{"lien_WSTV":"","tax_name":"deprecated","tax_rate":20,"id_manufacturer":"0","id_supplier":"0","id_category_default":"377","id_shop_default":"1","manufacturer_name":false,"supplier_name":false,"name":"Traditionnelle 'Calibre 2253'","description":"<p><strong>Platinum, the purest, rarest and most enduring of metals for the new major complications by Vacheron Constantin<br \/>The trend for 2010 is an exclusive and sophisticated grey<br \/><\/strong><br \/>Platinum, at the top of the hierarchy of precious metals, denotes the highest prestige in fine watchmaking. Extremely rare, it can be used to protect only watch movements of the most elaborate complexity. Vacheron Constantin thus gives full honour to this most precious of metals by choosing it to encase the very complicated movements of three models introduced in 2010.<br \/><br \/>The Patrimony Traditionnelle \u201cCalibre 2253\u201d model in the Collection Excellence Platine is an outstanding timepiece and chief among the Grand Complication models presented by Vacheron Constantin at the SIHH 2010. In addition to the tourbillon escapement, it includes such astronomical complications as the perpetual calendar, the times of sunrise and sunset and the equation of time. Furthermore it has an exceptional running time of 14 days. Only 10 numbered pieces will be produced in this limited edition.<br \/><br \/>The Patrimony Traditionnelle \u201cCalibre 2755\u201d watch in platinum concentrates the major complications in which Vacheron Constantin excels both technically and stylistically. It combines the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar with a minute-repeater that features an original and completely silent mechanism to pace the strike.<br \/><br \/>The third model, also in platinum, is the Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar \u201cCalibre 1141QP\u201d, which embodies the Vacheron Constantin convention in styling. It brings together a chronograph and a perpetual calendar driven by a highly regarded hand-wound movement. The Calibre 1141 is an exceptional design that has been used in some of the best chronographs. Experts consider it a model of highly complex chronograph construction.<br \/><br \/><strong>Proficiency in watchmaking excellence: from deceptive simplicity to great complications<\/strong><br \/><br \/>Founded in 1755 during the Enlightenment, Vacheron Constantin stands alone in horology as the oldest watch manufacturer with more than 250 years of uninterrupted and skilled production. However, no time has been lost in the creation of horological movements and timepieces that have, in one way or another, represented their era. These witnesses to centuries of technical and artistic inventiveness constitute a watchmaking heritage of inestimable worth. Every type of watchmaking bears the mark of ingenuity: ultra-thin movements, horological functions, the artistic treatment of watches and their mechanisms, automata, clocks and above all, the ultra-complicated mechanisms. Vacheron Constantin thus displays the lively and prolific spirit of Geneva watchmaking over the past two-and-a-half centuries.<br \/><br \/><strong>The Collection Excellence Platine<\/strong><br \/><br \/>Platinum\u2019s rarity, purity and incorruptibility qualify it as supreme among symbols of excellence. Vacheron Constantin started working with platinum in the early 19th century to offer its clients pieces in the most valuable of all metals.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>While 18-carat gold contains 75% of the pure metal, platinum is 95% pure. Platinum is also 30 times scarcer than gold and there are very few deposits. Its hardness and density make it more resistant than any other metal and thus the best choice for an everlasting object. A scratch in platinum displaces rather than removes material, avoiding the loss through wear and tear of a softer metal. Platinum\u2019s ability to retain its full weight and value has made it popular as a token of eternity. Platinum has other remarkable features: it is malleable and very ductile. A gram of the metal can be drawn into a thread almost two kilometers long.<br \/><br \/>To herald the start of another quarter millennium in 2006, the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin, in tribute to the most extraordinary and aristocratic of precious metals, decided that all platinum watches would henceforth be initially produced in limited editions of never more than 150 pieces. Their availability would be reserved for collectors and connoisseurs. The Collection Excellence Platine was thus born. In addition to a platinum caseband, each watch in the collection has a rare watchmaking feature that distinguishes it from other watches in this metal. These might include a clasp, a winding crown or hands in platinum, as well as a brushed platinum dial, discreetly hallmarked \u201cPT950\u201d. Attention to detail is taken to the extreme of using platinum thread entwined with silk to sew the dark blue alligator straps fitted to these watches.<br \/><br \/>Long reserved for royalty, platinum conveys unrivalled distinction, attracting both arbiters of taste and well-informed collectors. Such owners of Vacheron Constantin timepieces in platinum know that they belong to a most exclusive club.<br \/><br \/><strong>Patrimony Traditionnelle \u00ab Calibre 2253 \u00bb - Collection Excellence Platine - Only 10 numbered pieces of this exceptional model<\/strong><br \/><br \/>For 2010, Vacheron Constantin presents the Patrimony Traditionnelle \u201cCalibre 2253\u201d watch in the Collection Excellence Platine. This model features a major astronomical complication in terms of technical application. Entirely constructed by Vacheron Constantin\u2019s engineering department and developed over several thousands of hours, the new Calibre 2253 provides information derived from Earth\u2019s orbit around the sun, notably a perpetual calendar, the equation of time and the times of sunrise and sunset. It has a tourbillon escapement as well.<br \/><br \/><strong>A power reserve of around 336 hours or 14 days<\/strong><br \/><br \/>To celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2005, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Saint-Gervais watch. Its Calibre 2250 tourbillon movement with a perpetual calendar had the then exceptional running time of 250 hours from the energy stored in four mainspring barrels. The experience gained in making the Calibre 2250 was applied to the development of the Calibre 2253. The new movement benefited from the latest techniques deployed by the manufacturer\u2019s technicians, engineers and watchmakers. <br \/><br \/>Despite supporting extra mechanical complexity, the Calibre 2253 exhibits a breathtaking amount of power reserve \u2013 some 336 hours or 14 days of running time drawn from two pairs of coupled barrels. The power reserve is shown through the sapphire-crystal caseback. <br \/><br \/><strong>The fascinating equation of time<\/strong><br \/><br \/>The equation of time is probably the most fascinating complication in this outstanding model. Its purpose is to indicate the difference in minutes between the variable solar time shown by a sundial and the constant mean time of clocks and watches. For practical reasons, mankind has divided each year into 365 and a quarter days, each day into 24 hours, and the hours into 60 minutes each. However, because the Earth\u2019s orbit is elliptical rather than circular, the time in relation to the sun varies daily. The noon zenith of the sun when it crosses the observer\u2019s meridian seldom occurs at exactly 12 o\u2019clock by his watch. In fact solar time and mean time coincide just four times a year \u2013 on April 15, June 14, September 1 and December 24. For the rest of the year, the difference between solar and mean time varies from minus 16 minutes to plus 16 minutes.<br \/><br \/>The oldest clock showing the equation of time was made by the mathematician Nikolaus Mercator in the 17th century. It enabled folk to covert the sun\u2019s varying noon to the standard constant time shown on their watches. Since then, the rare instruments calculating the equation of time have been the work of extremely accomplished horologists.<br \/><br \/>Making this complication work does indeed call for particular skill. It depends on the equation cam, a waisted oval, shaped like a figure 8 and calculated according to the daily declination of the sun observed from a given spot. The cam rotates once a year while a hand following its contour indicates the equation of time at between 10 and 11 o\u2019clock on the dial of the Patrimony Traditionnelle \u201cCalibre 2253\u201d timepiece of the Collection Excellence Platine.<br \/><br \/><strong>When the sun rises and sinks<\/strong><br \/><br \/>This timepiece displays another function seldom found in watches \u2013 the times of sunrise and sunset throughout the year at a given locality. This tricky complication also relies on a cam, the outline of which is calculated according to the latitude of the locality. It demonstrates both the skill of the manufacture\u2019s engineers and watchmakers and Vacheron Constantin\u2019s attention to its clients, for they can choose the place of the sunrises and sunsets. To this extent it\u2019s a custom-made complication where the dials are paired at 8 o\u2019clock and 4 o\u2019clock on the face.<br \/><br \/>The tourbillon carriage, as always in the shape of the brand emblem, a Maltese Cross, rotates once a minute at 6 o\u2019clock as a small seconds indication. The indications of the perpetual calendar are symmetrically laid out with the days, the months and the dates at 9, 12 and 3 o\u2019clock respectively. The leap-year indicator makes a circumspect appearance on the upper right.<br \/><br \/><strong>An exceptional level of finish<\/strong><br \/><br \/>The sophisticated finish of this watch is taken to the limits to match its complexity. As part of the Collection Excellence Platine this Patrimony Traditionnelle \u201cCalibre 2253\u201d unsurprisingly incorporates many elements in platinum, from its 43 mm case, water-resistant at a pressure of 3 bar or 30 meters, to its dial hallmarked \u201cPT950\u201d, its crown and its folding clasp in the shape of a halved Maltese Cross. There is one other most unusual, if not unique, horological feature: even the Dauphine hands that show the hours and minutes are fashioned in the same material \u2013 an incredible technical prowess. The decoration of the dial alternates silvered and frosted surfaces, with snailed chapters, circular-brushed subdials and diamond-polished filets. The applied hour markers and Maltese Cross are in white gold.<br \/><br \/>The Calibre 2253 movement also bears the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, which is an independent and legally sanctioned label of workmanship, origin, precision, resilience and competence. This seal of watchmaking perfection, among the oldest of professional labels, is reserved for a handful of Geneva manufacturers. It means that such decorative aspects of the movement as C\u00f4tes de Gen\u00e8ve, circular graining, chamfering and straight graining of the steelwork are entirely done by hand.<br \/><br \/>The finish of the thin bridge that holds the tourbillon is an example among many. It consists of rounding off the top of the rectangular steel bar with a file to create a gleaming barrel-vault along its upper length. The camber follows the shape of the bridge from its jewelled centre to its winged extremities. The entire operation involves grinding and smoothing the surface with a variety of stones and abrasive pastes and then buffing it to a high polish. To meet Vacheron Constantin\u2019s standards of finish, this job takes around 11 hours and is done entirely by hand, but it does signify a properly finished movement.<br \/><br \/>Such is the complexity and level of finish of this horological masterpiece, that it comprises no fewer than 457 parts in a movement only 9.60 mm thick. 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{"Compl\u00e9ment":"Platinum","Statut de vente":"N est plus commercialis\u00e9","Date":"2010","Pi\u00e8ce unique":"No","S\u00e9rie limit\u00e9e":"Oui","Nombre d exemplaire":"10","Sexe":"Homme","Gaucher":"No","Diam\u00e8tre":"43","Epaisseur":"15.71","Types":"Hand-winding","Styles":"High Horology","Calibre_autre":"Vacheron Constantin 2253","Calibre distinction":"Hallmark of Geneva","Affichage":"Hands","Complication":"Tourbillon, Sunrise and Sunset Times, Perpetual Calendar , Small Seconds, Equation of Time, Power Reserve Indicator","Mati\u00e8re du bo\u00eetier":"Platinum","Particularit\u00e9 du boitier":"Sapphire caseback","Etanch\u00e9it\u00e9":"30 meters","Forme":"Round","Cadran":"Sand ","Index":"Railroad, Baton-type","Verre":"Antireflective coating, Domed, Sapphire","Mati\u00e8re du bracelet":"Alligator leather","Fermeture du bracelet":"Folding buckle ","Couleur du bracelet":"Dark blue","Plus de caract\u00e9ristiques":"Ephemeris to the localization chosen by the client<br \/><br \/>Small seconds on the tourbillon<br \/>Power reserve on the caseback<br \/><br \/>Movement<br \/>Thickness : 9.60 mm<br \/>Diameter : 32 mm<br \/>457 pieces<br \/>30 jewels<br \/>Frequency :<br \/>18 000 vibrations per hour<br \/>Power reserve : 300 hours <br \/>(14 days)<br \/>4 main springs. coupled wo by two<br \/><br \/>Case and buckle in 950 platinum<br \/>Dial :<br \/>Special 'PT950' marking at 4.30<br \/>12 hour-markers and Maltese Cross in 18-carat white gold<br \/>Hand-stitched strap with platinum thread<br \/>Clasp with polished half Maltese Cross"}
Traditionnelle 'Calibre 2253'
88172/000P-9495
| Brand : | Vacheron Constantin |
| Collection : | Excellence Platine |
| Model : | Traditionnelle 'Calibre 2253' |
| Reference : | 88172/000P-9495 |
| Nber of pieces : | 10 |
| Complement : | Platinum |
| Year : | 2010 |
| Is not commercialised any more | |
PDF INDEX CARD
-
Brand : Vacheron Constantin Collection : Excellence Platine Model : Traditionnelle 'Calibre 2253' Reference : 88172/000P-9495 Nber of pieces : 10 Complement : Platinum Year : 2010 Is not commercialised any more List Price : On request Diameter : 43 mm Thickness : 15.71 mm Styles : High Horology Types : Hand-winding Calibre : Vacheron Constantin 2253 Calibre distinction : Hallmark of Geneva Complication : Tourbillon Sunrise and Sunset Times Perpetual Calendar Small Seconds Equation of Time Power Reserve Indicator Case material : Platinum Case peculiarity : Sapphire caseback Shape : Round Water-resistance : 30 meters Dial : Sand Display : Hands Indexes : Railroad Baton-type Glass : Antireflective coating Domed Sapphire Strap material : Alligator leather Strap color : Dark blue Strap clasp : Folding buckle + More characteristics : Ephemeris to the localization chosen by the client
Small seconds on the tourbillon
Power reserve on the caseback
Movement
Thickness : 9.60 mm
Diameter : 32 mm
457 pieces
30 jewels
Frequency :
18 000 vibrations per hour
Power reserve : 300 hours
(14 days)
4 main springs. coupled wo by two
Case and buckle in 950 platinum
Dial :
Special 'PT950' marking at 4.30
12 hour-markers and Maltese Cross in 18-carat white gold
Hand-stitched strap with platinum thread
Clasp with polished half Maltese Cross
DESCRIPTION
Platinum, the purest, rarest and most enduring of metals for the new major complications by Vacheron Constantin
The trend for 2010 is an exclusive and sophisticated grey
Platinum, at the top of the hierarchy of precious metals, denotes the highest prestige in fine watchmaking. Extremely rare, it can be used to protect only watch movements of the most elaborate complexity. Vacheron Constantin thus gives full honour to this most precious of metals by choosing it to encase the very complicated movements of three models introduced in 2010.
The Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” model in the Collection Excellence Platine is an outstanding timepiece and chief among the Grand Complication models presented by Vacheron Constantin at the SIHH 2010. In addition to the tourbillon escapement, it includes such astronomical complications as the perpetual calendar, the times of sunrise and sunset and the equation of time. Furthermore it has an exceptional running time of 14 days. Only 10 numbered pieces will be produced in this limited edition.
The Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2755” watch in platinum concentrates the major complications in which Vacheron Constantin excels both technically and stylistically. It combines the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar with a minute-repeater that features an original and completely silent mechanism to pace the strike.
The third model, also in platinum, is the Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar “Calibre 1141QP”, which embodies the Vacheron Constantin convention in styling. It brings together a chronograph and a perpetual calendar driven by a highly regarded hand-wound movement. The Calibre 1141 is an exceptional design that has been used in some of the best chronographs. Experts consider it a model of highly complex chronograph construction.
Proficiency in watchmaking excellence: from deceptive simplicity to great complications
Founded in 1755 during the Enlightenment, Vacheron Constantin stands alone in horology as the oldest watch manufacturer with more than 250 years of uninterrupted and skilled production. However, no time has been lost in the creation of horological movements and timepieces that have, in one way or another, represented their era. These witnesses to centuries of technical and artistic inventiveness constitute a watchmaking heritage of inestimable worth. Every type of watchmaking bears the mark of ingenuity: ultra-thin movements, horological functions, the artistic treatment of watches and their mechanisms, automata, clocks and above all, the ultra-complicated mechanisms. Vacheron Constantin thus displays the lively and prolific spirit of Geneva watchmaking over the past two-and-a-half centuries.
The Collection Excellence Platine
Platinum’s rarity, purity and incorruptibility qualify it as supreme among symbols of excellence. Vacheron Constantin started working with platinum in the early 19th century to offer its clients pieces in the most valuable of all metals.
While 18-carat gold contains 75% of the pure metal, platinum is 95% pure. Platinum is also 30 times scarcer than gold and there are very few deposits. Its hardness and density make it more resistant than any other metal and thus the best choice for an everlasting object. A scratch in platinum displaces rather than removes material, avoiding the loss through wear and tear of a softer metal. Platinum’s ability to retain its full weight and value has made it popular as a token of eternity. Platinum has other remarkable features: it is malleable and very ductile. A gram of the metal can be drawn into a thread almost two kilometers long.
To herald the start of another quarter millennium in 2006, the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin, in tribute to the most extraordinary and aristocratic of precious metals, decided that all platinum watches would henceforth be initially produced in limited editions of never more than 150 pieces. Their availability would be reserved for collectors and connoisseurs. The Collection Excellence Platine was thus born. In addition to a platinum caseband, each watch in the collection has a rare watchmaking feature that distinguishes it from other watches in this metal. These might include a clasp, a winding crown or hands in platinum, as well as a brushed platinum dial, discreetly hallmarked “PT950”. Attention to detail is taken to the extreme of using platinum thread entwined with silk to sew the dark blue alligator straps fitted to these watches.
Long reserved for royalty, platinum conveys unrivalled distinction, attracting both arbiters of taste and well-informed collectors. Such owners of Vacheron Constantin timepieces in platinum know that they belong to a most exclusive club.
Patrimony Traditionnelle « Calibre 2253 » - Collection Excellence Platine - Only 10 numbered pieces of this exceptional model
For 2010, Vacheron Constantin presents the Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” watch in the Collection Excellence Platine. This model features a major astronomical complication in terms of technical application. Entirely constructed by Vacheron Constantin’s engineering department and developed over several thousands of hours, the new Calibre 2253 provides information derived from Earth’s orbit around the sun, notably a perpetual calendar, the equation of time and the times of sunrise and sunset. It has a tourbillon escapement as well.
A power reserve of around 336 hours or 14 days
To celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2005, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Saint-Gervais watch. Its Calibre 2250 tourbillon movement with a perpetual calendar had the then exceptional running time of 250 hours from the energy stored in four mainspring barrels. The experience gained in making the Calibre 2250 was applied to the development of the Calibre 2253. The new movement benefited from the latest techniques deployed by the manufacturer’s technicians, engineers and watchmakers.
Despite supporting extra mechanical complexity, the Calibre 2253 exhibits a breathtaking amount of power reserve – some 336 hours or 14 days of running time drawn from two pairs of coupled barrels. The power reserve is shown through the sapphire-crystal caseback.
The fascinating equation of time
The equation of time is probably the most fascinating complication in this outstanding model. Its purpose is to indicate the difference in minutes between the variable solar time shown by a sundial and the constant mean time of clocks and watches. For practical reasons, mankind has divided each year into 365 and a quarter days, each day into 24 hours, and the hours into 60 minutes each. However, because the Earth’s orbit is elliptical rather than circular, the time in relation to the sun varies daily. The noon zenith of the sun when it crosses the observer’s meridian seldom occurs at exactly 12 o’clock by his watch. In fact solar time and mean time coincide just four times a year – on April 15, June 14, September 1 and December 24. For the rest of the year, the difference between solar and mean time varies from minus 16 minutes to plus 16 minutes.
The oldest clock showing the equation of time was made by the mathematician Nikolaus Mercator in the 17th century. It enabled folk to covert the sun’s varying noon to the standard constant time shown on their watches. Since then, the rare instruments calculating the equation of time have been the work of extremely accomplished horologists.
Making this complication work does indeed call for particular skill. It depends on the equation cam, a waisted oval, shaped like a figure 8 and calculated according to the daily declination of the sun observed from a given spot. The cam rotates once a year while a hand following its contour indicates the equation of time at between 10 and 11 o’clock on the dial of the Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” timepiece of the Collection Excellence Platine.
When the sun rises and sinks
This timepiece displays another function seldom found in watches – the times of sunrise and sunset throughout the year at a given locality. This tricky complication also relies on a cam, the outline of which is calculated according to the latitude of the locality. It demonstrates both the skill of the manufacture’s engineers and watchmakers and Vacheron Constantin’s attention to its clients, for they can choose the place of the sunrises and sunsets. To this extent it’s a custom-made complication where the dials are paired at 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock on the face.
The tourbillon carriage, as always in the shape of the brand emblem, a Maltese Cross, rotates once a minute at 6 o’clock as a small seconds indication. The indications of the perpetual calendar are symmetrically laid out with the days, the months and the dates at 9, 12 and 3 o’clock respectively. The leap-year indicator makes a circumspect appearance on the upper right.
An exceptional level of finish
The sophisticated finish of this watch is taken to the limits to match its complexity. As part of the Collection Excellence Platine this Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” unsurprisingly incorporates many elements in platinum, from its 43 mm case, water-resistant at a pressure of 3 bar or 30 meters, to its dial hallmarked “PT950”, its crown and its folding clasp in the shape of a halved Maltese Cross. There is one other most unusual, if not unique, horological feature: even the Dauphine hands that show the hours and minutes are fashioned in the same material – an incredible technical prowess. The decoration of the dial alternates silvered and frosted surfaces, with snailed chapters, circular-brushed subdials and diamond-polished filets. The applied hour markers and Maltese Cross are in white gold.
The Calibre 2253 movement also bears the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, which is an independent and legally sanctioned label of workmanship, origin, precision, resilience and competence. This seal of watchmaking perfection, among the oldest of professional labels, is reserved for a handful of Geneva manufacturers. It means that such decorative aspects of the movement as Côtes de Genève, circular graining, chamfering and straight graining of the steelwork are entirely done by hand.
The finish of the thin bridge that holds the tourbillon is an example among many. It consists of rounding off the top of the rectangular steel bar with a file to create a gleaming barrel-vault along its upper length. The camber follows the shape of the bridge from its jewelled centre to its winged extremities. The entire operation involves grinding and smoothing the surface with a variety of stones and abrasive pastes and then buffing it to a high polish. To meet Vacheron Constantin’s standards of finish, this job takes around 11 hours and is done entirely by hand, but it does signify a properly finished movement.
Such is the complexity and level of finish of this horological masterpiece, that it comprises no fewer than 457 parts in a movement only 9.60 mm thick. That explains why the production is limited to just 10 pieces.
Platinum, the purest, rarest and most enduring of metals for the new major complications by Vacheron Constantin
The trend for 2010 is an exclusive and sophisticated grey
Platinum, at the top of the hierarchy of precious metals, denotes the highest prestige in fine watchmaking. Extremely rare, it can be used to protect only watch movements of the most elaborate complexity. Vacheron Constantin thus gives full honour to this most precious of metals by choosing it to encase the very complicated movements of three models introduced in 2010.
The Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” model in the Collection Excellence Platine is an outstanding timepiece and chief among the Grand Complication models presented by Vacheron Constantin at the SIHH 2010. In addition to the tourbillon escapement, it includes such astronomical complications as the perpetual calendar, the times of sunrise and sunset and the equation of time. Furthermore it has an exceptional running time of 14 days. Only 10 numbered pieces will be produced in this limited edition.
The Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2755” watch in platinum concentrates the major complications in which Vacheron Constantin excels both technically and stylistically. It combines the tourbillon and the perpetual calendar with a minute-repeater that features an original and completely silent mechanism to pace the strike.
The third model, also in platinum, is the Patrimony Traditionnelle Chronograph Perpetual Calendar “Calibre 1141QP”, which embodies the Vacheron Constantin convention in styling. It brings together a chronograph and a perpetual calendar driven by a highly regarded hand-wound movement. The Calibre 1141 is an exceptional design that has been used in some of the best chronographs. Experts consider it a model of highly complex chronograph construction.
Proficiency in watchmaking excellence: from deceptive simplicity to great complications
Founded in 1755 during the Enlightenment, Vacheron Constantin stands alone in horology as the oldest watch manufacturer with more than 250 years of uninterrupted and skilled production. However, no time has been lost in the creation of horological movements and timepieces that have, in one way or another, represented their era. These witnesses to centuries of technical and artistic inventiveness constitute a watchmaking heritage of inestimable worth. Every type of watchmaking bears the mark of ingenuity: ultra-thin movements, horological functions, the artistic treatment of watches and their mechanisms, automata, clocks and above all, the ultra-complicated mechanisms. Vacheron Constantin thus displays the lively and prolific spirit of Geneva watchmaking over the past two-and-a-half centuries.
The Collection Excellence Platine
Platinum’s rarity, purity and incorruptibility qualify it as supreme among symbols of excellence. Vacheron Constantin started working with platinum in the early 19th century to offer its clients pieces in the most valuable of all metals.
While 18-carat gold contains 75% of the pure metal, platinum is 95% pure. Platinum is also 30 times scarcer than gold and there are very few deposits. Its hardness and density make it more resistant than any other metal and thus the best choice for an everlasting object. A scratch in platinum displaces rather than removes material, avoiding the loss through wear and tear of a softer metal. Platinum’s ability to retain its full weight and value has made it popular as a token of eternity. Platinum has other remarkable features: it is malleable and very ductile. A gram of the metal can be drawn into a thread almost two kilometers long.
To herald the start of another quarter millennium in 2006, the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin, in tribute to the most extraordinary and aristocratic of precious metals, decided that all platinum watches would henceforth be initially produced in limited editions of never more than 150 pieces. Their availability would be reserved for collectors and connoisseurs. The Collection Excellence Platine was thus born. In addition to a platinum caseband, each watch in the collection has a rare watchmaking feature that distinguishes it from other watches in this metal. These might include a clasp, a winding crown or hands in platinum, as well as a brushed platinum dial, discreetly hallmarked “PT950”. Attention to detail is taken to the extreme of using platinum thread entwined with silk to sew the dark blue alligator straps fitted to these watches.
Long reserved for royalty, platinum conveys unrivalled distinction, attracting both arbiters of taste and well-informed collectors. Such owners of Vacheron Constantin timepieces in platinum know that they belong to a most exclusive club.
Patrimony Traditionnelle « Calibre 2253 » - Collection Excellence Platine - Only 10 numbered pieces of this exceptional model
For 2010, Vacheron Constantin presents the Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” watch in the Collection Excellence Platine. This model features a major astronomical complication in terms of technical application. Entirely constructed by Vacheron Constantin’s engineering department and developed over several thousands of hours, the new Calibre 2253 provides information derived from Earth’s orbit around the sun, notably a perpetual calendar, the equation of time and the times of sunrise and sunset. It has a tourbillon escapement as well.
A power reserve of around 336 hours or 14 days
To celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2005, Vacheron Constantin introduced the Saint-Gervais watch. Its Calibre 2250 tourbillon movement with a perpetual calendar had the then exceptional running time of 250 hours from the energy stored in four mainspring barrels. The experience gained in making the Calibre 2250 was applied to the development of the Calibre 2253. The new movement benefited from the latest techniques deployed by the manufacturer’s technicians, engineers and watchmakers.
Despite supporting extra mechanical complexity, the Calibre 2253 exhibits a breathtaking amount of power reserve – some 336 hours or 14 days of running time drawn from two pairs of coupled barrels. The power reserve is shown through the sapphire-crystal caseback.
The fascinating equation of time
The equation of time is probably the most fascinating complication in this outstanding model. Its purpose is to indicate the difference in minutes between the variable solar time shown by a sundial and the constant mean time of clocks and watches. For practical reasons, mankind has divided each year into 365 and a quarter days, each day into 24 hours, and the hours into 60 minutes each. However, because the Earth’s orbit is elliptical rather than circular, the time in relation to the sun varies daily. The noon zenith of the sun when it crosses the observer’s meridian seldom occurs at exactly 12 o’clock by his watch. In fact solar time and mean time coincide just four times a year – on April 15, June 14, September 1 and December 24. For the rest of the year, the difference between solar and mean time varies from minus 16 minutes to plus 16 minutes.
The oldest clock showing the equation of time was made by the mathematician Nikolaus Mercator in the 17th century. It enabled folk to covert the sun’s varying noon to the standard constant time shown on their watches. Since then, the rare instruments calculating the equation of time have been the work of extremely accomplished horologists.
Making this complication work does indeed call for particular skill. It depends on the equation cam, a waisted oval, shaped like a figure 8 and calculated according to the daily declination of the sun observed from a given spot. The cam rotates once a year while a hand following its contour indicates the equation of time at between 10 and 11 o’clock on the dial of the Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” timepiece of the Collection Excellence Platine.
When the sun rises and sinks
This timepiece displays another function seldom found in watches – the times of sunrise and sunset throughout the year at a given locality. This tricky complication also relies on a cam, the outline of which is calculated according to the latitude of the locality. It demonstrates both the skill of the manufacture’s engineers and watchmakers and Vacheron Constantin’s attention to its clients, for they can choose the place of the sunrises and sunsets. To this extent it’s a custom-made complication where the dials are paired at 8 o’clock and 4 o’clock on the face.
The tourbillon carriage, as always in the shape of the brand emblem, a Maltese Cross, rotates once a minute at 6 o’clock as a small seconds indication. The indications of the perpetual calendar are symmetrically laid out with the days, the months and the dates at 9, 12 and 3 o’clock respectively. The leap-year indicator makes a circumspect appearance on the upper right.
An exceptional level of finish
The sophisticated finish of this watch is taken to the limits to match its complexity. As part of the Collection Excellence Platine this Patrimony Traditionnelle “Calibre 2253” unsurprisingly incorporates many elements in platinum, from its 43 mm case, water-resistant at a pressure of 3 bar or 30 meters, to its dial hallmarked “PT950”, its crown and its folding clasp in the shape of a halved Maltese Cross. There is one other most unusual, if not unique, horological feature: even the Dauphine hands that show the hours and minutes are fashioned in the same material – an incredible technical prowess. The decoration of the dial alternates silvered and frosted surfaces, with snailed chapters, circular-brushed subdials and diamond-polished filets. The applied hour markers and Maltese Cross are in white gold.
The Calibre 2253 movement also bears the prestigious Hallmark of Geneva, which is an independent and legally sanctioned label of workmanship, origin, precision, resilience and competence. This seal of watchmaking perfection, among the oldest of professional labels, is reserved for a handful of Geneva manufacturers. It means that such decorative aspects of the movement as Côtes de Genève, circular graining, chamfering and straight graining of the steelwork are entirely done by hand.
The finish of the thin bridge that holds the tourbillon is an example among many. It consists of rounding off the top of the rectangular steel bar with a file to create a gleaming barrel-vault along its upper length. The camber follows the shape of the bridge from its jewelled centre to its winged extremities. The entire operation involves grinding and smoothing the surface with a variety of stones and abrasive pastes and then buffing it to a high polish. To meet Vacheron Constantin’s standards of finish, this job takes around 11 hours and is done entirely by hand, but it does signify a properly finished movement.
Such is the complexity and level of finish of this horological masterpiece, that it comprises no fewer than 457 parts in a movement only 9.60 mm thick. That explains why the production is limited to just 10 pieces.
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Brand : Vacheron Constantin Collection : Excellence Platine Model : Traditionnelle 'Calibre 2253' Reference : 88172/000P-9495 Nber of pieces : 10 Complement : Platinum Year : 2010 Is not commercialised any more List Price : On request Diameter : 43 mm Thickness : 15.71 mm Styles : High Horology Types : Hand-winding Calibre : Vacheron Constantin 2253 Calibre distinction : Hallmark of Geneva Complication : Tourbillon Sunrise and Sunset Times Perpetual Calendar Small Seconds Equation of Time Power Reserve Indicator Case material : Platinum Case peculiarity : Sapphire caseback Shape : Round Water-resistance : 30 meters Dial : Sand Display : Hands Indexes : Railroad Baton-type Glass : Antireflective coating Domed Sapphire Strap material : Alligator leather Strap color : Dark blue Strap clasp : Folding buckle More characteristics : Ephemeris to the localization chosen by the client
Small seconds on the tourbillon
Power reserve on the caseback
Movement
Thickness : 9.60 mm
Diameter : 32 mm
457 pieces
30 jewels
Frequency :
18 000 vibrations per hour
Power reserve : 300 hours
(14 days)
4 main springs. coupled wo by two
Case and buckle in 950 platinum
Dial :
Special 'PT950' marking at 4.30
12 hour-markers and Maltese Cross in 18-carat white gold
Hand-stitched strap with platinum thread
Clasp with polished half Maltese Cross