Tailor Made
Last year’s release of the world’s most complicated timepiece of the 21st century, the Vacheron Constantin Ref 57260, shone a spotlight on the capabilities of its Atelier Cabinotiers department where, as Karishma Tulsidas discovers, impossible is nothing
here is neither the familiar smell of oil nor the industrial din of CNC machines churning out watch components as we walk down the storied corridors of the recently renovated Vacheron Constantin manufacture. We are at the Plan-les-ouates site of the manufacture, where the watchmaker assembles its timepieces. Here, we pass through the Atelier de Decoration, Complications and High Complications workshops. Having just seen in the metal the Reference 57260 pocket watch at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie fair in Geneva in January, we asked: was this where this incredible feat of engineering was created? Our guide laughs, and says that no one had any clue about what was going on behind the closed doors of the Atelier Cabinotiers department. “I would meet the watchmakers at the water cooler, but they didn’t tell us a word. We found out about the pocket watch one day before the worldwide launch.” And what waves it created in the industry. The Ref 57260 pocket watch (57 signifies the number of complications and 260, Vacheron Constantin’s 260th anniversary in 2015) breaks all records and is the most complicated timepiece ever created. A wealthy American collector commissioned its making to Vacheron Constantin’s Atelier Cabinotiers department. Dominique Bernaz, director of Atelier Cabinotiers, says that the watch was the first order received by the department when it was set up in 2006. The atelier provides bespoke services to watch collectors, who