Vacheron Constantin’s Green Dial Overseas Watches Are Already Inspiring Envy
Welcome to a special Watches and Wonders edition of Dialed In, Esquire’s column bringing you horological happenings and the most essential news from the watch world. As the show takes place in Geneva, we’ll keep you up-to-date on the biggest makers’ biggest releases of 2024.
The hot news topic (among many we will get to) on day one of Geneva’s Watches and Wonders is a series of four green-dial Overseas watches from Vacheron Constantin. The lineup, all in pink gold, includes a 35mm gem-set version, a 41mm date, a 41mm dual time, and a 42.5mm chronograph. While the Overseas was available in more-classic shades of black, silver, pinky beige, and ocean blue, the new sunray dials in rich green are a vibrant new departure for the Overseas line. Each of the watches, like their predecessors, comes with easy-change straps, including the rose-gold bracelet, plus calf leather and rubber—the latter two in a matchy shade.
Another eye-catcher in the Overseas novelties unveiled in Geneva is the unlikely combination of a tourbillon movement and a titanium case and bracelet. The Overseas Tourbillon unites two pillars of Vacheron Constantin’s output: elevated sporty vibes and unimpeachable watchmaking excellence. Its vertical brushing and strong blue dial speak to the masculine looks of the Overseas collection, which was launched in 1996.
Vacheron Constantin also celebrates 20 years of its Patrimony collection this week with three new models that typify the oldest Swiss watchmaker’s blend of streamlined, retro styling with modern horology. Two 39mm pieces, one in white gold and the other in rose gold, feature the clean, open dial of celebrated Vacheron Constantin watches from the 1950s with their distinctive baton markers and two-hand display. A third, for those looking for a little more complication, features a retrograde date display and moon phase in a 42.5mm white-gold case.
In the late 1950s, the watches that inspired the Patrimony collection were the height of mid-century minimalism and came with superthin movements that allowed for sleek, low-profile cases. In 1955, the Calibre 1003 was a movement just 1.64 mm thick. Its successor, in 1957, was the 6179, which provided the design cues that have sustained the modern Patrimony line since 2004.
All three watches feature manual-winding movements, slender gold markers, and convex, silvered sunray dials that instantly say old-school, but they are also given a decidedly 2024 twist with alligator straps in decidedly un-retro green or azure blue.
In a market newly enamored with sleek dress watches at the lofty end of watchmaking, the Patrimony has defined an aesthetic that is in lockstep with pioneering collectors’ tastes.
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