Vacheron Constantin Vladimir Watch

Bespoke…Tour de force…

WatchZone readers new and old — behold, the “Vladimir”.  Like the awesomely bespoke Vacheron Constantin Philosophia watch that I gave you a special first look/sneak preview of late last year, the Vladimir comes to us from Atelier Cabinotiers, Vacheron Constantin’s custom-built watchmaking workshop.

 

For those of you unfamiliar with Atelier Cabinotiers, a quote from my September 2010 Philosophia review should do the trick:    “Eventually, you reach a point when you want what others don’t have,” says Dominique Bernaz, director of Vacheron Constantin’s Atelier Cabinotiers.Indeed.  Vacheron’s Atelier Cabinotiers is the manufacture’s special-order division established in 2006 to serve its most exclusive clients (more on Atelier Cabinotiers here).  For the right price, the watch of your dreams can be conceived, named, constructed and delivered.  So here we are today, looking at the newly unveiled “Vladimir”.  Like the Philosophia, the name “Vladimir” was chosen by its owner, and this bespoke watch is a real tour de force, representing the precise desires of its owner.  This watch is so incredible it’s hard to know where to begin!  Let’s take a closer look, shall we?Vacheron Constantin Atleiers Cabinotiers Vladimir Watch Unique Piece 47mm pink gold case (hand engraved sides) white gold dial (hand-guilloched), manual winding Vacheron Caliber 2750 (58 hour power reserve) hours, minutes, second (on tourbillon), minute repeater, perpetual calendar, power reserve, second time zone, moon phase indication, striking-mechanism torque, perpetual time equation, sunrise, sunset, celestial map, week indication

The Vacheron Constantin Vladimir supersedes the complexity of the Vacheron Constantin Tour de l’Ile which was launched in 2005 by VC as “the most complicated wristwatch in the world”.   The Vladimir boasts a whopping 17 complications (at VC’s count) and 891 components:

To begin with the supreme example, the very refined 60-second tourbillon mechanism stands out at 6 o’clock, while next to it at 3 o’clock appears the moon phase on a blue sky with a precision moon in gold, smiling or serious depending on the phase and hand-engraved by Atelier Cabinotiers craftsmen. To its right, a smaller counter with a small blued hand indicates the striking mechanism torque, i.e., whether the minute repeater mechanism is engaged. In addition to the hour and minute hands – one-of-a-kind pieces made especially for this watch –that travel around the slightly off-centre minute markers, the front side of the main dial provides a second time zone with day/night indicator at 11 o’clock. The power reserve indicator is located in the 9 o’clock sector, also enhanced by a 52-week indicator.

As another sign of the personalisation evident throughout the entire creative process, the guilloché pattern on the dial was also chosen by the collector of this exceptional timepiece.

The back is no less admirable than the front, having a wealth of information that is pleasantly arranged, exciting, subtle and surprising, according to Vacheron:

On the upper portion, the perpetual calendar dials are arranged in a triangle, displaying the days of the week, month and date from left to right. A small window at 1 o’clock shows the leap-year cycle. In the centre of the dial, a blued hand sweeps over a small sector devoted to the equation of time, the variable difference observable between true (solar) time and the time marked by clocks, which for convenience is divided into equal intervals. Two other pieces of astronomical information are conveyed by hands traversing two sectors at 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock: the time of sunrise and sunset. The list of functions ends in a blaze of glory with a precision sky chart of the northern hemisphere, as one rarely sees it.

the back side of the Vacheron Constantin Vladimir watch

Of course, for a bespoke timepiece of this magnitude, even the side of the case is highly customized — the note the relief engraving on the sides of the pink gold case which depict the Chinese Zodiac, a task which (according to VC) took six months to finish.  Vacheron tells us:

The motifs and the bas-relief technique (which is extremely rare in watchmaking) used here were both done by request of the owner. Before getting to the heart of the matter with regard to the subject and materials, the designers showed the purchaser many sketches. The decision was then made to depict the signs of the zodiac on both sides of the case, which itself is made of 18-carat pink gold. In the end, the twelve figures – from the dragon through the rabbit and the rooster to the snake – were made to stand out slightly from the main body of 18-carat pink gold. It was a colossal task for the engravers – the twelve figures alone took more than six months – and required that a very special case first had to be made with extra-thick sides, from which the superfluous material was removed, carving roughly at first and then in very fine detail.

the sides of the Vacheron Constantin Vladimir watch

 

My very special thanks goes out to Vacheron Constantin and its Ateliers Cabinotiers for this very special look at this “once in a lifetime” watch.