , given both my watches are platinum . however a good merit of the 47101 is it also provides a crystal back to enjoy the beauty of VC's fine finishing . having seen the cal 1136 from the net, i would say the finishing is as fine, but not as beautiful as the hand winding watch and a lesser-decorated rotor.

a closer look at the enamel dial explains why i bothered to keep the ref 49002 in my collection :

 

the impression on my wrist and never too many a Vacheron's chronograph , in my opinion: