VACHERON CONSTANTIN – OVERSEAS Perpetual Calendar Ultra-thin Skeleton

VACHERON CONSTANTIN – OVERSEAS Perpetual Calendar Ultra-thin Skeleton  - 2020

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• A journey to the heart of mechanical intricacies
•     An entirely openworked ultra-thin Manufacture movement with perpetual calendar, Calibre 1120 QPSQ/1
•     An incredibly slim case, just 8.1 mm thick
•     Interchangeable bracelet/straps

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The Overseas collection is enriching its range with a new territory to explore. The prestige of a precious metal case and bracelet is now complemented by the extreme sophistication of an openworked movement that is also ultra-thin and houses a perpetual calendar, giving the timepiece a contemporary and horologically sophisticated look.

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In this new gold-clad version, Vacheron Constantin highlights the expression of Haute Horlogerie values. While retaining its dynamic design, the aesthetic of the timepiece is transfigured by a sapphire dial inviting observers on a journey to the heart of the extremely thin 4.05 mm openworked perpetual calendar movement.

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Complexity transcending the complication itself

Much appreciated by collectors for its reliability, its extreme precision and its performance, self-winding Calibre 1120 QPSQ is now joining the Overseas collection in a new guise. Entirely openworked, which is a feat in itself, it reveals its mechanical intricacies beneath a sapphire crystal.

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The transparent caseback also stages a fascinating watchmaking show starring the gear trains and the NAC-treated oscillating weight with its segment in 22K gold, which is also openworked for the first time in the Overseas collection so as to highlight its stylised design shaped like a Maltese cross.

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Skeletonisation is regarded by connoisseurs as a watchmaking complication in itself and is indeed a speciality during watchmaking training. This technique, which consists of finely openworking a mechanical movement by hollowing out its components yet without compromising their reliability, is an extremely complex undertaking: a quest for transparency coupled with highly sophisticated skills mastered by very few watchmaking artisans.

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Today, Vacheron Constantin is one of the rare Manufactures capable of openworking calibres as complex as perpetual calendars and ultra-thin movements. All components of the 1120 QPSQ calibre have been hollowed out, finished and decorated, so as to exalt the functional beauty of the mechanism.

The peak of artisanal watchmaking expertise

To fully match the style of Overseas, the movement has benefited from special finishing work, entirely performed by hand. Multiple skills have thus come into play so as to endow the mechanism with the sought-after aesthetic perfection.

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Straight-graining the surfaces to give them a satin-brushed finish; bevelling straight lines and curves to make the create light effects; circular brushing, sunburst finishing, circular-graining and polishing to ensure varied reliefs:

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while the use of all these ancestral craftsmanship techniques has served to highlight the beauty of the components, an anthracite grey shade obtained by means of an NAC electrolytic treatment gives the mechanism a very modern face.

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The dial bears applied 18K 5N pink gold hour-markers, the Maltese cross emblem as well as day, date and month-counter rings. This design ensures that the watch is perfectly legible while allowing the gaze to roam freely through the heart of the movement and admire its hand-crafted finishing.

A calendar requiring no adjustment until 2100

While watches with simple calendars – indicating the day, date and month – require constant adjustments according to months with 28, 29 and 30 days, the Overseas Perpetual Calendar ultra-thin skeleton watch will not require any intervention until March 1, 2100, neither for its calendar indications nor for the moon phases.

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Achieving such a performance with a movement that slim – yet housing 276 components – called for authentic feats of design and miniaturisation.

The freedom of personalisation

Like all models in the Overseas collection, this exceptional watch offers a modular touch via a simple and convenient bracelet/strap interchangeability system.

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Fitted with a gold bracelet whose satin-brushed half Maltese cross-shaped links underline the elegance of the timepiece, it also comes with two additional straps in blue alligator leather and blue rubber.

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Available in an 18K 5N all-gold version, the new Overseas Skeleton Perpetual Calendar watch perpetuates the travel-driven spirit of the collection and combines the refinement of precious metal with the nobility of its ultra-thin openworked complication movement.

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The 41.5 mm-diameter case houses the prestigious Calibre 1120 QPSQ, which combines an extraordinary aesthetic with Haute Horlogerie values.

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Greatly appreciated by collectors for its technical qualities and its performance (no adjustment will be required before March 1st 2100, neither for the day, date and month indications, nor for the moon phases), this entirely openworked ultra-thin NAC-treated anthracite grey mechanism is visible through a transparent sapphire dial bearing applied 18K 5N pink gold hour-markers.

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The transparent caseback also stages a fascinating watchmaking show starring the gear trains and the NAC-treated oscillating weight with its segment in 22K gold, which is also openworked for the first time in the Overseas collection so as to highlight its stylised design shaped like a Maltese cross.

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Technical Specifications

Model:  OVERSEAS Perpetual Calendar Ultra-thin Skeleton Chronograph –

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Reference  4300V/120R-B547

Movement 
Calibre 1120 QPSQ/1
Developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin
Mechanical, self-winding
22K openworked oscillating weight in the shape of a Maltese cross NAC treatment
29.6 mm (12½’’’) diameter, 4.05 mm thick
Approximately 40 hours of power reserve
2.75 Hz (19,800 vibrations per hour)
276 components
36 jewels
Hallmark of Geneva certified timepiece
Indications

• Hours and minutes
• Perpetual calendar (date, day of the week, month, leap year)
• Moon phases

Case
18K 5N pink gold
41.5 mm diameter, 8.1 mm thick
Soft iron casing ring ensuring anti-magnetic protection
Transparent sapphire crystal caseback
Water-resistance tested at a pressure of 5 bar (approx. 50 metres)
Dial
Sapphire
18K 5N pink gold hour-markers and hours & minutes hands highlighted with white luminescent material
Bracelet/Straps
18K 5N pink gold bracelet (half Maltese cross-shaped polished and satin-brushed links), secured by a 18K 5N pink gold triple-blade folding clasp with push-pieces and comfort-adjustment system
Delivered with a second strap blue Mississippiensis alligator leather featuring a blue nubuck lining, with a micro-perforated effect, hand-stitched,
Delivered with a third strap in blue rubber
Clasp
Each additional strap comes with an 18K 5N pink gold buckle
The peak of artisanal watchmaking expertise

Piece only available through the Vacheron Constantin boutiques.

World price: 105'000 € / 115'000 USD


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#VACHERONCONSTANTIN
#OneOfNotMany
#Perpetual Calendar
#OVERSEAS

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Press Release - 2020
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Vacheron Constantin
Press Department
10, Chemin du Tourbillon
P.O. Box 95
CH-1228
Plan-les-Ouates/Geneva
Tel. +41 22 930 20 05
Fax +41 22 930 20 06
press@vacheron-constantin.com
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ZENITH – Chronomaster Revival “Manufacture Edition”

ZENITH – CHRONOMASTER A386 EL PRIMERO Revival “Manufacture Edition” 50th Anniversary - 2020

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Zenith uncovers a never-before-seen prototype dial for the special Chronomaster Revival Manufacture Edition.

2019 was a year of commemoration for the El Primero, the world’s first automatic high-frequency chronograph movement, which marked its 50th anniversary last year. While the anniversary is over, Zenith continues to celebrate the venerable calibre with a number of new and exclusive watches.

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For its first Manufacture Edition, Zenith has reproduced a previously unknown prototype dial of its most iconic chronograph. The Chronomaster Revival Manufacture Edition is exclusively available on Zenith’s newly launched e-commerce platform, as well as to visitors of the Zenith Manufacture in Le Locle.

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Like a time capsule sheltered from our ever-changing world, the grenier or attic of the Zenith Manufacture is a special place indeed, with many secrets still being uncovered today. While going through the grenier or attic of the main historical Zenith Manufacture building last year during the El Primero’s 50th anniversary, an unexpected discovery was made.

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There in the attic, among the countless artifacts and pristinely preserved tools that the heroic Charles Vermot had hidden away in the 1970s during the quartz crisis, a small, unassuming and unlabeled box was uncovered. In it, remarkably preserved after decades, were a number of dials: The signature El Primero tri-color dial of the A386 that became a design icon, and more remarkably, another version of the tri-color dials, using three different shades of blue.

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No records exist of these presumably prototype blue tri-color dials, but considering that they were kept with prototype dials of the A386 in the same configuration it was commercialized in 1969, one can assume that is was part of the original prototype dials for the A386, and that Charles Vermot himself hid them in the attic along with all the other El Primero tools.

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We may never know if the dial with three shades of blue was intended as an alternative to the A386’s dial or intended for a different model, but its striking beauty and intriguing history compelled the watchmakers at Zenith to finally put it into production.

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To bring this prototype to life, it was only appropriate that Zenith produces it as a Revival piece. The 38mm stainless steel case with pump-style pushers is an exact reproduction of the A386 from 1969, using the blueprints of the original to preserve the proportions of the iconic chronograph.

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What makes this edition significant and even more unique is that the Chronomaster Revival Manufacture Edition is in fact the final version of the A386 available with the original “Revival” case. Beating within it is the same movement it would have had if it was made in 1969, the venerable El Primero high-frequency automatic chronograph with column wheel.

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As a Manufacture piece, this Revival Edition is intended to be an exclusive piece, available uniquely to visitors of the Zenith Manufacture. Nonetheless, given the current situation, which does not allow to offer tours of the manufacture, Zenith is making the Manufacture Edition available on e-commerce, giving customers the opportunity to purchase the watch until the Manufacture reopens to the public for visits.

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The e-commerce site will be rolled out gradually across different markets, starting with Italy, France and Switzerland in May, followed by Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and then in United States. The watch comes in a special packaging, mimicking a book that can be displayed on a bookshelf and bearing a blueprint of the Zenith manufacture on its cover. It will also include a comic book about Charles Vermot by renowned Swiss cartoonist Cosey, as well as a reproduction of the vintage dial found in the attic.

ZENITH: TIME TO REACH YOUR STAR.

Zenith exists to inspire individuals to pursue their dreams and make them come true – against all odds. Since its establishment in 1865, Zenith became the first watch manufacture in the modern sense of the term, and its watches have accompanied extraordinary figures that dreamt big and strived to achieve the impossible – from Louis Blériot’s history-making flight across the English Channel to Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting stratospheric free-fall jump.

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With innovation as its guiding star, Zenith features exceptional in-house developed and manufactured movements in all its watches. From the first automatic chronograph, the El Primero, to the fastest chronograph with a 1/100th of a second precision, the El Primero 21, as well as the Inventor that reinvents the regulating organ by replacing the 30+ components with a single monolithic element, the manufacture is always pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

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Zenith has been shaping the future of Swiss watchmaking since 1865, accompanying those who dare to challenge themselves and break barriers. The time to reach your star is now.

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TECHNICAL DETAILS

Collection: EL PRIMERO  Chronomaster  

Model:   Chronomaster Revival “Manufacture Edition”

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Reference:  03.Z386.400/60.C843

Key points: 
Dial inspired by vintage prototypes never released and found in the attic of the Manufacture. Exclusive Manufacture Edition.
Original 1969 case with 38mm diameter, 
Automatic El Primero column-wheel chronograph

Movement 
Caliber: El Primero 400 Automatic

Caliber: 13 ¼ ‘’’ (Diameter: 30 mm)
Thickness: 6.6 mm
Components: 254
Jewels: 31
Frequency: 36,000 VpH (5 Hz)
Power reserve: min. 50 hours 
Finishes: Oscillating weight with “Côtes de Genève” motif
Functions: Hours and minutes in the centre.
Small seconds at nine o’clock.
Chronograph: central chronograph hand,

• 12-hour counter at six o’clock, 
• 30-minute counter at three o’clock. Tachymetric scale. 
• Date indication at 4:30.

Case
Dimeter: 38 mm
Material: Stainless steel 
Water-resistance: 5 ATM
Dial 
 White-lacquered dial with three shades of blue counters
Hour-markers: Rhodium-plated, faceted and coated with Super-LumiNova®SLN C1
Hands: White, faceted and coated with Super-LumiNova®SLN C1
Bracelet & Buckle
Blue alligator leather strap with protective rubber lining.
Stainless steel pin buckle.


Price: 8900 CHF



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Press Release - 2020
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ZENITH | Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865
Rue des Billodes 34-36 | CH-2400 Le Locle
Minh-Tan-Bui
Tel. +41 32 930 65 59
Mobile +41 79 515 47 54
Email: minh-tan.bui@zenith-watches.com

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