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Richard S. Cunanan

The Rose Red Year

Vacheron Constantin hits the slate.

Vacheron Constantin is releasing a new version of their Patrimony Perpetual Calendar, this time in a pink gold case with a slate dial.

You may remember that earlier this year we discussed the Patrimony Perpetual Calendar in a platinum case with a platinum dial, which is certainly a piece worth pursing. That limited edition was an excellent watch, but the very fact that it was so hard to get made it inevitable that another model of the Perpetual Calendar would see light, and now it has.

Patrimony’s Perpetual Calendar is powered by the Caliber 1120 QP. This is an ultra-thin automatic movement that shows the hours, the minutes, the moon phase display, the date, the day of the week, the month, and the leap-year. It stands without correction until the year 2100. March 1, in case you’re wondering. That is a lot of timekeeping to pack into an ultra-slim case, but Vacheron Constantin does it beautifully.

Perpetual Calendars are a very appealing choice if you’re looking at complicated watches. After all, in a lot of ways it’s complication taken in a specific direction, if perhaps to a rather extreme degree. The Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Perpetual Calendar displays the hours, the minutes, the day of the week, the date, and has a 48-month display with leap year indication. There is also a beautifully rendered moon phase display. In presenting these complications, Vacheron Constantin has still managed to keep everything tidily compressed, so it all fits into the ultra-slim watch movement 1120 QP.

The 1120 QP caliber is an in-house Vacheron Constantin creation. It is a mechanical self-winding movement that allows for a 40 hour power reserve.

It is only 4.05mm thick.

Calendar watches, naturally enough, tell you such things as they day of the week, the date, the month. Annual calendar watches cover those things, but perpetual calendar watches go a little bit further, not in type but rather in duration. Perpetual Calendar watches are noteworthy in that they can function without correcting for the existence of shorter months. A simple calendar watch (that term is misleading, but there it is) can track time and date until it encounters a month with fewer than 31 days. An Annual Calendar can handle months with either 31 or 30 days, which is fine 11 months out of every twelve. But the vagaries of the Gregorian calendar, such as it is, mean that there is one month that goes all the way down to 28 days… usually, which is of course an added problem.

“…a watch running at that level of complexity is kind of fascinating all by itself.”

And that month, of course, is February. February is a glorious exception, a month that refuses to accommodate typical expectations and a month that calendar-watchmakers constantly have to deal with, no doubt to their great distress. (I bet that Watchmaker Academy has a special class dedicated to the problem, probably entitled “February: That Trial Of Our Souls.”)

Perpetual Calendars, like the Patrimony model, are built to incorporate the February Conundrum, and therefore can go much longer without needing correction or adjustment. Whereas a simple calendar watch could only go one year at most before needing to be adjusted, this Perpetual Calendar from Vacheron Constantin will go until March 1 in the year 2100, as stated.

“The red gold moon traverses a blue night sky, seen through a window cut in the black of the dial.”

Naturally, this is not a punishing level of watch monitoring. (“Dammit! Is it February already? I have to adjust my watch AGAIN!?!”) Perpetual Calendars are appealing more for the complexity they offer, rather than, you know, convenience. But the idea that you can have a watch running at that level of complexity is kind of fascinating all by itself.

Now, with the new Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Perpetual Calendar, the movement is still the ultra-thin 1120 QP caliber, but this time around it is housed in a 41mm pink gold case with a slate-colored dial. This gives the watch’s moon phase display a particular look. The red gold moon traverses a blue night sky, seen through a window cut in the black of the dial. Moon phase displays are always eye-catching, but this one seems particularly lovely, as the colors form a certain harmony, unexpected but serene all the same.

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