TOUR DE FOURTH
Vacheron Constantin’s Fiftysix family welcomes its newest member, the Fiftysix Tourbillon
earlier this year, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the brand-new Fiftysix collection, which debuted with an interesting trio of Complete Calendar, Day-date and SelfWinding, all available in 18k 5N pink gold or steel variants. Fiftysix pays homage to its very first automatic watch from 1956, the Ref 6073: Modelled after the original, the new watches combine contemporary aesthetics with vintage touches and feature Malteseinspired accents in its decorations and finishing, such as streamlined lugs or a polished half Maltese crossshaped folding clasp.
The family of three has added another member, Fiftysix Tourbillon. Powered by an automatic calibre 2160 that was developed and manufactured inhouse, the watch has a sapphire case back, with its heart beating steadily at a frequency of 2.5Hz (18,000 vibrations per hour). It comes with a generous 80-hour power reserve and is lavished with a 22k gold peripheral rotor, the latter shaving the overall thickness of the movement down to 5.65mm. The highlight, of course, lies at 6 o’clock on the silvered opaline dial: A handfinished and meticulously chamfered tourbillon within a Maltese crossshaped carriage. Cased in 18k 5N pink gold, Fiftysix Tourbillon is expected to hit Vacheron Constantin boutiques exclusively from April 2019.
To better appreciate this new reveal is to cherish the artisanship that’s gone into the Fiftysix timepieces. Fiftysix Complete Calendar and Fiftysix Day- Date come in steel or 18k 5N pink gold. Complete Calendar is driven by the proprietary calibre 2460 QCL/ 1 and bears a triple calendar layout with jumping day and month indicators displayed via two apertures, while a ticking blue hand points to passing dates. At 6 o’clock lies the moonphase, which requires adjustment only every 122 years, embellished with an 18k gold moon ( pink gold for the gold variant, or white gold for steel) glistening against a night sky.
Fiftysix Day- Date, on the other hand, sits in the middle of the varied spectrum, beating with a self-winding calibre 2475 SC/ 2, which o ers a stop-seconds mechanism. The day of the week and date can be perused via two snailed counters at 9 and 3 o’clock respectively, while the power- reserve display can be found at 6 o’clock.
CEO Louis Ferla maintains no corners were cut in the making of the new Fiftysix watches: “The level of fi nishing in Fiftysix is the same as the rest of our collections, and we want to ensure we still respect the DNA of Vacheron Constantin. We do not compromise on the aesthetics or the quality, but we oer the watches in steel, which creates an entry to Vacheron Constantin, from which you can progress upwards.”