Vacheron Constantin

The pleasures of collecting

 

One of the chief pleasures in collecting Vacheron Constantin lies not with the watches themselves but with the books and other ephemera produced by the brand.

I just had the good luck to add a book published by VC in 2002 to my growing bookshelf of watch-related volumes.

The book is titled, and is indeed about, Horological Complications.

Among the pages we can read the statement by Francois Constantin that we are all so familiar with...in English translation...

...or more poetically, perhaps, in French:

The book is full of fabulous illustrations, drawn, painted and photographed.

There are special pages such as this cut out window page (I am sure there is a technical term for it) that overlays atop the image of the skeleton Malte Tourbillon. 

The text of the book is very interesting, presenting an overview of complications and how they and the basic movements of watches work.  It is fairly educational and very entertaining.  There are several profiles of individual collectors inside that are interesting to read as well. 

One of the things I admire about Vacheron Constantin is their publishing practice.  I am unaware of any other brand that has produced or continues to produce on a comparable level the often lavish and gorgeous books, large and small, that VC does.  These volumes have definitely added to my enjoyment of the watches, while providing something else to collect that is, well, less taxing on my bank account.  I hope that VC will uphold this publishing tradition, and it seems judging by the printed products of the past several years, that they have every intention of doing so. 

I am a happy reader.

Best,

respo