In September, luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin opened its first-ever U.S.-based boutique, located at the East Coast’s “Gold Coast” at 729 Madison Avenue at East 64th Street in Manhattan. To commemorate the launch, Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation—they opened for business in Geneva, Switzerland in 1755—has launched The American Heritage of Vacheron Constantin, an interactive online event that showcases the accomplishments of the watchmaker’s 256 years in the business and many rich stories from its American collectors.
The American Heritage of Vacheron Constantin showcases the untold stories of Vacheron Constantin since it officially launched in the United States in 1832. Narratives from famous U.S.-based Vacheron Constantin owners, including Henry Graves, James Packard, Julia Ward Howe and many others, are on display as well.
If you have a strong affinity for Vacheron Constantin, now’s your chance to contribute your story, too. Vacheron Constantin has invited all U.S.-based collectors and enthusiasts to contribute their personal anecdotes. Interested participants can share a story relating to before or after their acquisitions. Submissions will be featured as part of the timeline; thus, each owner and his or her watch have the opportunity to become part of Vacheron Constantin’s growing legacy here in the United States (share your story at americanheritage.vacheron-constantin.com).
For a Good Cause
Recently, Vacheron Constantin also embarked on a journey to create a unique, one-of-a-kind timepiece for the recent “Only Watch 2011” charity auction, held in Monaco in late September. Its “Montre Colombes,” based on a drawing by Maurits Cornelis Escher, brought together many of the watchmaker’s artistic crafts, including engraving, enamelling, gem-setting and guillochage (the art of engraving hollow lines and intersecting them to decorate jewels, dials and watches).
The watch was inspired by the technique of “patterned tiling to evoke a poetic flight of doves,” Vacheron Constantin explained. “Its dial adopts notions of geometry, symbol recognition and motion, subtly interweaving them in several layers of perception and interpretation” resulting in a marriage between time and art.
The charity event to benefit the Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophies drew contributions—either unique or one-of-a-kind pieces—from 40 luxury watchmakers, including Patek Philippe, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chanel, Tag Heuer, Jaquet Droz, Hermes, Franck Muller, Harry Winston, Louis Vuitton and more.
Proceeds from the auction will go toward supporting research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a highly debilitating neuromuscular disease that affects one in 3,500— approximately 250,000 children, teenagers and young adults worldwide. Since 2009 when the last Only Watch auction took place, $3.4 million has been donated to 15 scientific partners and their teams, including 90 researchers and clinicians in France, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
For the event, Patek Philippe created a unique stainless steel minute repeater with a black enamel dial, making it the first stainless steel repeater the watchmaker has introduced into its contemporary collections.
Patek Philippe’s watch, along with Vacheron’s Constantin’s and the others, went on a pre-auction tour, stopping this summer in Beverly Hills, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bangkok and New York at Antiquorum, the world’s premier watch auctioneer.
By Laura Starczewski
