Watches and Wonders, now the biggest event on the watchmaking planet, wrapped up the first quarter of a promising 2023. The public health crisis is now a thing of the past for most watch brands, which are returning to sales worthy of their best years. This is certainly a form of rebirth for our industry, which appears to have learned the lessons of this turbulent period. It has been generally noticed that watchmakers are presenting new products that are less exuberant, both technically and aesthetically. Reliability, chronometry (timekeeping precision) and ergonomics are once again at the heart of the debates in the development offices, to customers’ delight. Three of the new models unveiled by Vacheron Constantin this year featured one or more retrograde displays. This is the case with the object of this test bench, which combines a retrograde calendar with its emblematic automatic tourbillon.
Exterior
There is no suspense in this respect, as Vacheron Constantin’s designers and technicians have clearly almost reached perfection. The proportions, the finishes, the fluidity of the features of this new reference are obvious at first glance. Housing a self-winding tourbillon with retrograde date within the 41mm-diameter case and arranging the indications into such a harmonious display must have been no easy task. And there is fact no display in the generally sense of the term, since the dial is sapphire and bears only the hourmarkers, the various graduations and the band logo whose positioning is debatable. Almost the entire movement surface is thus visible and its stunning decoration as well as its majestic anthracite treatment create an extraordinary contrast with the hands wherever they are in their course. The retrograde date mechanism appears in the upper part and offers a worthy reflection of the tourbillon carriage traditionally placed at 6 o’clock.
Movement
Focusing on the movement of this watch is like pushing stepping into a cathedral! Bearing the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, Caliber 2162 R31 is certainly one of the most beautiful interpretations of what traditional 21st century Geneva haute horlogerie should be. Innovation and technology serve tradition, as does the peripheral oscillating weight that never obscures the movement, let alone its tourbillon carriage. The traditional frequency of 18,000 vpg (2.5 Hz) powers the tourbillon for 72 hours.
