Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle complete calendar openface
The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle complete calendar openface reveals sublime views of flawless components in motion. Everything is distilled to a pure conclusion, but are you meant to see what’s on display?
Openworked dial
Have you ever been in a restaurant and tried to look into the kitchen, hoping to catch the chef picking up food from the floor and serving it to an unsuspecting customer? Alternatively, have you walked along a hotel corridor when the housekeeping staff are cleaning rooms and tried to see if the various open doors reveal a room that is superior to yours? I suspect many people will answer in the affirmative. Quite simply, most individuals are innately inquisitive. Indeed, we all try to see things intentionally shielded from our gaze.
Poinçon de Genève
A few weeks ago, the Genevan Maison, Vacheron Constantin released the Traditionnelle complete calendar in 18K white gold. This fabulous expression of Haute Horlogerie displays not only the hours, minutes and seconds, but also indicates the day, date, month and moon phases. The topography of the dial masterfully plays with different heights and it imparts information in a highly intelligible format. To the rear of the watch, the Calibre 2460 QCL/1 can be viewed via an exhibition caseback. With the Poinçon de Genève gracing the case and movement, its excellence is beyond question. However, should you look at the front of the dial, you may ponder what mechanical magnificence is hidden from view.
Openworked sapphire face
Well, now your curiosity is suitably sated. The Swiss marque has just released the new Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle complete calendar openface. Available in 18K 5N pink gold or 18K white gold, this exquisite creation is endowed with a new ‘openworked sapphire face’. Beyond the dauphine-style hour and minute hands and baton-shaped indexes, the wearer is able to see a world of wheels and levers, either circular or straight-grained, all wonderfully flawless.
Sapphire discs
The day and month discs are formed of sapphire, affording sight of their journey, rotating with a relaxed gait. At the top of the dial, a slate grey guilloché segment introduces a tasteful dose of texture, while at the base of the dial a photorealistic depiction of the moonphase is shown above an opaque section of disc.
Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle complete calendar open-face – a once in a lifetime experience
Unlike some openworked watches, the indications are lucidly displayed while at the same time an array of choreographed components flirt with the wearer and perform a hypnotic dance. Unlike the aforementioned kitchen scene or the views afforded by an open door in a hotel, the sight of the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle complete calendar openface is something everyone is meant to see. Indeed, I recommend seeing this remarkable performance at least once in your lifetime.
The brand’s press release
Geneva, December 2021 – Classically inspired with its round case featuring a fluted back, its railway minute-track and its Dauphine-type hands, the Traditionnelle complete calendar openface model adopts an avant-garde profile with these two distinctive versions. The openworked sapphire dial reveals Calibre 2460 QCL/2, whose mainplate and bridges are highlighted by anthracite NAC treatment. The triple calendar display, complemented by a precision moon phase, gains in depth through its functional and contemporary style.
Revisiting the fine historical traditions of Geneva watchmaking
Vacheron Constantin’s Traditionnelle collection, which perpetuates the spirit of Geneva’s watchmakers during the Age of Enlightenment, adopts a highly sophisticated style with two new models equipped with a complete calendar. Framed by a 41 mm case in 18K white gold or 18K 5N pink gold, they appear in an openface version with a sapphire dial. This transparency brings out the details of Calibre 2460 QCL/2, which adopts a contrasting anthracite grey colour achieved by NAC galvanic surface treatment. This new interpretation combining contemporary design and watchmaking heritage, is reminiscent of the Traditionnelle Twin Beat perpetual calendar model presented in 2019.
Airy construction
The characteristic features of the Traditionnelle collection – including the stepped round case and lugs, the fluted caseback, the slim bezel, the railway minute-track, the bi-facetted Dauphine-type hands and the gold baton-style hour-markers – embed these two models firmly in the watchmaking heritage of the Maison. The opening onto the movement structure – perfectly visible on both sides of the watch and featuring an anthracite grey colour achieved by NAC treatment – highlights its mechanical power. Surrounded by a slate grey opaline flange on which a central hand points to the date, the upper part of the sapphire crystal dial features a likewise slate grey guilloché segment as well as applied gold hour-markers. The resulting three-part dial overlooks the sapphire discs providing an aperture-type display of the days and months. The moon-phase disc, with its two realistic transferred depictions of Earth’s satellite, is also covered by a translucent sapphire mask. This airy construction provides a chance to admire the various movement components, including the bridges and mainplate featuring an original vertical upright finish on the front.
The “openface” design highlights the technical nature of the Traditionnelle complete calendar openface watch. This complication, also known as the triple calendar, indicates the date, day and month, complemented on these models by a moon phase.
Calibre 2460 QCL/2
Beating at the heart of these two new timepieces is Calibre 2460 QCL/2 with its 312 components. This calibre is an evolution of the 2450, the first self-winding movement entirely designed and developed by Vacheron Constantin. Equipped with a stop-seconds mechanism, it beats at a rate of 28,800 vibrations per hour and is endowed with a 40-hour power reserve. In addition to its triple calendar indications, it provides a precision moon phase display requiring only one correction every 122 years. The caseback reveals all the finishes one would expect from an Haute Horlogerie movement, with a circular-grained mainplate, chamfered bridges and Côtes de Genève motif. Water-resistant to 30 metres, these two Traditionnelle complete calendar openface models are fitted with a calfskin-lined grey alligator strap secured by a pink or white gold pin buckle.
Sum-up
The two new Traditionnelle complete calendar openface watches in white and pink gold combine the classic attributes of the collection with an avant-garde aesthetic approach. The dial is made of sapphire crystal opening onto the movement featuring an anthracite grey colour achieved by NAC galvanic treatment. This total transparency on both sides of the watch highlights the technical nature of its horological complications. Equipped with a self-winding Calibre 2460 QCL/2, these two 41 mm models provide a complete calendar display complemented by age of the moon and precision moon phase indications. The day and month are shown through central dial apertures below the 12 o’clock hour-marker, while the date is indicated on the periphery by a central hand. Already available in rose and white gold in a more classic interpretation with a solid dial, the two new Traditionnelle complete calendar openface versions are paired with a grey alligator leather strap.
