Tick Talk
[Vacheron Moderator]
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Count Guy de Boisrouvray
VC also featured this watch recently as part of the back-story to their modern marvel, the Ref 57260. Alas, no mention of Victorin Piguet. Here is a snip from VC's website:
Vacheron Constantin image
Count Guy de Boisrouvray (1948)
This exquisite keyless pocket watch with a large hunter case in 18K gold features a Guillaume balance. It comprises a carillon minute repeater with three hammers striking three gongs, a perpetual calendar with leap year and moon phase display, a split-seconds mono-totalizer chronograph and an alarm. It was sold to Count Guy de Boisrouvray in 1948.
Until 2015, this grand complication was the third most complicated watch ever produced by Vacheron Constantin. Count de Boisrouvray, a cousin of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and a far-sighted collector, was married to Luz Mila Patino, daughter and heiress of one of the richest men in the world —Bolivian tin magnate Simon Patino. This fortune allowed the couple to assemble a collection of artworks of all kinds including Fabergé pieces, fabulous jewellery, and paintings by Impressionists and other great masters. Naturally, Count de Boisrouvray wanted a watch of equivalent beauty.
The movement with perpetual calendar and split-seconds chronograph is not only highly complicated but also features a meticulously crafted escapement that guarantees its precision. The Guillaume balance is equipped with a setting screw in gold and platinum, whose properties render it insensitive to temperature variations and magnetic fields. The movement is also equipped with a regulation system that guarantees precision in a uniquely effective manner. All these elements were uncommon in the complicated watches of the period. Several features of the complications of this watch place it at the pinnacle of exceptional timepieces. For example, the alarm requires a specific mechanism that is integrated into the striking movement; it has an additional hand for setting the alarm time. Including the alarm hand, a total of five hands are mounted on the central axis, a rare thing in itself. Elsewhere, the carillon minute repeater requires a special construction comprising three gongs struck by three hammers to sound a peal of three notes when activated.
Introducing The Best of The Hour Lounge: Vacheron & Constantin Repeater Watches
I have a confession to make to you, my fellow Vachonistas; I am a hoarder! Thankfully not the kind who lives in a house jammed to the ceiling with mouldy newspapers and stinking of cat pee; I am an information hoarder. When the The Hour Lounge, the offici...
What an IMPRESSIVE and illustrative post
Thanks ++++++ Dean for this review of the very Best VC repeater pocket watches. A festival for our eyes and also to be signed up for the next new generation of VC aficionados. You are a PERFECT VC moderator.
YES!!!
So happy someone saved some of those amazing posts and that the knowledge shared was not all lost! Thank you Dean! Great write-up and looking to read more of these and your other invaluable insights here! All the best, Walid
I recall the panic
when everyone realized the old Hour Lounge was taken offline. For a short while one could find some text using the internet archive wayback machine, but images had been scrubbed away. I now understand it was so they could appear "fresh" on IG later.
Any one in particular Nico?
The signature watches like Farouk and Fouad have more details about movements on the 'net. The Boisrouvray build sheet was absolutely fascinating. The blanc was sourced from Victorin Piguet in 1914 and they continued to develop the watch from 1929-38! I w...
Maharajah of Patiala
Sorry for the late reply, I've just finished clean-up chores after our camping trip. Spring is an amazing time to be in the wilds, a little skiff of fresh snow revealed we were sharing the trail with a bear! A little later, in a meadow, we found the remai...
King Fouad
Constantin went on to record a visit to the Geneva shop in 1929: In our shop we had the satisfaction of supplying a most complex watch to the Swiss colony in Egypt who offered it to His S.M. (Serene Majesty) King Fouad the First, as a souvenir of his trip...
King Farouk
King Fouad's son and heir, King Farouk is only briefly mentioned in the Annales of V&C, in this 1937 entry: In spring the visit from King Farouk and his Queen Mother from Egypt, who made some purchases, gave us excellent publicity from the media. This...
Count Guy de Boisrouvray
VC also featured this watch recently as part of the back-story to their modern marvel, the Ref 57260. Alas, no mention of Victorin Piguet. Here is a snip from VC's website: Vacheron Constantin image Count Guy de Boisrouvray (1948) This exquisite keyless p...
Ah, Dean , this is wonderful
Thank you for hoarding and sharing these once again. It is so nice to see so many images of these striking marvels that I remember seeing a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. I look forward to the next and subsequent installments, and it is so good ...
