Two Decades Of Patrimony

Vacheron Constantin's emblematic collection may have been born in 2004, but its spirit has lived in one form or another since the 1950s.

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

LET’S TURN THE CLOCK back to the 1950s. The Western world was in the throes of post-war recovery. Optimism and a can-do spirit pervaded daily life and bled into popular culture. Films like An American in Paris (a gorgeous, soaring musical), The Greatest Show on Earth (quite possibly the very definition of spectacle, with the late great Jimmy Stewart as a clown) and On The Waterfront (a gritty celebration of those who fight corruption and cruelty, and demonstrated film’s potential as an art form that mirrors the world) won Oscars for Best Movie.

The watchmaking world also saw a sense of positivity, and Vacheron Constantin was at its centre. The 1950s marked the maison’s second century of operation and its burgeoning reputation entered the global consciousness through popular culture and expressions that embodied fashion trends.

Hollywood legend Marlon Brando, for example, famously wore a Vacheron Constantin reference 4877 with a unique guilloché dial when he received his Oscar for Best Actor in 1954 for his portrayal of tragic hero Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront.

A bicentennial celebration followed in 1955 with the thinnest manually wound movement, the calibre 1003, ever made. At 1.64mm, it was about as thin as a coin of 20 Swiss francs, and a great example of Vacheron Constantin’s spirit.

This development paved the way for the maison to create audacious new watches that were luxurious and sophisticated, yet slim and elegant. Their thin, round cases made them instantly recognisable. With its white dial and slim gold case, Reference 6073 was the first example of this.