Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world's oldest manufacturer of fine watches. Fifteen years later after its founding, the company introduced its first 'complication' watches. In 1812, it launched a collection of six quarter-repeater watches that would strike the hours and the quarters upon request. By 1839, the company hired Georges-Auguste Leschot as production engineer. His ingenuity revolutionized watch-making techniques when he adapted the pantograph to be used in the industry. This allowed watch components to be repeatedly copied by a machine rather than by hand as it had been done before. At the Swiss National Exhibition in 1896, the company was awarded a prestigious gold medal in recognition of a range of outstanding achievements. In 1935, the company was commissioned by King Farouk of Egypt to create a complex timepiece. Vacheron Constantin met the challenge by creating one of its most complex pocket-watches ever sold, taking five years to make.
The Vacheron Constantin Legacy
Vacheron Constantin has excelled through out the years by never wavering from the very highest standards of luxury watches. In 1955, the company introduced one of the thinnest watches ever produced featuring a calibre only 1.64 mm deep. In 1994, Vacheron Constantin saluted the 400th anniversary of the death of Mercator, the famed geographer by developing a limited production of watch designs. Each hand-enameled dial featured Mercator hemisphere maps and a pair of compass-like watch hands. In 2003, the company entered the market of women’s watches with Egérie, a delicate and intricate line of fashion watches.
The Vacheron Constantin Collection
There are several Vacheron Constantin collections that are currently offered. The first is the Malte Collection, which is named after the Maltese Cross, which is the symbol of Vacheron Constantin. The watches in the Malte Collection are designed to serve as a symbol of strength and power. The company’s most classic design is reflected in the models found in Vacheron Constantin’s Patrimony Watch Collection. The models in the Patrimony series are both sleek and sophisticated. Other Vacheron Constantin watch collections include Overseas and Historiques.
Vacheron Constantin at Wingate’s
Wingate’s is proud to offer a selection of high quality Ulysse Nardin watches for men including: Jubilee, Les Historiques, Malte, Overseas, Phidias and Toledo.
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