History of Vacheron Constantin
Vacheron Constantin was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1755 by Jean-Marc Vacheron. This makes it the oldest watch manufacturer in the world with an uninterrupted history. Besides being a young businessman, Vacheron was also a talented craftsman. In 1770 his company created the first complication, and nine years later he designed the first engine-turned dials. The son of Jean-Marc Vacheron, Abraham, took over the family business in 1785. During this period the company was able to survive the French Revolution (1789–1799). Later, in 1810, Jaques-Barthélemy, the grandson of the founder, becomes the head of the company. He was the first to initiate the company's exports to France and Italy. Later, Jaques-Barthélemy realized that he was not able to handle his business alone. In order to travel overseas and sell the company's products, he needed a partner. Consequently, in 1819 François Constantin became the associate of Vacheron. The company continued its activity under the name "Vacheron & Constantin".
In 1862 Vacheron Constantin became a member of the Association for Research into non-magnetic materials. Later in 1885, the company created the first nonmagnetic timepiece which included a complete lever assortment made of materials able to withstand magnetic fields. Its construction included a balance wheel, balance spring and lever shaft that were made of palladium, the lever arms - in bronze and the escape wheel was in gold.
In 1970 the "&" was dropped from Vacheron & Constantin. Vacheron Constantin is the company that some watch enthusiasts consider to be the creator of one of the most expensive wristwatches, which was entitled Kallista. It was made in 1979 and its initial price was $5 million. Today, however, the watch is valued at about $11 million. Kallista had 118 emerald-cut diamonds. It took about 6,000 hours for the watch masters to make this watch and about 20 months for the best jewelers in the world to enrich the watch.
In 1996 the entire share capital of the company was bought by Richemont Group. The Richemont Group named, in October 2005, Juan Carlos Torres as the Chief Executive Officer of the Swiss watchmaking company. Vacheron Constantin is considered to be company that was able to create one of the most complicated wristwatches in the world entitled Tour de I'lle. It was created in 2005 to mark the anniversary of 250 years of Vacheron Constantin. The watch includes 834 parts and 16 horological complications. It was only available through the Vacheron Constantin shop in Geneva, Switzerland and sold for more than $1 million.
In 2007 Vacheron Constantin introduced the Metiers d'Art 'Les Masques' collection of timepieces featuring the miniature reproductions of primitive art masks. The Company selected twelve masks from a private museum collection and reproduced the masks on a small scale. The miniaturized masks are featured in the dial center of every watch from the 'Les Masques' collection.
