Vacheron Constantin

The world's oldest working factory

The first observation about the House of Haute Horlogerie Vacheron Constantin is compelling: it is the oldest Swiss Manufacture of watches and clocks still in operation, having been founded in... 1755. As a result, personalities as diverse as Napoleon Bonaparte and Princess Diana, King Fouad I of Egypt and Marlon Brando, Pope Pius XI and Queen Elizabeth II are among the prestigious holders of Vacheron Constantin watches. Founded in Geneva by an independent watchmaker, Jean-Marc Vacheron - who was also a close friend of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau - the House quickly made a name for itself thanks, in particular, to the creation of the first guilloche dials. It did not take its current name until 1819, when François Constantin joined the venture. That same year, Vacheron & Constantin adopted a motto that is still relevant today: "Do better if possible, which is always possible". As for the symbol of the manufacture, the Maltese Cross, it would not make its appearance until 1877. In the history of fine watchmaking, Vacheron Constantin's road is strewn with successes and firsts. Wasn't a woman's watch hidden in the third Fabergé imperial egg in 1887? To the Geneva manufacture, watchmaking owes, for example, the first horological complication (1790), the first non-magnetic watch (1885), the world's flattest manual winding movement (1955), right up to the most complicated mechanical watch ever made in 2015: it is equipped with 57 complications!

Iconic models, revisited collections

From the Vacheron and Constantin families to the Swiss luxury group Richemont, via the Jaeger-Lecoultre group and a Saudi sheikh, the reins of the manufacture have been passed on to different owners over the decades, but the spirit of the House has remained the same. The recent period has seen Vacheron Constantin come up with Iconic models such as the Patrimony wristwatch, characterized by its design and elegance and ultra-flat case, the luxury sports line Overseas, the Métiers d'Art wristwatches Les Masques (with reproductions of primitive art masks in the center of the dial) and Les Univers infinis. Anniversaries have also been an opportunity to launch exceptional watches. In 2005, for Vacheron Constantin's 250th anniversary, the Tour de l'Ile wristwatch with its 834 components and 16 complications was made in just seven pieces that sold for more than $1 million. Ten years later, it was the world's most complicated mechanical pocket watch, the Reference 57260 that marked the 260th anniversary. You have to realize that its design occupied three full-time watchmakers for eight years! While reissuing certain flagship models in a collection called Historiques (American 1921, Ultra Fine 1955...), Vacheron Constantin never stops creating watches for men and women, whether they incorporate historical lines such as Overseas (Tourbillon, Quantième Perpétuel...) or Métiers d'art, or more recent collections like Egerie or FiftySix.