Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Excellence Platine

Platinum is often seen as the king of materials – or at least the most exclusive metal you can imagine for a watch. With this in mind, Vacheron Constantin created a collection dedicated to this precious metal in 2006 called “Collection Excellence Platine”. Exclusively composed of limited edition pieces, all of them share a unique monochromatic design enlightened by blue accents. This collection today receives a new member, a thin, restrained dress watch named the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Excellence Platine.

The Collection Excellence Platine isn’t new at Vacheron Constantin but what is surprising is how consistent this range of watches has been over the years. A closer look at most of them –  for instance, the Day-Date & Power Reserve model, the Patrimony Hand-Wound or the Traditionnelle Complete Calendar – reveals some common traits shared by all the watches. Here, platinum isn’t only used for the case but for almost all the external parts of the watches, which show a discreet yet rare monochrome silver look with contrasting blue accents.

One of the key elements of the Collection Excellence Platine has always been its massive use of platinum. While you can easily expect cases, crowns and buckles to be made of this metal, you’ll see that it is also used for dials and the strap stitchings. Leather strap and movement excluded, almost all the habillage of the watches comprised in this collection are made of platinum. And the new Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Excellence Platine is no exception.

For this new member in the collection, Vacheron Constantin chose one of its most discreet and most elegant pieces, the hand-wound Traditionnelle, also in a platinum version, although with a dark grey dial. This watch is a dressy piece, with its 38mm diameter and a thin 7.70mm profile. The case, with angular shapes, is reminiscent of the classic Traditionnelle collection.

As said, platinum is key in this collection and the case, the crown, the buckle and even the thread used to stitch the strap are made of platinum (a mix of 950 platinum and silk for the thread). But that’s not all, even the dial is a solid plate of 950 platinum, which has been finished with a sand-blasting process, resulting in a matte, grained surface. The hours and minutes hands, as well as the applied indexes, are white gold while the small seconds hand is blued steel. Overall, a tone-on-tone watch which plays with textures.

Inside the case is the well-known calibre 4400 AS, an in-house movement, certified by the Hallmark of Geneva that is found in multiple VC watches – Historiques 1921, Triple Calendar 1942 and 1948 or Patrimony. It is a thin (2.80mm), hand-wound movement with a comfortable 65h power reserve and beautiful, yet discreet decoration. It is visible through the sapphire caseback.

The Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Manual-Winding Excellence Platine will be strictly limited to 75 pieces and priced at EUR 35,600. More details at www.vacheron-constantin.com.