Small Talk

Vacheron Constantin’s product marketing and innovation director on recreating a 100-year-old vintage watch SANDRINE DONGUY

You’re celebrating the Historiques American 1921 with a new trio of preciousmetal models. Tell us about this collection.

We can trace the reintroduction of the Historiques American 1921 back to 2008. This was the year Vacheron Constantin decided to debut the Historiques American 1921 as a tribute to the original driving watches.

Why has the Historiques American 1921 become so popular among collectors?

As we added to this collection throughout the years, it became an icon because these models were produced in very limited quantities. The first one we released in 2008 was astonishing. It was a perpetual calendar and only a few were ever created. Tell us about the movement in these watches. When we reintroduced this collection back in 2008, we introduced the now-famous hand-wound Calibre 4400 AS, which is the same calibre used in the new Historiques American 1921 releases we’re announcing this year. It was an incredible calibre at the time and very prestigious, with 65 hours of power reserve and measuring just 2.8mm thick.

Tell us more about this year’s launches.

We’ve had this collection in our history for a long time, so these new watches are very important for us, especially when you put them into the context of this year’s anniversary. We’re launching a pair of new whitegold models in 36mm and 40mm cases, and a special limited-edition platinum 40mm version as well. These three new watches are very understated. They are very refined and what you see is a really stealthy design.