Vacheron Constantin

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Watch Review: Quai de l'Ile

  Quai de l’Ile

Vacheron Constantin and the New Watchmaking

From Mechanical Renaissance to New Expressions

Vacheron Constantin is considered a Big Three watch manufacturer, along with Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet, based on its strong history of making the finest pocket and wrist watches of the twentieth Century. From the 1940’s through the 1960’s, Vacheron Constantin was at the pinnacle of making classical wristwatches. The quartz crisis, however, knocked the Swiss manufacturers off their game, and watch design entered a dark age, not to emerge for two decades.

The renaissance of the mechanical watch in the 1990’s helped to lift Vacheron Constantin out of its torpor. The company responded with myriad product lines: Les Essentials, which were classical, simple watches; Les Historiques, which were based on classic designs from the 40’s and 50’s; Les Complications, the umbrella under which the haute horlogerie pieces were grouped (minute repeater; tourbillon; perpetual calendar). In addition to the tradition complications, Vacheron Constantin broke new ground with artistic interpretations of timekeeping with watches such as the Mercator, which elegantly married the retrograde hour and minute hands to the aesthetic of a compass plotting a course over a map.

The resurgent interest in mechanical watches also brought another trend, that of placing a sapphire crystal display back on the watch to show off the movement animating a watch. Consumers sought information about the expensive products they were considering and educated themselves by studying detailed articles and photographs on internet sites such as Timezone and ThePuristS and in watch-focused magazines such as Watchtime and IW. In addition to the look of the case and dial, brands sold the fineness of their hand-finished movements as part of the value of a watch. Considering the success and appreciation of Vacheron Constantin’s skeleton watches, a natural evolution of design would indicate that they would show off the movement under the dial as well in models that weren’t fully skeletonized.

In 2002, for the 247^th anniversary of the brands, a limited edition of the Retrograding Calendar watch was introduced in 247 numbered examples in platinum.  What distinguished this watch was the opening of the dial to show off the retrograde complication on top of the plate that was finished with Geneva stripes.

2002 was also the year that Richard Mille became well known for his audacious designs and technical creations. These watches too featured open dial that showcased the intricate movements.

In 2005, Vacheron Constantin developed a set of anniversary watches that dazzled the watch world with their technical mastery and elegant aesthetics. These watches were the culmination of Vacheron Constantin at its classical best, and also served as VC’s point of departure for its current crop of “new watchmaking” watches, which blend traditional watchmaking craft with state of the art design and technology. The movement for the Metiers d’Art, caliber 2460 G4, was adapted for Les Masques in 2007:

These watches feature engraved masks on a sapphire crystal dial with poetical texts on the underside in metalized gold print.

Also in 2007, VC released the first two models of the “Tribute to the Great Explorers,” featuring a wandering hour over and enamel dial depicting a map, poetically evoking the path of an explorer’s ship over the seas:

The four watches in the series pay tribute to Magellan, Zheng He, Columbus, and Marco Polo, and are limited to 60 watches each. (Like Newton and Leibnitz did with Calculus, Vacheron Constantin and Urwerk developed their wandering hour watches independently but simultaneously)

Then a limited edition “Sputnik” watch was made for the Russian market:

No Limits

Every watch that exemplified the new watchmaking by Vacheron Constantin until now had been a limited edition. The success of these experiments has now led the brand to make the new watchmaking a cornerstone of their product portfolio. What had been the providence of various niche brands, such as MB&F, Urwerk, and Vianney Halter has now been adopted by a major brand. Rather than adapt a current production piece to showcase the new watchmaking aesthetic, the designers rightly chose to launch a new line, easily identifiable as coming from Vacheron Constnatin, but also unlike anything that Vacheron Constantin had previously done.

While Vacheron Constantin has created a “Cabinotier” department that creates custom watches for clients, the Quai d l’Ile has the potential to create personally tailored timepieces for the client at a much more reasonable price point. The client can choose to have the various case components in any of the three metals that the watch is comprised.

The Quai de l’Ile

Models

The initial release features two watches: Quai de l’Ile Self Winding, reference 86050, and Quai de l’Ile Day-Date-Power Reserve, reference 85050. The particular watch under review is the titanium Day-Date-Power Reserve, 85050-000T.

Case

The case of the Quai de l’Ile breaks new ground for VC. It features a modular construction that contains nine pieces that fit onto an inner case (with support plate) that contains the movement: two flanks, two lugs, two inter-lug pieces, bezel, crown, and case back.

The modular case construction serves two purposes for the client. The first is so that the buyers of the Quai de l’Ile can customize their watch to suit their style, mixing and matching metals on the bezel, flanks, crown, lugs, and inter-lugs. The second is so that parts can be replaced when the watch is serviced, making it look new. This is especially valuable on a watch with crisp lines and a mix of polished and brushed surfaces such as the Quai de l’Ile. Sooner or later the watch would get a ding on an edge that polishing couldn’t fix. That the parts can be replaced will give the owner the ability to have this watch looking as good in 2059 as it does today.

When originally launched the customization option led to a 20% premium to the purchase price of the base model. Vacheron Constantin has since adjusted the customization prices to more closely match the costs of the metals chosen which will lead to a considerably more modest premium for the personalized option.

Many Vacheron Constantin retailers have the tablet that allowing the client to build his dream Quai de l’Ile (the line hasn’t rolled out to all of them at the time of this writing). Alternatively, one can play on the dedicated Quai de l’Ile website: www.quaidelile.com .

The fine details of the case are muted when in titanium compared with how the rose gold and palladium versions show off their polished and brushed surfaces, but the lines are still beautiful:

However, the dark color is a novelty for Vacheron Constantin, making its first appearance in the Quai de l’Ile, and giving the watch a lighter feel on the wrist than gold, which this writer enjoys.

The 41 mm width and 12.9 mm height give the watch a nice presence on the wrist without being ostentatious. Like with just about all Vacheron Constantin watches outside of the Overseas line, water resistance is to 30 meters.

Dial

Under the sapphire crystal sits a sapphire dial onto which myriad high-tech finishes are applied. The dial is transparent to showcase the top plate of the movement while also being embedded with enough information to make the watch useful. By using different techniques on the top as well as by placing a transparent film on the underside, the dial possesses a depth that is just as interesting as any intricate guilloche pattern might be on a more traditional Vacheron Constantin dial. Indeed, the dial casts shadows on the movement!

On a sapphire crystal it isn’t possible to apply numbers as one would on a tradition metal dial. Therefore, the embossed look of the 12, 3, 6, 9, and Maltese Cross of the dial is the result of galvanic growth of gold-coated metal on the sapphire base.

The microtexts around the day and date subdials, along with the spelled out numbers at 1,2,4,5,7,8,10, and 11 are formed by the applied vaporization of white gold onto the sapphire in a process called metallization.

The texts for the day, date, power reserve and brand signature are laser engraved and filled/printed with ink. The texts “Swiss Made” and “Automatic" are laser engraved and left unfilled.

Under the dial is a transparent security film which is also used for making banknotes. The movement side of the film is covered with hundreds of Maltese crosses and concentric circles (over some wheels) The dial side of the film is where the spiral that gives the sunray pattern, which doubles as a minute/seconds track, is printed in alternating colors. The sun pattern on the dial also comes with an invisible ink UV marking on this film, showing itself only under UV light.

I've been fascinated by the  M.C. Escher quality to this dial as different aspects of the dial or movement come out depending on the light in the room.

Movement

The movement in the reference 86050 is VC’s caliber 2475, first seen in the 250^th anniversary Jubile 1755. Built off of Vacheron Constantin’s in-house automatic caliber, this 27 jewel movement has a power reserve of 42 hours. Visible through a sapphire crystal display back, one first notices the dark rotor. For all the models outside of the Quai de l’Ile line, Vacheron Constantin uses a 22 carat gold rotor with a guilloche finish. Here the rotor is still made of gold, but given a ruthenium finish and five ribbed decorative arcs for a modernistic touch more appropriate to the styling of the Quai de l’Ile.

Where in the Jubile 1755 the gorgeous dial covers up the exquisite finishing under the dial side of the movement, with its bridge and wheels for the day, date, and power reserve, here the movement is on full display: anglage and circular stripes on the bridge; circular grain finishing on the wheels, with beveling on the spokes; beveled screw sinks and polished screw head; polished functioned edges to the corrector springs with straight grain finishing on the flats; perlage on the base plate. A lot of extra work goes into the making of this movement over the base automatic.

Conclusions

Anecdotally, I see people either loving this watch or hating it. In speaking with some retailers about this watch, there seems to be a generational divide among those who love it versus those who don’t and it can be summarized thus: Those who can afford it can’t read it, and those who can read it can’t afford it.

Going one step further, I find that I love particular base models of the Quai de l’Ile while others leave me cold. Both references in titanium work for me. I love the 86050 in rose gold but I can’t stand the rose gold 85050. As with vintage watches, I’ve also found that strap selection is very important to the look of the watch. I would never use the high shine black alligator strap that comes with the titanium Quai de l’Ile. However, the black rubber suits it perfectly. I have also seen the titanium watch on a brown leather strap, like IWC would use on a pilot’s watch, and thought it looked great. I hope that VC creates strap options for its customers as diverse as Panerai does for its collectors.

I’ve found the Quai de l’Ile to be a versatile watch in terms of working both as a dress watch and as a luxury sports watch. I’ve been equally comfortable wearing it with a suit as well as with jeans and a t-shirt.

Vacheron Constantin has recently addressed the issue of the perceived value of the watch with a change in pricing, particularly with the titanium model, as that is an industrial rather than a precious metal, and with the palladium, as the market price of that metal has gone from a significant premium to gold to a discount.

To my intuitive sense of value, these updated prices make the Quai de l’Ile a much more compelling product, both within Vacheron Constantin’s product portfolio as well as against the offerings of competing brands.

The ability to replace parts of the case, to my mind, is one of the best features of the Quai de l’Ile. I’ve seen too many vintage watches that are beat up beyond repair. The opportunity to make a well-worn watch look like new is a true innovation that serves the customer well.

Showing off the movement is the raison d'être of the Quai de l’Ile, and the bridge, wheels, and springs that comprise the mechanism day-date-power reserve are a wonder to behold. The finishing is of the highest order. The titanium model strikes the right balance between functionality in reading the time and transparency in showing off Vacheron Constantin’s superb finishing.

The marketing materials for the Quai de l’Ile gush on and on about how the watch will be impossible to counterfeit. That may be true enough, but simply having an in-house movement in the watch is enough for me to know that only VC could have made this watch. Everything else is superfluous.

Like with skeleton watches I see the Quai de l’Ile being a watch made for collectors rather than as the “one nice watch” that someone buys for himself.

I suspect that the Quai de l’Ile will be a successful line for Vacheron Constantin, based both on its own merits as well as on the brand’s established success with both making and marketing watches based on the new watchmaking aesthetic.

Where do they go from here?

The most obvious move for the Quai de l’Ile is for Vacheron Constantin to allow the same degree of customization of the self-winding model as they do the day-date-power reserve. Beyond that we can only speculate.

We can get a sneak peak at where the Quai de l’Ile line is heading by looking at the unique watch Vacheron Constantin is donating to the “Only Watch” charitable auction:

The use of color on the dial is one potential path for future iterations, as well as experimenting with different metals beyond the titanium, rose gold, palladium, and the newly-introduced tantalum of the Only Watch Quai de l’Ile.

We can also expect to see different complications. My hope would be for an inventive alternative display of the time which will showcase Vacheron Constantin’s horological mastery, artistic inventiveness, and technological prowess, synthesizing complication and aesthetic interpretation to make an even more remarkable watch.

Bill

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