Vintage Vacheron Constantin Boutique Purchases

I recently wrote about bidding at auction:

vacheron.watchprosite.com

In that article I mentioned some of the potential problems and pitfalls in dealing with purchasing Vacheron Constantin watches on the secondary market. The two important issues regard the watch’s authenticity and condition? While with auctions one is almost always going to be looking at an authentic timepiece, the condition is not always going to be good. Servicing a vintage Vacheron & Constantin timepiece can be very expensive, sometimes costing more than the value of the watch, and is also very time consuming, with a typical servicing keeping the watch away from the owner for at least six months.

There is one way to acquire a vintage Vacheron Constantin watch that I neglected to mention: from Vacheron Constantin itself! The brand offers a small collection of interesting timepieces for sale at the Geneva, New York, and Shanghai boutiques. I would expect the new Paris boutique to also join this group in having vintage timepieces available for collectors. The advantage in purchasing through Vacheron Constantin directly is that you need not worry about either authenticity or condition. The brand will also warranty these watches for one year.

On a recent visit to New York to see the 2013 novelties, I also took the time to see the small collection of vintage timepieces available at the boutique on Madison Avenue. I was impressed by all three models on display.

I first looked at a 14K yellow gold pocket watch from 1909. Though considered yellow gold, the alloyed metals will fool you into thinking the watch is 18K rose gold.


The case is 48 mm in diameter. The white enamel dial has a classic look with black Breguet numbers, railroad minute track, and small seconds at 6 o’clcock. The movement has a gilded finish, with a pleasantly stiff winding feel.


It’s the only Vacheron Constantin watch you’ll find in a boutique for less than $10K!

The two other vintage timepieces on display were exquisite examples of chronographs, one being a reference 4178, with tear drop lugs,


and the other a reference 4072, with concave lugs.


Each of these is in rose gold, which would have been more unusual in the 1940’s and 1950’s than today. Both have a 35 mm diameter. The case of the 4178 is all high polish finish while the 4072 has satin finsihed sides:

The manual winding movement (caliber 434) hids behind solid case backs. I’ve always been partial to the 4178, which is the iconic vintage Vacheron Constantin chronograph, and the inspiration for the Historiques Chronograph that so many of the participants on this forum own and adore.


For those lucky enough to be near the select Vacheron Constantin boutiques that offer vintage timepieces, I would recommend stopping in with some regularity to see these watches in person. For those collectors further afield, check in with the “Collector’s Corner” at TheHourClub.com to see the inventory. I would hope that in the future a collector could inform Vacheron Constantin about particular pieces he would like to add to his collection and then the brand would notify him when such pieces were available in this safe and secure way.

Bill
VC Forum Moderator