This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Patrimony, Vacheron Constantin‘s elegant dress watch collection that draws inspiration from minimalist watches of the 1950s. To celebrate the occasion, the company has launched a trio of anniversary Patrimony pieces at Watches & Wonders 2024. Here’s a look at the three latest Vacheron Constantin Patrimony watches: two simple manual-winding time-only models and an automatic moonphase with a retrograde date.
While the new Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Manual-Winding watches, with their slim round cases, straightforward two-handed dials, and leather straps, look very much like their predecessors, there are some subtle updates to note. For instance, the cases have been slightly reduced to 39mm from their original 40mm diameter. Available in either white gold or pink gold, the 30m-water-resistant cases are beautifully slender, clocking in at just 7.7mm thick. The signature convex dials are rendered in a new color, which Vacheron Constantin is calling “old-silver-toned.” With its sunburst finish, the hue provides, according to the brand, “a hint of retro styling” and it’s home to the customary slim hands, thinly tapered hour markers, and round pearl-like plots that serve as the minute track. Regardless of the case metal, the dial details are crafted in pink gold. Also fresh to the collection are the new leather strap colors — azure blue for the pink gold model and olive green for the white gold variant.
The backs of the 2024 Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Manual-Winding watches are furnished with solid gold casebacks, providing the perfect canvas for personal engravings. Beneath the caseback lies the hand-wound Caliber 1440, a Hallmark of Geneva-certified in-house movement that measures a mere 2.6mm thick and supplies 42 hours of power reserve. Caliber 1440 operates at 28,800 beats per hour (4 Hz) and comprises 116 components.
The backbone of the Patrimony line over the last two decades is undoubtedly the simple time-only editions, yet, the range is no stranger to complications, having welcomed an assortment of perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, and retrograde displays. For Watches & Wonders 2024, Vacheron Constantin unveils an updated version of the Patrimony Moonphase Retrograde Date, complete with the new-for-the-brand colorway that marries the “old-silver-toned” dial and olive green leather strap.
The white gold case of the Patrimony Moonphase Retrograde Date watch measures 42.5mm in diameter and 9.7mm thick. The dial, although new in color retains the traditional layout comprising the retrograde date display arching across the top and the moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock. Pink gold time-telling hands, hour markers, and minute plots are accompanied by a blue date arrow-tipped hand. The moonphase display combines those two colors by way of a pink-gold moon on a star-speckled blue disc. As expected from Vacheron Constantin, the moonphase complication accounts for the idiosyncratic lunar cycle, which takes 29 days, 12 hours, and 45 minutes to complete. As such, the precision moonphase display only requires one manual correction every 122 years.
Powering the Patrimony Moonphase Retrograde Date and visible via the exhibition caseback is the beautifully executed and decorated self-winding Caliber 2460 R31L — the same movement at the heart of previous versions. The Hallmark of Geneva-certified manufacture movement ticks away at 28,800 beats per hour, provides 40 hours of power reserve, and is built with 275 components and 27 jewels.
Talk of “quiet luxury” may have fizzled out as fast as it became part of the fashion lexicon a few years back, but that’s always been the driving philosophy of the Patrimony line. These aren’t the splashiest Vacheron Watches & Wonders 2024 releases by any means. Yet, with 20 years behind it and surely plenty more decades ahead of it, the Patrimony will continue to adhere to its stealthy wealthy aesthetic and leave its sportier Overseas sibling to make most of the noise.
Vacheron Constantin was unable to provide pricing information for the pink gold Patrimony Manual-Winding 39 (ref. 1410U/000R-H018), white gold Patrimony Manual-Winding 39 (ref. 1410U/000G-H017), and Patrimony Moonphase Retrograde Date (ref. 4010U/000G-H070) ahead of press time. However, for context, previous versions of the Patrimony Moonphase Retrograde Date were priced at 49,400 USD while older but bigger 40mm Patrimony Manual-Winding models were priced at 22,100 USD. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
