With 263 years (and counting) of watchmaking history to draw from, Vacheron Constantin needed to reach back only a little more than half a century to find the inspiration for its latest all-new timepiece family, unveiled today at SIHH 2018 in Geneva. The Vacheron Constantin FiftySix collection takes as its template a vintage model from 1956, the now-iconic Reference 6073, giving it an elegantly modern twist and offering three distinctive models.
The FiftySix Self-Winding in rose gold (Ref. 4600E/000R-B441)
Like its historical predecessor from the heyday of bobby socks and muscle cars, the FiftySix models feature a unique case design inspired by the Maltese cross, long identified as a symbol of the brand, with each of the curved lugs representing one branch of this 15th-century badge of honor. (The Maltese cross itself became associated with the Genevan manufacture thanks to its resemblance to a small component found in historical mechanical movements that helped regulate the degree of winding and unwinding in order to enhance the watch’s precision.) The collection is also unified by a number of other elements, all directly referencing the 1956 original. The FiftySix Day-Date in stainless steel (Ref. 4400E/000A-B437)
Among these elements are the box-type crystals that rise well above the bezel, made of modern, scratch-resistant sapphire in the new models, as opposed to the plexiglas and mineral glass used in the vintage pieces; the use of self-winding movements in all ...