Back in April, Vacheron Constantin unveiled a trio of Historiques American 1921 models in precious metal cases, commemorating the 100th anniversary of its inspiration, a vintage timepiece from the heyday of Art Deco. The release of those models, however, was just the prelude to an even more ambitious and historically significant tribute to the model?s centennial in 2021. Vacheron Constantin also undertook the herculean task of creating a faithful re-edition of the original timepiece, combining the expertise and exhaustive research capabilities of its Heritage department with the voluminous archives of historical tools, components, and machines at its Restoration workshop.

While the manufacture takes great pride in its ability to utilize these resources to trace any of its timepieces, from any era, to its production registers, and to delicately restore any such timepiece to its original state, it had never before striven to reproduce an antique watch entirely from scratch. The year-long project of creating the American 1921 Pièce Unique, with the mandate of reconstituting the 1921 reference down to its smallest details, started with reproducing parts on vintage machines and hand-crafting others with appropriate historical tools. Artisans used a late 19th-century lathe to cut elements of the case, a mid-19th-century topping tool to modify the teeth of wheels, an 18th-century drilling accessory to drill jewel settings into the mainplate, and an early-20th-century stak...