Vacheron Constantin Marks 270 Years with Patrimony & Traditionnelle Anniversary Editions

There are very few watchmakers — very few enterprises, period — that can claim an uninterrupted history in business that dates back to the middle of the 18th century. Vacheron Constantin, founded in 1755 and marking its 270th anniversary this year, is one of those elite few. And despite the fact that “270” is not as momentous a number as, say, 250, or the 275 that looms in 2030, the Geneva-based maison is justifiably proud of reaching the milestone and is celebrating it, as you’d expect, at Watches & Wonders with a series of limited editions from its most historically significant collections.

All told, Vacheron Constantin is introducing eight new limited editions, four references each from the Patrimony and Traditionnelle families, distinguished by stylistic details on both the dials and the movements. Gracing the dials is a discreet, textural, geometric motif inspired by the Maltese Cross that has served as the manufacture’s emblem since 1880. (According to Vacheron, its shape is evocative of “an ancient caliber component… that ensured consistent power flow to the spring [for] optimal performance.”) The pattern allows the watches’ faces to reflect an array of eye-catching light effects as their wearers’ wrists are in motion. 

Behind the sapphire exhibition casebacks in each model, the movements boast their own intriguing, artisanal treatment: a finish on the bridges called “côtes unique,” which is achieved in a meticulous combination of manual and machine-controlled techniques and required more than 500 hours to perfect. Used by Vacheron Constantin more than 100 years ago, and rediscovered in the process of creating 2021’s Historiques American 1921 edition, the technique creates the impression of unbroken lines flowing from one bridge to the next on the movement. As if this rare finish isn’t enough, Vacheron’s watchmakers have also given each movement a special engraving indicating the 270th anniversary. 

The two pillars of its modern portfolio that Vacheron Constantin has chosen to showcase these anniversary timepieces are its most classically elegant in character, sharing several stylistic elements while differing in subtle but significant details. The Patrimony made its debut in 2004 but its aesthetic roots reach to the 1950s, particularly the Ref. 6179 timepiece from 1957. Patrimony watches adopt some version of that watch’s timeless, minimalist appeal, with its simple round case, slender bezel, slightly convex dial with baton hands, and “pearl” minute track. The Traditionnelle opts for a similarly round case and slim bezel, but also for a set of faceted Dauphine hands and a printed railroad-style minutes scale on the dial, along with a more stepped lug design and a fluted caseback. 

The quartet of Patrimony models breaks down as follows. On the simpler end, we have two 370-piece editions of the three-handed Patrimony Self-Winding, with a date window at 6 o’clock and a silver-toned dial bearing the special anniversary texture. Its 40mm round case, in white gold or rose gold, contains the automatic Caliber 2450 Q6/270, with a 22k gold rotor enhanced by a Maltese cross motif, a stop-seconds function, and a 40-hour power reserve.

Occupying the more complex end of the spectrum is the Patrimony Moon Phase Retrograde Date, here in two 270-piece editions in the same precious metals noted above. The cases measure 42.5mm in diameter and house the self-winding Caliber 2460 R31L/270, with its 40-hour power reserve, behind their silver-toned dials. The dials indicate the date with a center-mounted retrograde hand that traces the 31-day arc in the upper part of the dial, jumping back to day one at the end of each month. At 6 o’clock is an aperture for the ultra-precise moon-phase display, which follows the natural rotation of the moon around the Earth every 29 days, 12 hours, and 45 minutes, as reflected on the “0-to-29.5” scale around the aperture. This type of moon-phase indication should require adjustment only once every 122 years.

In the Traditionnelle collection, we find two 370-piece limited editions of that family’s entry-level timepiece, the Traditionnelle Manual-Winding. Here, the precious metals used for the 38mm cases are 18k 5N rose gold and 950 platinum, and the movement inside both is the hand-winding Caliber 4400 AS/270 (the “270” at the end of the alphanumeric names of all these calibers, as you may have gleaned by now, denotes that they bear the côtes unique-finished bridges and anniversary engraving). Beating behind the silvered dials, with their Dauphine hands and elegantly simple 6 o’clock small seconds displays, the movement stores a healthy 65-hour power reserve.

The remaining two Traditionnelle anniversary editions are limited to 270 pieces and display a more feminine-focused character, in diamond-set rose-gold cases with more modest dimensions and mother-of-pearl dials. The larger and more complicated of the two, the Traditionnelle Moon Phase, measures 36mm and is outfitted with the in-house Caliber 1410 AS/270, which stores a 38-hour power reserve. In addition to the 6 o’clock small seconds subdial, this watch features the same high-precision “astronomical” moon-phase indication described above for the Patrimony model, with one day’s discrepancy in 122 years. Vacheron has applied the same geometric anniversary motif to the mother-of-pearl dials for an added level of intricate appeal. 

Coming in at 33mm, in the same diamond-set rose gold case and MOP dial, the Traditionnelle Manual-Winding is the smallest of the lot, with the slimmest movement: the manually wound Caliber 1440/270 inside is only 2.6mm thick, allowing the case to be similarly slender on the wrist. The pink-toned dial, with the anniversary motif, finds a chromatic companion in the pink alligator leather strap, which (like the alligator straps on all the other watches described here) fastens to the wrist with a pin buckle in the same precious metal as the case, sculpted in the shape of a half Maltese cross.