Vacheron Constantin

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Two Historiques Chronographs: a piece of history and some pictures

 VC is well known for its rich tradition in chronograph designs, as demonstrated by these pictures, which show some of their watches with chronograph function in the first half of the 20 Century:

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 (Source: Antiquorum Vox Magazine, in an article by Bernard Vuilliomenet, former Director of Patrimony of Vacheron Constantin)

  Among them, References 4178 and 4072 are two of the most acclaimed designs. Beyond the well balanced dial displays, the most outstanding detail in these watches reside in their lugs. While the lugs in Ref. 4072 are of a timeless, classical shape, the Ref. 4178 lugs are a variant of VC's emblematic teardrop designs.

(Source: ibid)

  The production of these chronographs began in early 30's and stopped in the late 50's or early 60's, and the tradition was interrupted, only to be recovered, to some extend, at late 80's.

  It was at the Basel 1989, one of the first important Swiss horological fairs after the "Quartz Era", when VC launched a fully reorganized range of collections, trumpeting VC's entrance into the modern age. Five collections were offered: Phidias, Les Historiques, Les Complications, Les Absolues, and Les Essentielles.

  Among the many novelties that introduced at this event were two chronographs of special interest:

  One from Les Historiques collection, ref. 47101, hand winding, housing the cal.1140, based on Lemania 2310/2320, a traditional chronograph movement back to 1942. Remarkably, the whole design conception of 47101 is a tribute to the vintage 4178.

(From the VC Forum Gallery)

  Notice that, while bearing the heritage of the vintage 4178, ref. 47101 is quite different in several details: the buttons, the crown, the shape of the teardrop lugs variation, among others.

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(Photo courtesy by Paul Boutros)

The other one, Ref. 49002, from Les Complications collection, though later reclassified as Les Historiques Automatic Chronograph, housed the cal.1136, based on the newly launched (1988) Federique Piguet cal. 1185. To me, it could be considered a discreet homage to the ref. 4072,

 
(From Internet resource)

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basically by the shape of its lugs.

  
(From Internet resource)

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VC has produced quite a number of automatic chronographs since then, in its contemporaneous Phidias series, then in Overseas and Royal Eagle collections, using the same movement, but with a little bit different dial display, changing the date aperture from 6 to 12 O'clock. I believe that ref. 49002 has its place as the first generation of VC automatic chronographs.

People always say: "They don't make them like they used to". It may be true. Nevertheless, Les Historiques series, inspired from the most representative vintage designs, were not only technically and aesthetically well executed, they deserved the name. They had a contemorary value as well: It came in those days when there was a great mission to be accomplished. Through Les Historiques pieces, many newcomers to the horological world, me among them, have become aware of the enormously rich heritage of VC watchamking.

  Les Historiques collection has registered a lot of accommodations since its first appearance in late 80's, remaining nowadays only a few models (Toledo 1952, for instance), while both Historiques chronographs were successively discontinued in late 90's and early XXI Century, after more or less a decade of presence in VC offerings. Today, when I contemplate these two well rendered tributes to the past glorious days, I can not but feel a sort of nostalgia.

  Hope you enjoy this.

  Greetings,

  Jian

  PS. I would like to thank Bill Lind for having revised, with generosity and humor, an earlier draft of this essay. Any error or omission, nevertheless, is mine.

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