Vacheron Constantin 18k gold vintage watch - c1948

Description

This very special watch comes from the private collection of Doc, well-known in the Vacheron Constantin international community and one of the foremost experts on Vacheron worldwide. Doc is an aficionado and collector and a regular contributor to the official Vacheron Constantin forum The Hour Lounge, of which Doc was one of the founders. If you go to the Hour Lounge site you will find countless posts and discussions by Doc. Please watch my auctions as I will be listing more of Doc’s lovely Vacheron watches.

The important point about buying a watch from a serious collector such as Doc is that you are safe in the knowledge that the watch has been carefully chosen with an expert eye and looked after extremely carefully.

This beautiful Vacheron Constantin [No 483077] watch is very special. Dating from the 1940s, the watch is in very good all original condition - a collectors dream. The watch was purchased by Doc at Antiquorum in 2006. This is your chance to own a very special premium collection standard watch.

The watch features a gleaming solid 18ct gold case, 17 jewel hand wound movement [Cal 458/3B] and an unrestored dial. Attached is a high grade Vacheron Constantin crocodile strap and and a later genuine Vacheron solid 18ct gold buckle. The photos of the watch do not do justice to this beautiful watch so if you like the photos you will be thrilled with the actual watch.

A note about Vacheron Constantin. Vacheron made their first watch in 1755 and are history’s oldest watch makers. They began making watches almost 100 years earlier than Patek Philippe. Along with Patek they are acknowledged to be the world’s finest watchmaker.

My asking price is already fair for a watch that will only rise further in value . Such is the high quality of the watch, I will include a six month written guarantee on the movement, which is long enough for you to assess it. I also include a professional insurance valuation, in excess of my asking price. Also, I offer a full refund if you are not entirely happy, as long as the watch is returned within seven days if UK customer, fourteen days if overseas, in the same condition. Please feel free to contact me to arrange to view the watch in central London.

The two piece solid 18ct yellow gold case is in excellent condition, with no significant wear, and no nasty polishing. It is obviously very high quality, as you would expect from Vacheron and features lovely fluted teardrop lugs. It measures 23.5mm wide, excluding the original winding crown x 9mm thick, including crystal x 38mm long, including the lugs. The case back closes perfectly and the inside is correctly signed ‘Vacheron & Constantin', ‘Swiss’, ‘300731’ [the case reference number] with the appropriate Swiss hallmarks for solid 18ct gold. The upper case is also hallmarked.

The lovely original, unrestored matte silver dial shows minor wear, as photographed, and is signed 'Vacheron & Constantin’ and ‘Geneve'. The gold Arabic numerals and dart indexes are applied. The original gold baton hands, including sub seconds hand, are also in superb condition, as is the original bombe crystal lens.

The hand wound 17 jewel Vacheron Constantin movement [Cal 458/3B] is excellent quality, as you would expect, centre jewelled and features rhodium plating, ‘fausses cotes’ decoration, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to temperatures, Breguet balance spring and micrometer regulator. It is signed ‘Vacheron & Constantin’, ‘Geneve’, ‘Swiss’, ‘Seventeen 17 Jewels’, ‘Adjusted To Temperatures’, ‘458/3B’ and the ‘483677’ movement reference number. The movement is in simply excellent condition, winding and setting smoothly and is in perfect working order, keeping very good time.

The watch is on a gently-used Vacheron crocodile strap, attached to which is a genuine Vacheron solid 18ct gold buckle, which is in excellent, gleaming condition. The watch comes complete with a quality watch box, for safekeeping.