Anniversary model dressed in yellow gold.

 

Vacheron Constantin hasn't entered the current race to compete with Bulgari, Piaget and Konstantin Chaykin for the thinnest watch. This manufacture is building on the foundations of its own former records for thin watches to unveil timeless elegance.

 

The watchmaker is marking the Patrimony collection's 20th anniversary this year, which draws inspiration for design from two ultra-thin models from the 1950s. The Ref. 6179 and Ref. 6187 watches from the middle of the last century housed hand-wound caliber 1001 and 1003 movements.

 

Caliber 1001 measured just 2.94 mm in height, while the 1003 was even thinner at 1.64 mm (this was the world's thinnest at the time when the manufacture movement was introduced in 1955).

 

Vacheron Constantin x Oro Ïto Patrimony Ref. 85180/000J-H069
Vacheron Constantin x Oro Ïto Patrimony Ref. 85180/000J-H069
Vacheron Constantin x Oro Ïto Patrimony Ref. 85180/000J-H069
Vacheron Constantin x Oro Ïto Patrimony Ref. 85180/000J-H069

The idea of refinement remains one of the collection's pillars. Some of the movements you can come across in the collection are the minute-repeating caliber 1731, which measures just 3.90 mm in height, and the automatic caliber 1120 with a perpetual calendar, which measures 4.05 in height.

 

However, the company has decided to celebrate this anniversary without any complications. They've placed their bets on subtlety, inviting an industrial designer to work on the watch. The anniversary Patrimony is the fruit of a collaboration with the French designer Ora Ïto, whose real name is Ito Morabito.

 

His portfolio includes everything you can think of besides apart from watches, including metro trains in Marseille, a redesigned retro-futuristic EV Renault R17, the minimalistic Angell electric bike and the Flying Nest nomadic shipping-container accommodation concept.

 

This novelty's main attraction is the use of yellow gold, which is gradually catching up with steel's ascent since the 1970s and rose gold's recent heights. Yellow gold is used as the material for the 40 mm × 8.55 mm case, the dial, markers, and hands.

 

It houses a caliber 2450 Q6/3 movement that measures just 3.6 mm in height. This time-only movement consists of 196 components, runs at a frequency of 28,800 vph, and provides a 40-hour power reserve. The designer has put thought into each detail.

 

The dial is decorated with concentric circles, while the strap has been given extra volume using rectangular blocks. The burgundy color selected for the strap matches the digits in the dial's date aperture.