Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Day-Date and Power Reserve Gray Dial Men's Watch 85290/000P-9947

Tribune des Arts - n°333 - July/August 2005

It is impossible to talk about the activities of the Vacheron Constantin manufactory without describing the decor in which the watches are assembled, so idyllic is the setting. The innovative and elegant architecture of this building irresistibly draws the eye, immediately seduced both by its audacity and its harmony. And inside the building, the space takes on new dimensions: transparency, light, perspective, warmth, silence…

Standing in a corridor with doors locked by ultra-sophisticated systems is a splendid 19 th-century workbench, with its mandrel and its oil lamp, known as a lampe de Quinquet. Following its example, several decorative items present in this modern setting are reminders that watchmaking is a centuries-old craft. Thus, Vacheron Constantin strides resolutely towards the future without however forgetting that 250 years of experience and creativity are the hallmarks of the brand's excellence. 

Sun-drenched workshops

While the administration occupies the upper section of the building, its broad expanse is devoted to the workshops where vast glazed windows offer the spectacle of the gardens surrounding the manufactory. Sunshine streams into the rooms, lighting up the faces of the watchmakers concentrating on their work in the direction of the windows to take full advantage of this valuable light. As for the brand-new workbenches, they afford the craftsmen working conditions and a level of comfort enviable elsewhere in the profession. The watchmakers are fairly young on average, the atmosphere is dynamic and the focus is placed on versatility. Each person is able to work on different models and processes to vary the tasks and boost motivation.

Moreover, rigorous and systematic controls are carried out at each manufacturing stage and the workshops are situated in a ZAC (controlled atmosphere zone) to ensure perfectly clean air and to prevent particles from impairing the workings of the watch movements. This concern for cleanliness reveals the strictness and the quest for perfection that drive the managers of Vacheron Constantin.

Ceaseless testing

While the components are manufactured at the Vacheron Constantin manufactory in the Joux Valley, the assembly work and all ensuing processes are carried out at Chemin du Tourbillon. Once the components arrive at Plan-les-Ouates, they are meticulously checked and cleaned before being handed over to expert watchmakers in the assembly workshop. The different component parts of the movement are then assembled and carefully adjusted before being taken apart, cleaned and reassembled. Finally, the tolerance of the gears is mechanically controlled before being readjusted and checked once again by the workshop supervisor. Only then can the movement being created be entrusted to the watchmakers in the timing workshop. They fit the watch with its lever and its balance to guarantee the precision of the timepiece. A sophisticated machine, the vibrograph, checks the equilibrium of the balance in every position. Depending on the results, the watchmaker sometimes has to readjust the balance by removing a tiny piece of material from it, one thousandth of a gram perhaps, or rather "an idea", as they like to call it among themselves.

The human hand takes pride of place

The adjustments of each part are repeatedly checked too, at 24-hour intervals, before being passed on to the complications workshop for the insertion of a retrograde perpetual calendar or a minute repeater, for example. Time suspends its flight during the making of a Tourbillon squelette from the "Malte" collection, which requires 1,500 hours of meticulous work! Indeed, at Vacheron Constantin, polishing is carried out entirely by hand, as is all engraving and chamfering, and most stages of manufacturing. 

In the casing workshop, the dial, hands and case are delicately adjusted to the movement. An "Egerie" on the paved case reveals, thanks to its hinged back, a calibre 1400, while on the neighbouring workbench the hands of an "Overseas" chronograph are delicately placed on the dial.

The Vacheron Constantin manufactory at Plan-Les-Ouates is in the process of being fitted out so that the components can be finished off there along with the decorative and engraving work, both stages currently completed at the Joux Valley manufactory. With a current workforce of over 170 staff, the manufactury at chemin du Tourbillon is expected to accommodate 250 employees in the future in order to increase output from its current level of 15,000 timepieces to 20,000 timepieces each year. 

This heralds a bright future for Vacheron Constantin thanks to the spirit and goal that have always driven its watchmakers: workmanship, i.e. a concern for perfection in even the tiniest detail.