Introducing: The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Day-Date And Power Reserve Limited Edition For North America

Vacheron Constantin has just announced a new limited edition for North America of its Traditionelle Day-Date and Power Reserve watch. The new version of the VC Day-Date will feature an engine-turned guilloché dial, rather than the white dials found in the current collection pink-gold model and the Collection Excellence Platine platinum model.

Guilloché is a form of engraving done with a so-called rose engine, which is a kind of lathe. The dial is mounted on the lathe, brought into contact with the cutting head, and then rotated by a hand-crank. As the piece to be engraved rotates, a cam moves the cutting head in and out of contact with the dial. You can produce a very wide range of effects by using different cams in series and everything from complicated spiraling patterns to straight-line patterns, to pretty much anything else you can imagine, can be engraved. The amount of pressure exerted by the cutting head is determined manually and operating a rose engine requires considerable training and skill. Most rose engines in use today are many decades old, and maintaining them is an art in itself.

Real guilloché, like many forms of traditional finish, can be inexpensively duplicated (by stamping, in the case of guilloché) and there's a lot of imitation guilloché out there, but doing the real thing takes a lot of time and a great deal of skill.

As with the existing Traditionelle Day-Date models, the North America limited edition is powered by Vacheron Constantin caliber 2475. Caliber 2475 is a hand-finished, self-winding movement based on the caliber 2450, which when it debuted in 2006 was the very first automatic movement from Vacheron Constantin that was designed and produced in-house. Caliber 2475 is a 11 1/2 ligne (26 mm) movement, carrying the Geneva Hallmark, with a 40-hour power reserve and running at 28,800 vph. It was first offered in the Quai de l’Ile line, in 2008, but currently is only found in the Traditionelle models.

The Traditionnelle Day-Date and Power Reserve Limited Edition for North America will be offered in a run of 30 pieces at $45,000, at Vacheron Constantin boutiques. For more, visit Vacheron Constantin online.

The Traditionnelle Day-Date And Power Reserve Limited Edition for North America: case, 39 mm x 10.6 mm, 15N pink gold. Water resistance 3 bar. Movement, VC caliber 2475, self-winding, 26 mm x 5.70 mm; 40-hour power reserve; 28,800 vph; rotor running in ceramic ball bearings; Geneva Hallmark. Guilloché dial.