Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine Pocket Watch in Pink Gold

You might think that Monochrome is about wrist watches, not about pocket watches. Well, I think the truth is in the middle, and I should know. We have covered some pocket watches in the past, which were very well worth mentioning. 

Just think of the hefty URWERK UR-1001 Zeit Device – which I wouldn’t recommend to put in your pocket, as its weighs 420 grams -, the Parmigiani Tonda Transforma or Panerai’s latest pocket device. Vacheron Constantin takes us back to the days when a pocket watch was slim, elegant and refined, now they just introduced the Patrimoni Contemporaine Pocket Watch; what a beauty!

Since watches have reduced in size to dimensions that make it possible to wear a timepiece on the wrist, a pocket watch is slightly outdated. The only pocket watches that have been released in the past years, decades, show another approach to the “pocket watch”. Like the aforementioned URWERK, Parmigiani and Panerai, these pocket watches are showcases of extreme horology and/or a renewed approach to a watch on a chain, but not seriously intended as a pocket watch.

When you put a pocket watch in your pocket, it should not make you look crooked, because of the immense weight or proportions. And since we can now wear a watch on our wrist, a pocket watch should maybe be considered a fine token of contemporary dandyism, rather then a practical solution.

And although it might not be the most practical solution, I find a classic pocket watch to be very hip and stylish now-a-days. It’s a statement and if you like to make such a statement, I cannot think of any better solution then this superbly refined VC Patrimony pocket watch. It features all the style element that we known from the Patrimony Contemporaine collection, like the clean but delicate silvered opaline dial, the applied hour-markers, the dotted minute track and the gold baton shaped hands.

The 18-carat 5N pink gold case measures 43 mm in diameter and just 7.40 mm in height, and has a transparent case back so that you can admire Vacheron Constantin’s beautiful hand-wound caliber 4400. This caliber bears the prestigious Poinçon de Genève (Hallmark of Geneva) and is close to the movement used in the VC Historiques American 1921 that we told you about here and here. The movement in the Historique American 1921 is caliber 4400 AS with a small off center seconds hand and this caliber 4400 is without seconds hand. Shape of the bridges, the level of finishing and all other specifications are equal.

In the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine collection is already a similar pocket watch, made in platinum, but that was limited to just 50 pieces and I’m not sure if there are many left. For more information, please visit the Vacheron Constantin website.

This article is written by Frank Geelen, executive editor for Monochrome Watches.