Vacheron Constantin

The proportions of the watch are perfect.  At 40mm diameter, it has a great wrist presence while also remaining discrete at only 8.3m thick (which slides perfectly under shirt sleeves).  As a perfect modern-day dress watch, it wears well with a suit and/or dress shirt, but I find that I can also dress it down in jeans and a polo, which is a pleasant surprise.  

I was immediately attracted by the aforementioned wrist presence, but also from the styling of the watch itself.  Though some might maintain that the dial is too stark, I think there is beauty in the simplicity.  A columnist that writes a weekly (satirical) watch advice column hit it right on the nail when he recently wrote, "A purchase of a Vacheron is never wrong...[and] there are few watches that are aesthetically more appealing than Vacheron's entire Patrimony line."  

I find, in fact, the well-balanced uncluttered dial allows one to really appreciate the amazing finishing and fine details.  Vacheron really got all the details right - the minute and second hand both curve downward at the same angle as the very slight domed saphire crystal.  The minute and seconds hands extend right up to the applied cabochons and similarly, the hour hand extends to the applied white-gold hour markers.  The maltese cross-inspired lugs curve downward to "hug" the wrist for maximum comfort.

The dial has a personality all on its own.  In some lights, it appears white; in some, it is closer to an eggshell.  And in certain lights (such as spotlighting), the dial absolutely sparkles.  In this lighting, it is a joy to behold - the dial looks three-dimensional and it has such an appealing texture. I think this is due to the fact that the dial uses white gold as its base metal (or yellow gold if the watch were yellow gold, etc.) and then is finished with the opaline applique applied over top.

The movement itself is a work of art, but also very practical.  It seems to be quite robust (this watch is pretty much my daily wearer, although I keep it away from any strenuous activities) and has a 40hr power reserve.  The rotor is beautifully engraved and the movement is stamped with the hallmark of Geneva.

As you can tell from the above, I am absolutely in love with my watch, but I haven't really explained why I chose the 86180 over the two more "common" models, 81180 and 85180, both incredibly beautiful, since both the 81180 and 85180 also have most of the above characteristics.  These reasons were mainly personal.  First, this was my first high-end watch (and what an introduction!) and I really wanted the transparent caseback so that I could appreciate the art and science that went into producing the movement.  Second, I think because the dial is so clean, I wanted the second hand so that the dial didn't feel so "static".  In a way, the second hand keeps things interesting and gives me a way to appreciate the inner workings of the watch, even when its on my wrist and I can't view the movement.  Third, I had a slight preference for an automatic movement because I loved the engraving on the 22k yellow gold rotor and also thought it would be easier as an everyday type of watch (so I could avoid the morning winding ritual (although I've since learned to love this routine with respect to a couple of my manual watches that were purchased after)).

Therefore, the conditions above ruled out the 81180, which has a closed caseback and manual movement (without a seconds hand).  In comparing the 86180 and the 85180, I found that from a design perspective, I preferred the 86180.  Functionally, having the date indicator is probably very helpful, but I found the cutout to detract a little bit from the otherwise perfectly balanced dial.  I had to weigh the functionality of the date versus my desire to avoid the cutout and in the end, aesthetics won.