By Meor Amri Meor Ayob
I don’t have any aversions to precious metals. My only issue is the colour gold (and any shades from yellow to rose). To me, the colour represents something old and that is something I don’t want to be associated with. Therefore, the only precious metal that I would go for would have to be platinum.
At SIHH 2016, Vacheron Constantin launched this exquisite limited edition Patrimony Perpetual Calendar Collection Excellence Platine made out of platinum. As part of the Patrimony collection, this limited edition piece fits perfectly to the sophistication that is the thrust of this brand.
The dial consists of a day-of-the-week dial at 9 o’clock, a moon phase at 6 o’clock, date dial at 3 o’clock, and finally a unique 48-month dial (that would incorporate leap year) at 12 o’clock. The calendar has been calibrated to be correct until the year 2100. A simple adjustment on 1 March 2100 is sufficient until the next necessary change a hundred years later.
This watch features the Caliber 1120 QP which is an automatic movement that runs at an operating frequency of 2.75 Hertz or 19,800 vph. The main spring has 40 hours of power reserve. Both sides of the watch are protected by sapphire crystal.
The platinum purity of the compound used for the watch is reference platinum 950. This compound has the necessary durability of hardness to scratches compared to pure platinum. The dial is also platinum and sand-blasted while the hands are 18k white gold. Apart from the logo, brand name and city, the dial also has the inscription “Pt950” between 4 and 5 o’clock. The calendar pointers are in blued steel. Measuring 41 mm across and with a thickness of just 8.9 mm, this watch is definitely a dress watch. It looks demure on one’s wrist without the obvious “bling of a rich man’s watch”. It comes with a dark blue Mississippi alligator leather folding clasp. Completing the package is a beautiful presentation box with watch-winder and a corrector pen.
This limited edition piece is water-rated to 30 meters and only 100 examples will be produced. If you do have USD110,700 to spare, you can start queuing up to get one. For more info, please visit vacheron-constantin.com
MEOR AMRI MEOR AYOB – CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Meor Amri is a passionate watch collector from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Having bitten by the horology bug in 2010, he has written extensively about the watch scene and has assembled a large collection of watches (excessively!!!) on his own free time. His blogs on the same subject are: Eastern Watch & Western Watch Read his articles here
