Vacheron Constantin, 270 years under the sign of excellence

Being one of the oldest haute horlogerie companies in the world means carrying a great responsibility, as much to enthusiasts and collectors as to the watch industry itself. Vacheron Constantin, which turns 270 years old in 2025, is perfectly aware of the role that history has written for it and that it has created for itself. A role as a beacon of mechanics and style, a mission to educate people about beauty and well-crafted products that goes hand in hand with its philosophy – ‘one of not many’ –, thanks to which Vacheron Constantin sees nothing as impossible.

A philosophy that embodies and celebrates individuality and a singular sense of spirit. An ethos that harks back to a passage from a letter written by François Constantin to his partner Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron in 1819, in which he urged him ‘to do better if possible, and that is always possible’. A phrase that has become the motto of the company founded in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron. A long history, an uninterrupted production that, however, is not an obstacle when, at the factory, one thinks of the brand’s future. Because Vacheron Constantin treads a path between the old and the new, designing modernity while peeking at the past.

VACHERON CONSTANTIN AND THE LEGACY OF ILLUMINISM

The story of Vacheron Constantin thus has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment, the era that changed forever the West’s approach to science and vision of the world, of history and, consequently, of time – an entity whose precise measurement was increasingly felt as a necessity. Not least by Jean-Marc Vacheron, the Genevan watchmaker-cabineteer who in 1755, aged just 24, took on his first apprentice, the young Jean François Hetier. At the time, Vacheron was closely associated with the leading figures of the French Enlightenment such as Rousseau and Voltaire, whose liberalist and scientific ideas he used as an inspiration for his work in mechanical watchmaking. The employment contract between Vacheron and Hetier is considered by many to be the ‘birth certificate’ of Vacheron Constantin.

Jean-Marc Vacheron wasted no time, and the same year he presented a pocket watch made of silver, bearing his signature on the movement: J.M. Vacheron A GENEVE. It was the first timepiece to identify the brand’s founder using his name. Thirty years later, it was Jean-Marc’s son Abraham who took the reins of the company, maintaining the continuity of his father’s work despite the consequences of the French Revolution being felt in Geneva in the following years. Abraham ensured business continuity by passing on all the trade’s secrets to his son Jacques-Barthélémi.

With him, the company made a double leap forward. On the one hand, by producing increasingly complex and refined watches; on the other, by realising that, in order to grow, it was increasingly necessary to move beyond the Swiss market. This is why their watches began to be exported to France and Italy, two countries with which the brand established a very strong relationship, capable of withstanding centuries, wars and crises.

BEYOND THE BORDERS OF SWITZERLAND AND INNOVATION

While more and more precious pieces were coming out of the factory – such as the 1812 pocket watch with quarter repeater – in 1819 an event occurred that would change the company’s fortunes forever. Jacques-Barthélémi Vacheron met the businessman François Constantin, with whom he partnered and renamed the company Vacheron Constantin.

The two men shared an interest in sophisticated and complicated watches, an interest to which François Constantin added a great flair for business. In fact, he opened up a number of new markets during his three decades travelling for the Maison. During one of these trips, on 5 July 1819, he wrote to his partner from Turin the letter that contained the phrase that, as mentioned at the beginning, was to become the Maison’s motto: ‘Do better if possible, and that is always possible‘.

As exports flourished, the creation of exceptional timepieces for the time continued. These included an 1824 pocket watch in rose gold with a jumping hour display – among the first made in Europe in the 19th century to feature a date complication – or a grand sonnerie of 1827, also in rose gold, capable of ringing every 15 minutes at the owner’s request.

Speaking of innovations, in 1839 Vacheron’s watchmaking engineer, Georges-Auguste Leschot, invented the pantograph, an instrument that made the production of movements with interchangeable parts possible. Since essential components such as bridges and main plates could be produced through a uniform process, Vacheron Constantin was able to increase the overall quality of all its watches. It is no coincidence that in 1869, the first pocket chronometer was produced – and received a prestigious award from the Geneva Observatory.

FROM THE 19TH CENTURY TO THE GREAT COMPLICATIONS OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

1880 marked the beginning of a new era for the company. At the Federal Trademark Office in Berne, Vacheron Constantin registered the Maltese cross symbol as its logo. It was inspired by the shape of a constant-force mechanism mounted on the barrel of one of the brand’s first movements. The history of the Maltese cross can be traced back to the 16th century, when it first appeared as a heraldic symbol on currency and equipment produced for the Knights of Malta.

At the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to a business vision ahead of its time, the brand opened its first boutique downtown Geneva, on 1 August 1906, to provide a suitable environment for displaying its fine watches. In 1907, the Chronomètre Royal pocket watch – the first high-precision timepiece optimised for everyday use – joined the brand’s family. Thanks to its robustness, precision and resistance to climates that were once considered too hostile for watches, it soon deserved international success.

It was not the only watch that Vacheron Constantin created in the early decades of the 20th century to stand out for its complications and earn records that were unthinkable at the time. We are talking, for example, about the pocket watch made in 1918 and commissioned by the American automobile tycoon James Ward Packard. It was a watch with a large and small chime, quarter and half-quarter repeater and chronograph. Or, again, the piece created in 1929 for King Fouad I of Egypt, also with large and small chimes, split-seconds chronograph, perpetual calendar and indication of the moon phases and age.

Dating from 1946 is the Farouk, one of the most complicated pocket watches of the 20th century and whose development required several years in order to integrate 14 complications into a movement composed of 820 separate parts. Among other functions, the Farouk was equipped with a carillon minute repeater, large and small chimes, split-seconds chronograph, perpetual calendar, alarm clock and twin power reserves for the gear train and striking mechanism.

VACHERON CONSTANTIN, FROM 200 YEARS TO THE 222

1955 was the year of the Maison’s 200th anniversary. What better occasion to launch the world’s thinnest hand-wound movement? It was the Calibre 1003 with Geneva Hallmark, only 1.64 mm thick. That year also saw the entry into the brand’s chronograph collections of the so-called ‘Cornes de Vache‘, Ref. 6087. Produced for a relatively short period between 1955 and the mid-1960s, it had the characteristic of being the only anti-magnetic water-resistant chronograph produced by Vacheron Constantin at that time, its name derived from the powerful shape of its lugs inspired by the horns of a bull. In 2017, Vacheron Constantin reintroduced the design of Ref. 6087 as part of the Historiques collection, with a 38.5 mm case and a reworked Lemania calibre.

Between the mid-1950s and the end of the 1960s, Vacheron Constantin affirmed its reputation as a creator of elegant and refined watches, pursuing the vocation for excellence that came from its founders and consolidating its position on the main international markets. The 1970s brought a growing demand for steel sports watches, in the wake of the successful models designed by Gerald Genta. To this demand, the Maison responded in 1977 with the 222, whose design was drastically different from the brand’s tradition.

German designer Jörg Hysek, starting from certain ‘fundamental principles’ established by Genta, created a steel sports watch that could be compared – but at the same time offered a distinct alternative – to other brands’ models. The tonneau case was faithful to the geometric shapes popular in the 1970s, while the bezel had among the most avant-garde designs of its time: thanks to its serrated edges and one-piece construction, it exuded an almost steampunk charm. Together with the high luminescence of the indices and hands, these features would form the basis of the brand’s best-selling Overseas collection. 

THE COMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The company’s 240th anniversary, in 1995, was the occasion to create such outstanding references as the Mercator or the Ref. 30030, a skeleton minute repeater, while 1996 marked the birth of the Overseas. A direct descendant of the 222 as the brand’s only sporty-chic watch with a steel case and integrated bracelet, the Overseas has gone through several restyling in its 29 years of life, while remaining Vacheron Constantin’s most successful collection, at least from a commercial point of view. On that same year, the Maison was acquired by the Swiss financial group Richemont, which launched a new phase in the brand’s life that endures to this day, and which has positioned it firmly into the top 10 of Swiss brands by turnover.

And so we come our times, to the other great anniversary celebrated in 2005: the Geneva brand’s 250th anniversary. A birthday for which Vacheron Constantin had already treated itself a year earlier to the brand new factory in Plan-les-Ouates, just outside Geneva. Designed by Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, the building is shaped like a half Maltese cross and brings together management, administration and production. 

That’s where the series of five complicated watches paying tribute to various aspects of haute horlogerie came from. Those timepieces were created by Vacheron Constantin specifically to celebrate the anniversary. Prominent among them was the Tour de l’Île, a model that, true to Vacheron Constantin’s reputation, combined 16 horological complications within one movement. To make it come to life, the research and development phase lasted around 10,000 hours. At the time, it was considered the most complicated wristwatch ever mass-produced: a total of seven examples were made.

PRESERVING THE PAST AND THE ‘LES COLLECTIONEURS’ PROGRAMME

In the wake of the excellent watches produced in the years that followed, Vacheron Constantin felt the growing need to enhance its heritage by developing the collectors’ aspect. Thus, in 2012, it launched the Les Collectionneurs programme, a move that would prove prescient in the years to come. It is a meticulously organised foray into the world of vintage watch collecting. As part of the programme, Vacheron specialists procure rare and important watches (mainly from the 1910-1970 period) through auction houses, museums and private collectors. These undergo a total restoration in the factory’s vintage customer service before being put on sale at themed events around the world. To guarantee the origin of these restored vintage pieces, the brand delivers them with a certificate of authenticity and a 2-year guarantee, also using blockchain technology.

After all, Vacheron Constantin has always regarded its history as an edifying and stimulating resource. Since its origins in 1755, it has built up a set of archives and a private collection comprising over 1,600 watches. This attachment to the past testifies to the desire to pass on traditional knowledge and preserve craftmanship skills within the company, in particular to be able to restore every watch made by the brand since its foundation.

For Vacheron Constantin, the past is indeed an inexhaustible source of inspiration and an opportunity to reflect on what constitutes its values and roots. Over the decades, the Maison has collected – and continues to expand – a unique historical heritage in the watch industry. The inventory includes over 1,600 watches dating from the 18th century to the present day, 800 machine tools, numerous paintings, workbenches and watchmaking instruments. In addition, there is a rich archive of production records, correspondence between members, suppliers and customers, photographs and documents providing information about the timepieces and the company.

THE BERKLEY GRAND COMPLICATION

All this without forgetting contemporary craftsmanship as highlighted by the 2015 Ref. 57260, at the time Vacheron Constantin’s most complicated pocket watch. Created at the request of a private client, it was developed over eight years by three master watchmakers, who developed an incredible array of technical innovations for 57 complications, including a perpetual calendar with information in Hebrew.

A record that was snatched from it in 2024 by the Berkley Grand Complication. A prodigy of 63 complications, 2,877 components and 11 years of work, including one alone to assemble it. Its functions include the first Chinese perpetual calendar. Due to the combination of lunar and solar calendar, it is a timepiece with an extremely complex and irregular cycle, which involved the mechanical programming of the calendar up to year 2200. Something incredible that only a Maison like Vacheron Constantin is able to create today.

SUPPORTING CULTURE

Meanwhile, Vacheron Constantin has not forgotten its commitment to supporting culture, not just watchmaking but art in general. It does so through prestigious partnerships such as those with the Louvre Museum in Paris or the Abbey Road Studios in London. With the former, the company periodically promotes cultural initiatives linked to art and restoration, and in 2022 gave birth to the ‘Homage to Great Civilisations‘ line within the Métiers d’Art collection: four limited edition watches, each inspired by an art piece in the museum and created by one of the four most important ancient civilisations. 

Part of the creative collaboration between Vacheron Constantin and Abbey Road Studios is the ‘One of Not Many Mentorship Programme’ based on the sharing of skills and expertise, a tradition dear to the Maison. It enables and supports the development and recording of all One of Not Many tracks by artists participating in the programme. Emerging musical talents can benefit from the knowledge of an internationally renowned mentor, French singer-songwriter Woodkid.

It is therefore clear from what has been written so far that while most brands strive to offer a limited number of watchmaking innovations and complications, innovation is almost an obsession for Vacheron Constantin. The brand has created a true lineage of super complications; it has embraced vintage watches by interpreting them with all the power of modern technology; it has developed one of the world’s unique ultra-thin movements; and, more recently, it has managed to create watches with an unbelievable number of sublime complications. All this while perpetuating the watchmaking tradition and preserving its knowledge, history and uniqueness from one generation to the next. Ready to live another 270 years of unparalleled excellence.

By Davide Passoni