Vacheron Constantin

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Imitation and flattery

The “good poets borrow, great poets steal” quip that is attributed to T.S. Eliot is actually paraphrased from a longer passage from the poet and critic which I quote more fully with its context: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion.”

I’ve been thinking about the line between imitation and stealing in the context of watchmaking over the past couple of months when I saw a couple of pieces from brands within the Richemont Group that left me scratching my head as my first impression upon seeing them was that they were blatantly ripping off Vacheron Constantin. I wondered if Richemont had a design review board that vets pieces before production to make sure that the brands maintain distinct identities and don’t commit fratricide in the marketplace.

Montblanc’s Heritage World Time:

Which seems to copy Vacheron Constantin’s Traditionnelle World Time:

and Jaeger LeCoultre’s Master Ultra Thin Date:

which seems to copy VC’s Patrimony Automatic (85180):

The element in the Montblanc that most immediately borrows, or steals, from Vacheron Constantin is the Lambert projection of the work on the dial, complete with 24 sectors for the standard time zones. What it does not steal, and which makes the Traditionnelle World Time unique, is its ability to manage telling time in even those zones that are offset from the GMT reference by 15 or 30 minutes intervals. Furthermore, it does not control all operations through one crown, or employ an exclusive in-house ebauche for its movement.

That said, it is a fine looking watch, and in stainless steel will have a retail value less than $10,000. I expect Montblanc will have tremendous success with it, and I wonder if sales of Vacheron Constantin’s World Time will suffer in the marketplace.

The JLC Master Ultra Thin Date places the date at 6 o’clock for a symmetrical dial, like in the Patrimony, and employs entirely stick markers (many Master collection pieces in the past have mixed index with Arabic markers on the dial). The JLC’s markers even taper in a similar way to those of the Patrimony. What’s more, JLC offers the timepiece in a stainless steel case at a price point about a third of that of the Vacheron Constantin.

I can’t deny that it is an attractive watch, and I hope to see one to determine if the finishing is as nice as what I know that of the VC is.

It is a little complicated to ask if JLC and Montblanc have elevated what they are taking from Vacheron Constantin, especially since the pieces are placed in the context of well-defined collections within their own brand’s product portfolios. But never before had I thought to compare a Master Control or Heritage Spirit to something from Vacheron Constantin. I am inclined to think that both of these watches “make better” the collections from their respective makers, but that they don’t quite reach the level of refinement that one finds in the Vacheron Constantin pieces. My thoughts about this are still developing, and I need to see the JLC and Montblanc in person, but I would love to hear your thoughts about them, especially in relation to their close cousins from Vacheron Constantin.

Bill

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