A grand strike that chimes only once a year the true love’s birthday or a watch showing the exact time only when the owner decides - are some crazy and secret ideas that Vacheron Constantin has turned into watches.
The concept of affordable luxury that has been promoted so much during the crisis that it overshadowed the true exclusivity, that involves creative ideas developed after hundreds of hours and surrounded by an air of mystery worthy of Swiss banks. The news that a Vacheron Constantin pocket watch which belonged to James Ward Packard, sold for $ 1.8 million (three times more than initial estimates) at Christie's in New York has gone around the world. The company has established a record for pocket watches owned by James Ward Packard (1863-1928), famous American automobile maker with a passion for Haute Horlogerie timepieces. He was one of the first American collectors who worked directly with manufacture to build a unique collection of watches. Packard, although he lived in other times, is one of the key customers I was talking about - the kind of customer who dictates the characteristics of a watch. The businessman had a close relationship with the Vacheron Constantin artisans and he imagined the sketches of watches of art kept locked in the vaults of banks and now sold millions of euros. Just to give you an idea, records show that in 1919 Packard paid 3320 Swiss francs for the pocket watch sold at Christie’s.
Luckily, such services have not disappeared along with the golden age of luxury and although limited, still exist. Vacheron Constantin is now the only company that officially produces custom watches after it revived the Atelier de Cabinotiers in 2006. Through this service the company says it aims to awake the spirit of "cabionotiers" - specialized Geneva craftsmen who made the city famous beginning in the 11th century – first in jewellery, and then in watchmaking.
Vacheron Constantin watch collectors have always been well aware of this possibility and the famous New York banker and devoted watch connoisseur Henry Graves Jr. was for example a keen devotee of the one-of-a-kind models signed Vacheron Constantin.
King Fouad of Egypt and his son King Farouk, to mention just two other eminent examples, were also keen collectors of one-of-a-kind Vacheron Constantin models. One particular story vividly illustrates these lasting ties: in 1937, when the adolescent Prince Farouk was visiting Geneva with his mother, Queen Nazli, he was eager to visit the Manufacture Vacheron Constantin. Charles Constantin guided him through the workshops and, when he expressed his amazement at the young man’s vast horological knowledge, the prince admitted to having taken a number of watches apart to see how they worked. Several years before, on the occasion of an official visit to Geneva in 1934, the municipal authorities presented him with a fabulous one of-a-kind watch created by Vacheron Constantin. Its dial is enlivened by no less than 13 hands: alongside the conventional hour, minute and seconds hands are a chronograph sweep-seconds hand, a 30-minute counter hand, a split seconds hand, the four hands of the Perpetual Calendar with leap-year indication, as well as the respective pointers for the alarm and for the movement power-reserve indicator and the striking mechanism power reserve. It features a minute repeater and a moon-phase display, and its movement comprises 820 parts including 55 jewels.
 

At Atelier de Cabinotiers there are no collections, products or catalogues, just a listening ear. Everything begins with a story: the secret and intimate story of the person commissioning the watch. One, a history buff, asks for a reproduction of a painting by one of the masters in grand feu enamel on the dial; another, a poetic lover, wants a grand strike that chimes only once a year, on his true love’s birthday; yet another, a grand complications enthusiast, dreams of a mechanical masterpiece such as has never yet been tried. All requests, from the simplest to the most daring, are meticulously examined by an ethical committee specially set up for the Atelier Cabinotiers; to secure approval, they must naturally be deemed to be in harmony with the Vacheron Constantin spirit. Each new project that requires any technical development is supported by a team that includes an engineer, a mechanic and a watchmaker. Together, they strive to translate even the wildest dreams into technical terms. Vacheron Constantin’s designers and R&D department are called upon as needed. Then dedicated teams responsible for project development and tracking take over. A preferred contact person acts as a continual liaison between the teams and the purchaser. A dedicated website specially created as an additional service gives customers the opportunity to enter the world of the Atelier Cabinotiers via a password that gives them direct access to their watch in the making. They can follow each stage of production, including through photos and videos, thus enabling them to keep track of the work in progress at any given moment. But Atelier Cabinotiers’ greatest asset lies, perhaps, in the extraordinary artistic skills found there. The Vacheron Constantin guillocheurs and enamellers are among the last remaining masters of their forefathers’ art; others – engravers and gemsetters – proudly carry on ancient traditions, combining natural talent with expertise. From the hands of these artists come unique timepieces representing the pinnacle of Fine Watchmaking, which will find in due course their place, like all the creations of the Manufacture since 1755, in the company heritage and archives.
This year, for the first time, Vacheron Constantin is unveiling two unique pieces stamped with the Hallmark of Geneva and made by its Atelier Cabinotiers service. More on that in the next feature on www.despreceasuri.com