Vacheron Constantin

The apprenticeship contract Jean-Marc Vacheron signed at 24 is the company’s founding document, and on the strength of it Vacheron Constantin calls itself the oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation.¹

The workshop passed from father to son. Abraham Vacheron took over in 1785 and kept it going through the upheaval that followed the French Revolution; his son Jacques Barthélémi ran it from 1810 and began selling to France and Italy. In 1819 he went into partnership with François Constantin, a merchant who spent decades travelling to open markets, and the firm became Vacheron et Constantin.^1, 2

In 1839 the firm took on G. A. Leschot’s pantograph, a machine that let movement parts be made to standard patterns in several sizes. From the nineteenth century it entered its watches in the timing competitions of the Geneva Observatory, and the Maltese cross it registered as a trademark in 1880 is taken from a part of the movement meant to steady the mainspring’s force: both tie it to Chronometry and certification.^1, 2

The company works under the Geneva Seal, the hallmark the Canton of Geneva set up in 1886 for watches assembled, adjusted and cased within its borders. Its ultra-thin calibre 1003, made for the bicentenary in 1955, carries the seal today.^1, 4

Through the twentieth century the firm made complicated watches to order for royal and private collectors, a world time watch on Cottier’s system in 1932, and in 1977 a sports watch with case and bracelet made as one, which led to the Overseas line of 1996. In 2004 it moved its management and workshops into one building at Plan-les-Ouates.^1, 2

In 1996 Vendôme, the luxury holding of Richemont, bought the company, and Richemont took full ownership of Vendôme’s luxury interests two years later. It joined the group four years before Richemont’s larger watch purchases of 2000.^3, 5