VACHERON CONSTANTIN 18K GUILLOCHE
In October of 2018 I had the absolute pleasure of visiting the Vacheron Constantin Manufacture in Geneva together with our photographer, Jeroen and our mutual buddy, Dimer. We spent the entire day on the factory grounds and got to see and witness all the watchmakers and artisans at work. Part of our visit was the Guilocche department, Guilloche dials at Vacheron Constantin are still handmade with a hand-build machine that’s over 100 years old – We got the chance to partly make one of these dials for ourself (see far right image in center row) and I can tell you this is a painstaking task which demands absolute focus. The dial on our vintage Vacheron Constantin we’re offering here was made with that exact machine, and the dial, despite it’s age still shows absolute artisanship and quality.
This is a fresh to the market watch, meaning we bought this Vacheron Constantin from a local private collector who owned it for a near 20 years. The watch remains in worn, but good conditions, and as you can see there are some marks on the outer edge of the dial, but this particular dial with it’s unusual Guilloche decoration and the gold Arabic numerals and sharp gold faceted indices is so good, that it really doesn’t matter. This 1950’s VC is just showing some of it’s character and life through that dial and unfortunately these Vacheron’s aren’t for the taking, finding this exact same watch will be very hard, this truly is a rare 18k Vacheron Constantin which i’m sure will still tick several boxes with seasoned (dress-watch) collector. The watch remains in all original conditions with still the gold baton hands fitted and the gold winding crown attached. The dial is original and untouched, no repairs or re-printing was done in any way – The watch is worn on a dark brown, original VC crocodile strap.
The automatic bumper movement was serviced by our watchmakers, but we left the 18k gold case completely untouched. the gold is showing warmer and darker tones due to its age which we really like and we feel it’s a shame to give her a polish. If you do like to have this watch polished after purchase, we will be more than happy to provide you this service, free of cost of course. Looking for a gold dress watch, but want to own something you won’t come across very often? This rare VC is your chance!
casenumber: 329169
year of production: circa 1953
material: 18k yellow gold
case diameter: 35.10 mm
movement: Bumper automatic 477/1
box and papers: no
SOLD