Antiquarian Horologist Seth Kennedy To Lecture At The Horological Society Of New York

London has a deep horological history, stretching back hundreds of years. How did the horological industry fit in throughout London’s intense urban development? What is it like to work on antique timepieces today in modern London? Antiquarian Horologist Seth Kennedy will discuss these questions and more at the July meeting of the Horological Society of New York on Tuesday, July 5th. In addition, Kennedy will present a detailed look at 18th and 19th century watches that he has restored, including the making of pocket watch cases from scratch.

About Seth Kennedy

Kennedy came to antiquarian horology after a career as a mechanical engineer. In his earlier years of horological work Kennedy underwent informal training from a highly accomplished watchmaker and has since developed his own specialized tools and techniques. His focus is the repair and restoration of pocket watches, dating from 17th century to the early 20th century.

All HSNY lectures are free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. for coffee and conversation. Lecture begins promptly at 7 p.m. For more information, visit HSNY's website.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016, 6-9 p.m.
HSNY at the General Society Library
20 West 44th Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues
New York, NY 10036

HODINKEE is a sponsor of the Horological Society of New York.

Introducing: William L. 1985 Adds Vintage-Inspired Automatic Watches To Its High Quality, Low Cost Lineup

William L. 1985 is the Kickstarter-funded brainchild of Guillaume Laidet, who asked himself a simple question: what if you made a modern, reliable, unapologetically vintage-styled watch for next to nothing? The answer seems to be, at least in this case, build it, and they will come. Fresh from the big success of his quartz watch lineup, which offers amazingly attractive vintage-style quartz chronographs starting at under €200, he's made good on his original promise in his Kickstarter to do the same thing with automatic watches.

The same basic idea is at play here for the automatics, as for the quartz watches: take the best of vintage styling, find an affordable and above all, bulletproof movement, and put the lion's share of manufacturing costs into making sure that you have something that looks good and is built to last. There are two lines: the Automatic Vintage Diver 70s Style, and the Automatic Classy (the latter especially reflecting Laidet's sense of humor; you can't be taking yourself too seriously if you're calling your own watch Classy). The most expensive models are the €399 Classy Automatics, while the Diver 70s Style watches are just €349.  

In the Automatic Classy watches, for your €399 you get a 40 mm 316L stainless-steel case, water resistant to 10ATM/100 meters. The dauphine hands are coated with Super Luminova and are easily visible under just about any lighting conditions you care to name; the strap is leather and comes with "easy bar" spring bars so that you can swap out straps without having to use any other tool than your fingernail (a great plus for consumers and something more brands should do). You have, rather amazingly enough, a sapphire crystal and the watch is powered by a Miyota caliber 8215. You can, if you want, look at the movement through a display back and of course, for €399, you can't and shouldn't expect any fine hand finishing. Thankfully, William L. 1985 isn't messing around with a bad imitation of hand finishing either, opting instead to spend money on things like good water resistance and a sapphire crystal instead of perfunctory movement pseudo-decoration that will be a source of disappointment to the new owner the minute he or she begins to learn about watches.

As much as calling a watch Classy might seem an invitation to sarcasm, these guys actually measure up pretty well. As a matter of fact, they compare pretty favorably in a lot of respects to watches I've seen from other Swiss brands at much higher prices (which gets me wondering about margins . . . again).  If Swiss Made on the dial means a lot to you, or if for some reason you can't stomach a Miyota caliber (and no judgement there, some people won't care for it no matter how mechanically reliable it is) then this isn't your brand of Chasselas (or saké, as the case may be), but if you take a broad-minded view of provenance in entry level watchmaking and think that finish be damned, if this is my first automatic watch I want to see the mechanism, then this is a great addition to the very small group of sub-$500/€500 watches that you won't be sorry you bought five minutes after you bought one.  

For some reason, it is often very difficult to find a nice, clean, simple mechanical watch in this price range. Fossil does mechanical offerings in the same ballpark, but they seem to have a menacing affinity for rather floridly dramatic open dials.

My own personal sentimental favorite, however, are the Vintage Diver 70s Style watches. God knows the 70s weren't in general a stylish time and watches were not spared. There were any number of extremely ungainly, clunky watches vying for attention, for some reason, with excessively thin quartz watches that tried to go ultra thin mechanicals one better and largely seemed to succeed only in parodying them instead – but there were still some timepieces that managed to not exhibit too much hysteria either way, and many of them were dive watches (like this sub-40mm but really gorgeous vintage Zodiac Sea-Wolf whose restoration we reviewed not long ago). If you like everything about dive watches – their aura of pragmatism, the way the best of them take the utilitarian and elevate it to an aesthetic – but you don't like how big they seem to come, you'll like these: 38.5 mm in diameter, uni-directional bezel, 100 m water resistant with a screw-down crown and sapphire glass (in case you are wondering the minimum depth rating for a watch to be ISO compliant as a dive watch is 100 m, so you're covered). They feature the same hand-winding, Japan-made Miyota 8125 as in the Classy watches.

They're just €349 and if  you've really a yen to look like you're standing on the fantail of Jacques Cousteau's Calypso circa 1975, I'd drop another €39 on the 18 mm steel mesh bracelet.

The only real potential gotcha I can see here is that what you do not get for your sapphire crystals is anti-glare coating, the absence of which is especially noticeable in the Classy Automatics. Yes, they have a gorgeous domed sapphire crystal, which, if the light hits it just wrong, will turn into a gorgeous domed panoramic mirror. And sure, there is room for the view that plexiglass crystals would have been a bit more "vintage." However, this is a minor quibble. The fact that William L. 1985 is delivering sapphire says something about the overall approach, which is to maximize quality and style without dispensing with clean design and longevity. Yes these are a ton of quality for the price, but they're also just solid watches, period, and a great way to get into mechanical watches without breaking the bank (or even the piggy bank).  

William L. 1985 can be visited online right here.

Our launch coverage of the quartz chronographs, which are still the best bang for the buck in vintage-style quartz watches out there, is here.

Mass Appeal: We Weigh Every Watch Worn In The HODINKEE Office In One Day

One of the single most common complaints voiced about watches – from what for lack of a less unwieldy term, we'll call the enthusiast base – is "it's too big." What is or is not too big, of course, varies from one person to the next. That much is obvious, but it does make evaluating whether or not a watch is really too big or too small, or just right, a little difficult to figure out unless you actually get a chance to try one on. There are really two questions when it comes to figuring out if a watch is too big. The first, of course, is, "is it so large that the majority of its intended audience are going to find it uncomfortable to wear?" The second question is, "is it so large that the size detracts from the kind of watch it's supposed to be?"  

Both are highly subjective judgements of course, and if you're, say, six foot five and an NFL pro, a 45.5 mm x 17.8 mm watch is going to fit you in a way that it is not going to fit your average desk-bound Walter Mitty. How that mass is distributed is extremely important as well. A watch with a lot of mass and a high center of gravity, that has long, protruding lugs, is probably going to sit too high on the wrist no matter who you are, and will tend to both slide around, and pull your arm off center, in a most disconcerting fashion.

What isn't highly subjective, however, is actual mass. The real inspiration for this article was a suggestion from a reader that we put a little more actionable data into our watch reviews by putting watches on a scale and publishing how much they weigh. It was a great idea and we're going to be incorporating that info moving forward. Of course, the weight of a watch isn't much help without some basis for comparison and to make a start, we went around the office, grabbed watches off our colleagues, and put them on the scale. Please note that ideally, we'd have a database of watch heads alone, as well as watches on OEM straps and OEM bracelets but for now, we're just noting whether the watch was weighed on a strap or bracelet (obviously a metal bracelet will add considerably to the overall weight, but may actually not make all that much difference to the subjective experience of relative comfort or discomfort, due to the mass distribution).  

Just to have a relatively ubiquitous real world object for your reference, the iPhone 6S weighs 142 grams. All watches (and the phone) weighed on a Dymo M25-US.

Seiko Diver Automatic SKX-007 (OEM Bracelet): 142 grams

No surprises here. This is a chunky monkey and no two ways about it; the SKX-007 is built for strength, not speed. This was actually the heaviest watch we weighed in the office, although one of our colleagues who works remotely from somewhere in the American heartland reports that his Seiko SRP775 "Turtle" diver is a whopping 180.5 grams on a bracelet. I've always found SKX-007 pretty wearable despite its mass, however; maybe the relative flexibility of the OEM bracelet has something to do with it.  

Rolex GMT Master, Aluminum Insert (OEM Bracelet): 122 Grams

Slightly less heavy than the Seiko Diver. Interestingly, although it's only a 20 gram difference the GMT Master seems much lighter on the wrist than you'd think from such a relatively small reduction in mass. This may be due to the fact that with the Rolex the mass is more evenly distributed, thanks to the difference in bracelet construction. A colleague with an older vintage model found a further reduction in mass – down to 102 grams, again, thanks to the difference in bracelet construction.

Rolex Daytona, Ceramic Bezel (OEM Bracelet): 132 Grams

Still pretty close to iPhone 6 territory. The new Daytona was definitely one of the heavier watches we weighed though again, as Rolexes seem to, it gives much less of a subjective impression of mass on the wrist than you'd think; the owner finds it more comfortable than some of the owner's other, lighter watches on a strap and again, the consensus is because the mass distribution is more even. In this case, when it comes to wearability mass distribution seems to be at least as important, if not more important, than actual mass.

Royal Oak "Extra Thin" Caliber 2121 (OEM Bracelet): 112 Grams; Vintage Royal Oak 5402: 94 Grams

Two very flat watches, even on metal bracelets, are nearly a third lighter than our SKX-007 (and the iPhone 6, of course). Both very comfortable to wear; the integration of the bracelet with case doing a lot to make them even more comfortable. Not quite sure in this instance where the 8 gram difference in weight comes from because at a casual glance, these are very difficult to tell apart unless you know what to look for. The skeletonized winding weight in the new guy, maybe?

Omega Speedmaster Professional (Third Party Strap): 70 Grams

Very comfortable, wearable classic. We also weighed a Speedmaster worn by a friend who dropped by the office and had his on an OEM Speedmaster bracelet, with four links removed for sizing and of course that was a lot more substantial at 136 grams. Just goes to show you what a really major difference in wearing experience you can get when you change out a bracelet for a strap – it's less weight, of course, but again the difference in mass distribution can be at least as important as well (if not more).

NOMOS Glashütte Ahoi (3rd Party Strap): 74 Grams

Another somewhat counterintuitive result. If anyone had asked me to hazard a guess, I'd have said the Speedmaster Professional, at 42 mm x 14 mm, had to be at least 25% heavier than the NOMOS, at 40 mm x 10 mm but there's only a four gram difference, at least when both watch heads are on fairly similar straps.  

Tudor Ranger (3rd Party Strap): 80 Grams

Rather surprisingly, the Ranger, Speedmaster, and Ahoi are all roughly in the same ballpark; on a leather strap they all fall within a 10 gram range. They all produce very different subjective impressions on the wrist as well.

Tudor Black Bay Bronze (OEM Leather Strap): 114 Grams

Unsurprisingly, a pretty substantial watch. The funny thing here is that there is a two gram difference, on our trusty Dymo scale, between this and a Royal Oak Jumbo on a bracelet and yet you couldn't imagine two more different wearing experiences. You immediately get an impression of mass and solidity from the BBB that you absolutely do not get from the Jumbo (in either the vintage or modern iterations) and I'd bet a hundred thousand 20 mm spring bars that most watch enthusiasts, if asked, would have said that a bronze cased, 43 mm watch has gotta be significantly heavier than one of the thinnest and most elegant steel watches ever made, bracelet or no – but clearly, that's not the case.

The Apple Watch (Steel On Silicon): 76 Grams

Or about the same as a Speedmaster on a strap, which means if you want to know what an Apple Watch feels like on the wrist without actually putting one on, just strap on your Speedy and shut your eyes.

Vintage Chopard Ultra Thin: 42 Grams

Of course not everyone in the office wears classic, durable sports watches (although obviously on a Wednesday at HODINKEE, which is when we did the rounds, they were well represented). Ultra-thin/flat/fine watches are something of a passion for several of the folks in the office and here's one from Chopard – a lovely little thing in white gold – that weighs a grand total of 42 grams, or less than a third the weight of our substantial, 200m water resistant friend from Seiko. It's 10 grams lighter than a Tough Solar G-Shock that lives in a window sill here at the office, by the way – 52 grams for that one.

And The Lightest Is – A Vintage Center Seconds Lip: 32 Grams

Another lovely, smaller watch (34 mm) on a strap, with very attractive Deco-style numerals. About the same size as the Chopard but the lower density of steel vs. gold makes this the lightest watch anyone wore to the office by a considerable margin.  

What were the takeaways for us? Aside from the diversity of tastes represented, probably the biggest two were these: in terms of overall mass/weight, a bracelet vs. a strap makes a very big difference, and secondly, total mass is nearly overshadowed in importance by actual weight distribution. The subjective sense of whether a watch is too big or too heavy is a factor of objective numbers, sure, including diameter, thickness, and how much it weighs. But the overall subjective impression is a highly complicated interaction between the style of a watch, objective factors, and the wearer's physical dimensions that's so highly idiosyncratic and individual that saying any watch is objectively "too big" is something we should all claim with maybe just a little more caution.

Introducing: Two New Limited Edition Runabout Watches, From Frédérique Constant

For many years, Frédérique Constant have harboured ambitions of becoming the new gatekeepers for entry into the fine watchmaking, vying for the position traditionally held by brands like TAG Heuer, Longines and Baume & Mercier. Despite tough competition from these, and many other younger companies, their effort has been hugely impressive, and quite successful too, thanks to classic but handsome watches at very competitive prices, including this year's  Slimline Perpetual Calendar Manufacture.

With it, Frédérique Constant took the industry’s most challenging complication and introduced its own in-house interpretation for less than $10,000, making it the most affordable perpetual calendar on the market. While the new Runabout models are far from being as revolutionary as the Slimline Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, they do represent what Frédérique Constant does best: elegant and affordable. They also support the Riva Historical Society, by increasing its visibility – the RHS is a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of classic Riva runabouts, by sharing knowledge and promoting communication between owners.

The partnership with RHS dates back to 2009, and since then has resulted in several new watches along the way, the most recent being last year’s Runabout Chronograph. For 2016, Frédérique Constant have announced two limited edition time and date watches, one in stainless steel (for $1,550) and another in rose gold plated stainless steel ($1,850). Both are 43mm in diameter, and feature a lightly decorated dial and legible Arabic hour markers. The new Runabout is styled after the “Venice” edition, presented in 2012, but sees the date window moved from 3 to 6 o’clock, while some of the hour markers have been taken off the dial to leave only those at 2,4,8,10 and 12.

The watches are once again powered by a modified ETA 2824, a high-frequency automatic movement with a power reserve of 42 hours, which is assembled at Frédérique Constant  (at which point it is christened the caliber FC-303).

The back of the watch is engraved with the flag of the Riva Historical Society to mark the special bond between it, and Frédérique Constant. Each version of new Runabout will be available in a limited series of 2,888 pieces, and will be delivered in a gift box completed by a miniature replica of the iconic wooden Runabout. The watches come on a black or brown leather strap and are water-resistant to 30 meters.

Frédérique Constant Runabout Limited Ed. Case: Stainless Steel or Rose Gold-Plated stainless steel, 43MM, waterproof 3O meters; Dial: Silver, guilloché decoration; Movement: FC-303, automatic, 28,800 vph, 46-hour power reserve, visible through sapphire caseback; Strap: Black or Brown leather; Price: $1,550 in SS; 1,850 in RG-plated SS.

The Value Proposition: The Mido Baroncelli Heritage, Take Two

Back in March, we did something some readers thought was a little cheeky, which was give a watch the nod as a Value Proposition on the basis of a press release. While we stand by the original story, the criticism that a watch ought to be in hand and on the wrist before finding its place in the Value Proposition pantheon is a fair one, so we decided to do the right thing and see if the Baroncelli Heritage from Mido was as good in person as we thought it would be.

I'm happy to say that the watch exceeded expectations considerably.  The Baroncelli Heritage was created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the product line with Mido, and it's a very straightforward piece of watchmaking.  The case is 39mm in diameter and quite thin, 6.85mm.  (For reference, the NOMOS Tetra Neomatik is 6.3mm thick and what's probably the thinnest watch in the world right now, the Jaeger LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Squelette, is 3.6mm thick while the Piaget 900P is 3.65 mm thick.  I wonder about that last 0.05mm, which is, more or less, ten human red blood cells lined up side by side.)  It certainly wears a bit bigger than 39mm, which is due to the uncluttered dial and the very thin bezel.  The dial gives a very refined impression as well, with thin stick markers and small dots at the minute/seconds intervals.

This is the kind of watchmaking that's pretty hard to do on a budget.  You're restricting yourself to a few design elements, so everything counts and you don't have a whole lot of room for mistakes.  While there are a couple of points I think will produce divided opinions about this watch – the date window for one, the "Baroncelli Heritage" logo for another (in two different fonts) in general Mido has done an incredible job at making this watch give an impression of thought in design and craft in execution out of all proportion to the price tag.

One really noticeable instance of the extra care and thought Mido's delivering with this watch are the hands.  I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by the care taken in making watch hands in a value priced watch since I saw my first Grand Seiko.  One of the things I'm often unpleasantly surprised by are the relatively poorly made hands on very expensive watches and here, exactly the opposite's true; I've seen worse looking hands than this on watches costing a hundred times as much, and I'm not kidding.  The hands on the Baroncelli heritage are beveled, with diamond polish on one side and sandblasting on the other, and they're one of the biggest reasons this watch punches well above its weight in terms of visual impact for the price.

The textured finish of the dial has just the right amount of tooth to set off the markers and hands without calling too much attention to itself, and the font used for the date disk is a great bridge between the dial lettering and the dial markers – I don't know if that was deliberate, or a happy accident, but it definitely works, no matter how it happened.  On the date window, I recall that recently an H. reader remarked in the comments that he or she thought that in general, date windows work better without a metal frame (my apologies, whoever you are, I can't remember where I saw the comment) and I think in this case, it's definitely true.  The date window on the Baroncelli Heritage has a very clean feel and contrasts enough with the texture of the rest of the dail to stand out without sticking out, which would certainly not be the case if a metal frame had been added.

The movement is an ETA 2892A2, which, while not quite fitting a strict interpretation of an extra flat movement, is still pretty thin at 3.60mm (ETA 2824 is 4.6mm for comparison).  Of course it's not lavishly hand-decorated but it is very nicely finished for the price point and is attractive without giving the impression (as a display back can at this price point) that it's trying to fool you into thinking it's something it's not.  The impression of fastidious tidiness you get from the front of the watch carries over to the back as well.

The case has a PVD gold coating, about which we've had some interesting discussions in the original post on the Baroncelli Heritage.  Other than the "Baroncelli Heritage" lettering on the dial, and of course the date window, this is probably going to be the point about which people will be most divided.  As we noted in the comments thread in our original coverage of this watch, the PVD coating is actually a lot more durable than simple gold electroplating, but for sure, some people prefer a watch with a steel case to look it.  However, the gold PVD coating does give you a very nice warmth and a dressy look without the cost of a gold case.  

It's an easy watch to wear, thanks to its dimensions and also its mass, which is definitely in the dress rather than tool watch range: 42 grams on a strap, which is about half the weight of a Tudor Ranger on a strap (the latter is 80 grams).  

This is an interesting, and a rather curious, wristwatch.  Everything seems to have fallen together beautifully in the design and execution, and it feels and looks both elegant, and honest, and I think it'd be a very satisfying watch to wear every day.  I have no idea who designed it other than the collective design team at Mido, but it could easily seem like an example of design serendipity, rather than something achieved through more deliberate means.  I don't think so, though.  There are too many careful decisions and I think in this case, Mido got there because they knew what they wanted to do and they did it.  At this price – $1090 – you get great visual results by deciding where you want to expend effort and both as a designer, and as a consumer, you have to accept certain compromises.  In this watch, the PVD coating rather than a solid gold case, and the crocodile scale, patterned calf leather strap instead of a real croc strap is another.  The payoff, however, is that you get a watch with great clarity of design as well as really beautiful execution in all its visual elements, and that combination of attention to detail and design intelligence makes the Mido Baroncelli Heritage a great Value Proposition.

See Mido's full collection online. The Baroncelli Heritage is available now at Mido retailers. Available in a 33mm x 6.85mm case or a 39mm x 6.95 mm case. Water resistance 30m/100 feet. Strap, croc-pattern semi-matte calf leather with rose gold PVD coated pin buckle. Movement, Mido 1192/ETA 2824, with blued screws, perlage, and Geneva stripes on the rotor; adjusted to four positions; 42 hour power reserve. Double sided hands, diamond polished on one bevel and sandblasted on the other.

In The Shop: A 1950s Heuer Pulsation Dial Chronograph, A 1972 Zenith El Primero, And A 1950s Vacheron Constantin 'Helm'

Wednesday Watches are back this week and we have a great selection of sporty vintage chronographs and interesting vintage dress watches. We try to keep the selection spicy and this week is no different. Let's go through the goods, shall we?

A 1972 Zenith El Primero

Everyone loves a vintage Zenith El Primero and the example we have here is no different. Famed for its automatic chronograph movement, this is a fantastic example of an A386. Dating to 1972, this El Primero features both the characteristic triple-blue overlapping subsidiary dials with Gay Frères-designed ladder bracelet. For more on this watch, click here.  

A 1950s Heuer Pulsation Dial Chronograph

We are really feeling vintage Heuer chronographs these days and this one from the 1950s is no exception. With its beautifully patinated pulsation dial, designed specifically for medical use, this reference 3336P in stainless steel is pretty awesome to see in person. The chronograph is powered by the Valjoux 22 movement and allowed for doctors to accurately measure patients' pulses. But don't worry, you don't need to be a doctor to appreciate this beauty. For full listing click here.

A 1950s Vacheron Constantin 'Helm'

This Vacheron Constantin ref. 4709 gained it's nickname the "Helm" due to its likeness to a ship's helm. This watch is a perfect example of what Vacheron Constantin did well in the 1950s: elaborate dress watches. The "Helm" features a beautiful guilloché dial and elegantly crafted yellow-gold case. Powered by the manual caliber 466/38 movement, this watch is a piece to be reckoned with. Be sure to see the full listing here.

And There's More

Fear not, if the previous watches don't strike your fancy, we have four more that you will love including: a 1950s Helvetia chronograph in steel, a 1977 Rolex GMT-Master reference 1675, a 1974 two-tone Rolex Datejust reference 1601, and a 1940s Lebois Chronographe Extra in rose gold. For full details you can visit the HODINKEE Shop here.

Business Time: Swiss Watch Exports Continued To Fall In May

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) published the latest watch export figures, confirming the downward trend that has marked the industry in 2016. Exports of Swiss watches fell 9.7 percent to 1.55 billion Swiss francs compared with 2015, according to data released by the Federal Customs Administration last week, with negative results across every one of its top five markets.

Exports to Hong Kong were negative for the sixth consecutive month (shooting down by 16.8 percent in May, to CHF 189.6), while the U.S. dropped by 2.1 percent to CHF 172.1 million. The last pocket of growth for the industry at the start of the year, Europe is also showing signs of a hangover with bad results in Italy (-20.9%), France (-18.4%) and Germany (-15%), while the UK posted less dramatic but still negative numbers (-2.5%) ahead of an uncertain future out of the European Union. The UAE is the only market in the top 10 (at tenth) to post any kind of growth, with an increase of 5.8 percent to CHF 78 million.

This month’s results were especially poor for watches in precious metals, which fell by 23.1 percent to CHF 491.3 million. They represent about a third of the total in value of exports. In contrast, exports of stainless steel watches fell by "only" 4.3% to CHF 572.3 million.

Exports fell in all price segments, though watches with an export price between CHF 200 and 500 francs – those competing directly with the rise of smartwatches in other words – were hit the hardest, slumping by 16.8 percent in value terms and 17.8 percent in unit terms.

The luxury segment (CHF 3,000+) also fell quite significantly with a 14.6 percent drop in value term, similar to April's numbers, despite following a strong first quarter of the year.

For industry statistics, visit the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH.

Introducing: New Versions Of The Vacheron Constantin Historiques Cornes De Vache, American 1921, And Ultra-Fine

Vacheron Constantin has just announced three new versions of three of its most critically acclaimed watches. The Historiques Cornes de Vache, Historiques American 1921, and Historiques Ultra-Fine 1955 are now offered in three new case metals. The Cornes de Vache is now offered in pink gold, while the Ultra Fine 1955 and American 1921 will be offered for the first time in platinum.

First up is a new version of the Historiques American 1921 in platinum. This is definitely one of Vacheron's better known design wins in recent years and it's proven consistently popular with collectors and enthusiasts (as well as being something of a critic's darling). There's just something about the overall design that works – the placement of the crown on the case corner has something very devil-may-care about it without sacrificing real elegance, which I've always thought is what characterizes Vacheron's most identifiable designs at their best. We were actually lucky enough, by pure chance, to grab a wrist shot of this one at our first London get-together not long ago; it hadn't been officially announced but one of the attendees had just taken delivery of an early release.

Other than the new case metal, which really does bring you back to the 1920s (when platinum in particular, and white metals in general, were very popular for Deco-era watch designs) it's the same 1921 you know and love, with Vacheron's hand-wound caliber 4400 AS. We actually found an auction in which a 1921 and the vintage Vacheron design that inspired it were both in the same auction, back in 2012.

Next up is a new version of one of my personal favorites, the Les Historiques Ultra-Fine 1955. As we discussed in our recent series on ultra thin watchmaking, this is both a triumph of watchmaking and case-making, as making a very thin watch that is also somewhat water resistant and able to protect the movement is a significant challenge.  

Again, platinum seems a very natural fit for this watch; a very appropriately discreet but very luxurious metal and a great interpretation of a modern classic. The movement's still only 1.64 mm thick with the case overall coming in at 4.13 mm (a quarter, for comparison, is 1.75 mm thick).

Last but not least, there's the Vacheron Constantin Historiques Cornes De Vache 1955, which hitherto has been available only in platinum. In white metal the watch definitely has all the austere charm you could want, but in the new interpretation, which is in pink gold with gold hands and an opaline dial, I think this design really comes into its own.

It's always been one of those watches that you take an interest in if you want all the beauty, versatility, and extremely high quality of a top-tier vintage two-register chronograph with all the immaculate quality and reliability you get from a freshly produced watch from a company like Vacheron, and in pink gold, the argument carries even more force. And of course the view is just as great from the back: the column-wheel caliber 1142.

All three watches will be appearing at Vacheron Constantin boutiques this very week; here's pricing:

Cornes de Vache 1955 in rose gold: $53,600

American 1921 in platinum: $44,000

Ultra-Fine 1955: $38,500

Check out our live pics/hands on coverage of the Cornes de Vache from Jason Heaton; and our Hands On with the Ultra-Fine 1955.