Vacheron Constantin SA () is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

luxury

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

and

clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

founded in 1755. Since 1996, it has been a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...

of the Swiss Richemont Group. Vacheron Constantin is the second oldest Swiss manufacturer and one of the oldest watch manufacturers in the world with an uninterrupted watchmaking history since its foundation in 1755. It employs around 1,200 people worldwide as of 2018, most of whom are based in the company's manufacturing plants in the

Canton of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...

and

Vallée de Joux The Vallée de Joux is a valley of the Jura Mountains mainly in the Swiss Canton of Vaud. The valley also continues into France ( Jura département) at its higher, southwestern, end. Located north of Geneva and northwest of Lausanne, its mean el ...

in Switzerland. Vacheron Constantin is a highly regarded watch manufacturer. The Vacheron Constantin

pocket watch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a watch, wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wr ...

No. 402833 (1929), which was owned by King Fuad I of Egypt, ranks as one of the most expensive watches ever sold at auction, fetching US$2.77 million (3,306,250 CHF) in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

on April 3, 2005. In 2015, Vacheron Constantin introduced the pocket watch

Reference 57260 The Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 is a single highly complicated mechanical pocket watch, featuring 57 complications. The watch was assembled by Vacheron Constantin and introduced in 2015. The company claims that it is the most complicated ...

, which currently holds the title of the most complicated

mechanical watch A mechanical watch is a watch that uses a clockwork mechanism to measure the passage of time, as opposed to quartz watches which function using the vibration modes of a piezoelectric quartz tuning fork, or radio watches, which are quartz watches ...

ever made, with 57 horological complications.

History

Early history

The business was founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron, an independent

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...

in Geneva, Switzerland.Jean-Marc Vacheron: 1731 – 1805, Suisse
''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'' He was a close friend of leading Enlightenment philosophers

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

due to their common interests in philosophy, science and watchmaking. In 1770, Vacheron's company created the world's first horological complication, and nine years later he designed the first engine-turned dials. The son of Jean-Marc Vacheron, Abraham Vacheron took over the family business in 1785. In 1810, Jacques-Barthélemy Vacheron, the grandson of the founder, became the head of the company. He was the first to initiate the company's exports to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Later, Jacques-Barthélemy realized that he was not able to handle the business alone. In order to travel overseas and sell the company's products, he needed a partner. Consequently, in 1819, François Constantin became an associate of Vacheron. The company continued its activities under the new name ''Vacheron & Constantin''. The company's motto (which remains today), "Faire mieux si possible, ce qui est toujours possible (Do better if possible and that is always possible)", first appeared in Constantin's letter to Jacques-Barthélémy. The letter was dated July 5, 1819. François Constantin traveled around the world and marketed watches. The main market at the time was

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. In 1833, Vacheron and Constantin hired Georges-Auguste Leschot, whose job was to supervise the manufacturing operations. In particular, Leschot was an inventor and his creations turned out to be a success for the company. His inventions had significant impact on the watchmaking industry in general, and he was the first person to standardize watch movements into

Caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...

s. In 1844, Georges-Auguste Leschot was awarded with a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

from the Arts Society of Geneva, which highly appreciated Leschot's

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...

ic device - a device that was able to mechanically engrave small watch parts and dials.

Re-organization

After François Constantin's death in 1854 and Jacques-Barthélemy Vacheron's death in 1863, the company was taken over by a series of heirs. At one point, the company was headed by two women. In 1862, Vacheron Constantin became a member of the Association for Research into non-magnetic materials. In 1877, ''Vacheron & Constantin, Fabricants, Geneve'' became the official name of the company. In 1880, the company started using the

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...

as its symbol until today. This was inspired by a component of the barrel, which had a cross-shape and was used for limiting the tension within the

mainspring A mainspring is a spiral torsion spring of metal ribbon—commonly spring steel—used as a power source in mechanical watches, some clocks, and other clockwork mechanisms. ''Winding'' the timepiece, by turning a knob or key, stores energy in ...

. In 1887, Vacheron & Constantin was reorganized into a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

. Notably, in the same year, Fabergé's 1887 Third Imperial Egg contained a Vacheron Constantin Lady's watch as the surprise. For the remarkable achievements of the company, Vacheron & Constantin was awarded a gold medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1887. The first Vacheron & Constantin boutique in Geneva was opened in 1906. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Vacheron & Constantin found itself in a difficult situation. In 1936, Charles Constantin became the head of the company, the first time since 1850s that a representative from the Constantin family became the president of Vacheron & Constantin. However, in 1940, Georges Ketterer acquired the majority portion of the stock of Vacheron & Constantin from Charles Constantin.

Recent development

George Ketterer died in 1969, and his son, Jacques Ketterer, succeeded as the head of Vacheron & Constantin. In 1970, the company officially changed its name to ''Vacheron Constantin''. Vacheron Constantin was affected by the

quartz crisis The quartz crisis was the upheaval in the watchmaking industry caused by the advent of quartz watches in the 1970s and early 1980s, that largely replaced mechanical watches around the world.

during 1970s and 1980s. When Jacques Ketterer died in 1987, Vacheron Constantin changed hands. Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia and avid watch collector, became the company's majority shareholder, who then folded Vacheron Constantin into his personal portfolio of holdings. In 1996, the entire share capital of Vacheron Constantin was bought by the Swiss Richemont Group. In 2004, Vacheron Constantin opened its new headquarters and manufacture in

Plan-les-Ouates Plan-les-Ouates () is a municipality of the canton of Geneva in Switzerland. History Plan-les-Ouates is first mentioned in 1537 as ''Plan-des-Vuattes''. In 1851 it became an independent municipality when the municipality of Compesières dissolv ...

. The Vacheron Constantin headquarters building in Geneva was designed by

Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French-S ...

, and has been noted for its architectural significance. In October 2005, the Richemont Group named Juan Carlos Torres as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the company. Currently, the company is an active member of the

Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) is the Swiss watch industry's leading trade association, headquartered in Bienne, Switzerland. The Federation is a private, professional and non-profit association. The Federation of the Swiss Watc ...

, and produces about 20,000 timepieces per year.

Motto and slogan

The company motto of Vacheron Constantin is "Faire mieux si possible, ce qui est toujours possible (Do better if possible, and that is always possible)". The motto first appeared in a François Constantin's letter to Jacques-Barthélémy, and the letter was dated July 5, 1819.

Watch manufacturing

Notable inventions and patents

The following are some of the notable achievements of Vacheron Constantin in watch manufacturing. *In 1790, created the world's first watch complication. * In 1824, created a jumping-hour watch. * In 1885, created the first nonmagnetic timepiece which included a complete lever assortment made of materials able to withstand

magnetic field A magnetic field is a vector field that describes the magnetic influence on moving electric charges, electric currents, and magnetic materials. A moving charge in a magnetic field experiences a force perpendicular to its own velocity and to ...

s. Its construction included a

balance wheel A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position by a ...

balance spring A balance spring, or hairspring, is a spring attached to the balance wheel in mechanical timepieces. It causes the balance wheel to oscillate with a resonant frequency when the timepiece is running, which controls the speed at which the wheels of ...

and lever shaft that were made of

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

, the lever arms—in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

and the escape wheel was in gold. *In 1901, received the first ''Geneva Seal'' (Hallmark of Geneva) for its timepieces. *In 1929, created a "Grande Complication" pocket watch, No. 402833, for

King Fuad I Fuad I ( ar, فؤاد الأول ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; tr, I. Fuad or ; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sulta ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

''.'' *In 1955, produced the world's thinnest manual-winding

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

, the Calibre 1003. *In 1992, created the world's thinnest

minute repeater A repeater is a Complication (horology), complication in a mechanical watch or clock that chimes the hours and often minutes at the press of a button. There are many types of repeater, from the simple repeater which merely strikes the number of ...

, the Calibre 1755. *In 2015, created

, the most complicated mechanical watch/pocket watch ever made, with 57 complications.

Environmental rating

In December 2018,

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

(WWF) released a report assigning environmental ratings to 15 major watch manufacturers and jewelers in Switzerland. Vacheron Constantin was given an average environmental rating as "Upper Midfield", suggesting that the manufacturer has taken first actions addressing the impact of its manufacturing activities on the environment and climate change.

Notable models

Most expensive pieces

* In 1979, Vacheron Constantin made ''Kallista'', one of the most expensive

wristwatches A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

in the world. Its initial price was $5 million, but in 2016 the watch was valued at about $11 million. Kallista had 118 emerald-cut diamonds. It took about 6,000 hours for the watch masters to make this watch and about 20 months for jewelers to enrich the watch. * On April 3, 2005, the Vacheron Constantin

Ref. 402833 (1929), which was owned by King Fuad I of Egypt, fetched a final price of 2.77 million US dollars (3,306,250 CHF) in

Antiquorum Antiquorum is an auctioneer of modern and vintage timepieces. Established in Geneva in 1974, Antiquorum was the first auction house to auction fine watches over the Internet in the 1990s. The company was founded in Geneva in 1974 by Osvaldo Patri ...

auction. *On April 3, 2005, a Vacheron Constantin mysterious clock was auctioned by Antiquorum for 1.83 million US dollars (2,206,250 CHF) in Geneva. * On April 3, 2005, a Vacheron Constantin wristwatch Tour de I'lle fetched 1.56 million US dollars (1,876,250 CHF) in Antiquorum's Geneva auction. * On June 15, 2011, a Vacheron Constantin

pocket watch (1918), which was owned by

James Ward Packard James Ward Packard (November 5, 1863 – March 20, 1928) was an American automobile manufacturer who founded the Packard Motor Car Company and Packard Electric Company with his brother William Doud Packard.Adler, Dennis (2004). ''Packard''. Mot ...

, was auctioned for 1.76 million US dollars in

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

auction.

Overseas wristwatch

In 1996, Vacheron Constantin formally introduced a new high-end sports line called ''Overseas''. The precursor of Overseas collection, however, was originally introduced in 1977 during the

. The precursor was the wristwatch Ref. 222, which was designed by a 23-year-old designer named Jorg Hysek. The original version of Overseas was revamped in 2004, and was re-invented again in 2016. Some of the Overseas wristwatches also come with complications such as

chronograph A chronograph is a specific type of watch that is used as a stopwatch combined with a display watch. A basic chronograph has an independent sweep second hand and a minute sub-dial; it can be started, stopped, and returned to zero by successive ...

, World Time,

tourbillon In horology, a tourbillon (; "whirlwind") is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement to increase accuracy. It was developed around 1795 and patented by the Swiss-French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet on June 26, 1801. In a tourbill ...

, moon phase, and so on.

Patrimony wristwatch

Vacheron Constantin Patrimony gold watch

The Patrimony wristwatch is a model of Vacheron Constantin. The collection was introduced in 2004, and is known for its simple and elegant design as well as its ultra-thin case. The designer was inspired by some of the company's watch models back in 1950s. In 2009, Vacheron Constantin decided to integrate the minute repeating complication into some of the Patrimony wristwatches, and the end product was the Patrimony Calibre 1731, the world's thinnest minute repeater. The current Patrimony collection also includes some other complications such as

perpetual calendar A perpetual calendar is a calendar valid for many years, usually designed to look up the day of the week for a given date in the past or future. For the Gregorian and Julian calendars, a perpetual calendar typically consists of one of three ...

moon phase Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the t ...

indicators, and so on.

Métiers d'Art wristwatch

In 2007, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Métiers d'Art 'Les Masques' collection of timepieces featuring miniature reproductions of primitive art masks. The company selected 12 masks from a private museum collection and reproduced them on a small scale. The miniaturized masks are featured in the dial centre of every watch from the 'Les Masques' collection. In 2012, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Métiers d'Art 'Les Univers Infinis' collection of timepieces featuring tessellation, a design of interlocking shapes inspired by the work of the Dutch artist

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

250th anniversary edition

In 2005, Vacheron Constantin created the wristwatch " Tour de I'lle" to mark the anniversary of 250 years of Vacheron Constantin. The watch includes 834 parts and 16 horological complications, including

, moon phase as well as moon age, and took over 10,000 hours of research and development. The Tour de l'lle wristwatch is one of the most complicated wristwatches in the world. In total, only seven pieces were manufactured, each of which had a sale price over US$1 million. On April 3, 2005, a Tour de I'lle wristwatch fetched a final price of 1.56 million US dollars (1,876,250 CHF) in

auction. The auctioned piece has a unique black dial.

260th anniversary edition

In 2015, during the manufacturer's 260th anniversary, Vacheron Constantin revealed the world's most complicated mechanical watch, named

. The pocket watch took three watchmakers eight years to build the 57-complication

at the request of a client. Vacheron Constantin would not disclose the exact price of this watch but did confirm that it was between 8 million and 20 million US dollars. The Reference 57260 is part of Vacheron Constantin's lineage of tailor-made grand complicated pocket watches since James W. Packard's pocket watch (1918), which was auctioned for US$1.763 million by

in New York on June 15, 2011. In addition, the Vacheron Constantin pocket watch Ref. 402833 (1929), which was tailored for

of Egypt, ranks as one of the most expensive watches ever sold at auction, fetching US$2.77 million (3,306,250 CHF) in

on April 3, 2005. In 1946, Vacheron Constantin tailored a complicated pocket watch for

King Farouk of Egypt Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 19 ...

, the successor of King Fuad I, and in 1948 the company tailored another one for Count Guy de Boisrouvray of France. Watch MET DP330584

References

External links

*
Official Vacheron Constantin discussion forum

��Disputing the fact that Vacheron Constantin is the oldest watchmaker
Vacheron Constantin's Infinite Illusion Of Time: Les Univers Infinis

Vacheron Constantin and the Art of Openworking
{{Authority control 1755 establishments in Europe Swiss watch brands Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland Luxury brands Richemont brands 18th-century establishments in Switzerland Companies established in 1755