Vacheron Constantin

The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time has arrived!

 

I was pleased to see the first of the Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time models arrive in the North American market last week. Introduced with top billing in a strong year for novelties from Vacheron Constantin (which also included the Patrimony Contemporaine Perpetual Calendar, Historiques Aronde 1954, and Quai de l’ Ile Annual Calendar), the World Time watch breaks new ground for Vacheron Constantin, which had not had a proper world time complication in its catalog for decades.

Alex Ghotbi published an article about the watch for The Hour Lounge that presents a comprehensive history of Vacheron Constantin’s world time watches, with photos of the vintage references that employ Cottier’s innovative display for showing the time in various time zones. Please visit his article if you would like to understand the brand’s history with the world time complication.

www.thehourlounge.com

Vacheron Constantin breaks new ground with the reference 86060 by indicating the time in all 37 time zones used throughout the world.


(Please note that the photos in this article are of a prototype. The production model has a different ring for the cities, due to the Russian government’s switching permanently to daylight savings. The production watch places Moscow where Abu Dhabi is shown in these photos, and Riyadh now occupies  the place that had belonged to Moscow).

The Case

The Patrimony World Time is only available in 18K pink gold. The case is 42.5 mm in diameter, and like all models in the Traditionnelle family, it has an attractive step along the flanks and sculpted lugs. The case back has the knurling that breaks up the otherwise smooth look of the high polished surfaces.


The Movement

The caliber 2460 WT inside the case is based on Vacheron Constantin’s in-house automatic movement with center seconds, and it has earned the prestigious Geneva Hallmark. While the base 2460 has a diameter of 26.2 mm and a thickness of 5.7 mm, the addition of the world time complication takes the diameter to 36.6 mm and the thickness to 8.1 mm


The brilliant innovation that Vacheron Constantin has developed for this watch is to show the time in all 37 time zones that are used in the world today. more than a few countries set their time at either a 15 or 30 minute shift from the GMT reference hour (these odd shift zones are indicated in red print on the dial), and this is the first mechanical watch that can account for these offset time zones. If in the future there are deviations from the GMT standard by any government, like with Russia this past spring, then Vacheron Constantin can modify the display.

The crown manages winding, time setting, and time-zone setting. When the crown is in the second position, which in most watches one quick sets the date, here one movement the minute hand forward in 15 minute increments to quickly change the reference time zone. Local time can be read either off the dial or from the reference city that points to 6 o’clock.

The Dial

There are three layers to the display. Along the outside is a metal ring with applied pink gold hour markers and printed minute hashes. Below that is a metal dial with the “Lambert” projection of the northern hemisphere and the ring of city names. Above that is a sapphire dial with the day-night shading and the 24 hour indicator that rotates once a day. Despite the apparent complexity, the look is elegant and the local time is easy to read. Reading the time in another zone is something that takes a little getting used to (I have no previous experience with world time complications). but is easy once you know how. What the watch cannot account for it deviations to GMT due to daylight savings.


 A whimsical touch is the minute hand’s slight deviation from the classical dauphine hand typical of a Patrimony Traditionnelle - it suggests travel from one time zone to another by looking like an airplane’s delta wing!

The day-night shading is a wonderful way to visually show AM/PM without having to look at the 24 hour ring.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed my one week with this watch. From a practical point of view, I found that reading the time was easy, despite all the information on the dial, and setting the watch for other zones was intuitive.


With a retail value of $48,900, the Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time is not inexpensive, but I think it is a fair value, offering a truly useful update of a classical complication in a beautiful package.


Bill Lind (WHL)
I’m always willing to talk about watches. Please send me a PM to share you thoughts.