Vacheron Constantin, the oldest continuously operating Swiss watchmaker, continues its 270th anniversary celebration with a remarkable set of new releases from its bespoke atelier, Les Cabinotiers. The series, titled La Quête, comprises single-piece edition watches that pay tribute to astronomy and the epic odysseys of ancient times. These timepieces represent both significant technical and aesthetic challenges and highlight Vacheron’s mastery not only in grand complications but also in decorative crafts and métiers d’art.
Left: Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication Homage to Copernicus (rose gold) and Homage to Ptolemy (white gold).
Right: The Grand Complication High Jewellery Moon Dust in white gold, set with diamonds.
Les Cabinotiers was established to handle collector commissions and to serve as a showcase of Vacheron’s high-watchmaking and artistic expertise. Under this platform, the Maison has built up unmatched prowess in timepieces with astronomical complications. This year alone, the company has unveiled extraordinary works, such as the world’s most complicated wristwatch – the Solaria – and the Conquest of Time clock created for the Louvre, as well as ultra-limited collector watches.
Out of the 13 new pieces released as part of the La Quête series, I review the three models that demonstrate Vacheron Constantin’s enduring fascination with astronomy and mankind’s original quest to time the heavens.
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers La Quête – Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication
Two unique versions of the Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication form the first chapter of La Quête: “Homage to Ptolemy” (white gold) and “Homage to Copernicus” (rose gold). Both are powered by the Maison’s manufacture calibre 3600, first introduced in 2017 in a Les Cabinotiers timepiece, which won the GPHG Mechanical Exception prize. The complex movement comprises 514 components and incorporates 23 astronomical complications.
The dial side and caseback of the Vacheron Constantin Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication Homage to Ptolemy show the readout for the 23 complications, while the complex case engraving displays the geocentric model of the cosmos.
The calibre 3600 allows the simultaneous display of three definitions of time: civil (mean), solar (true) and astral (sidereal), each driven by its own gear train. The difference between civil and solar time results from the Earth’s axial tilt and elliptical orbit – otherwise known as the equation of time. Sidereal time is shown on the back of the watch via a celestial map formed by two superimposed sapphire discs. As the Earth rotates and revolves around the Sun, a sidereal day is defined as the time it takes the Earth to return to a fixed star in the heavens, which is approximately four minutes less than a civil (mean) day.
The detailed engraving on the side of the Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication Homage to Copernicus illustrates the heliocentric model of the cosmos with the radiant pattern around where the crown of the watch represents the Sun.
The hand-engraved cases depict two different theories of planetary movement. For the Ptolemy edition, the engraving on the white-gold case shows planets orbiting the Earth, the geocentric model, with champlevé engraving outlining the elliptical paths, then hand-chased surfaces are sand-blasted to create contrast with polished domes for the satellites. The Copernicus version symbolises the heliocentric model: the crown represents the Sun, radiating rays across the case and lugs, in rose gold. Each watch’s engraving required some 240 hours of work by a master engraver in Vacheron’s métiers d’art workshop.
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers La Quête Grand Complication High Jewellery Moon Dust
Moon Dust offers a poetic interpretation of a journey from the Earth to the Moon, combining 16 complications with an 18k white-gold case embellished with hand-engraving, guilloché and diamonds.
The gem-set and engraved Les Cabinotiers La Quête Grand Complication High Jewellery Moon Dust
showing complexity in both case decoration and astral mechanics.
Powered by Vacheron’s calibre 2755 GC16, derived from the research for the 2005 Tour de l’Île (which marked the Maison’s 250th anniversary), this hand-wound movement features a tourbillon and minute repeater (chiming hours, quarters, minutes on demand). On the front dial, there is a perpetual-calendar with the date displayed at 3 o’clock, day at 9, month at 12, and a leap‐year indicator at around 1 o’clock. The arced subdials show the equation of time at 10 o’clock, with sunrise and sunset times for a reference city each side of the tourbillon aperture. On the reverse, sidereal time and a rotating constellations disc for the Northern Hemisphere are shown.
The mix of horological complexity and metiers d’art in creating Les Cabinotiers La Quête Grand Complication High Jewellery Moon Dust.
The case is a masterpiece of engraving and gem-setting (which took around 230 hours to do), with sunrays shining through clouds on one side, a lunar-perspective engraving with planets on the opposite, created by taille-douce engraving taking about 180 hours of work. There are 200 baguette and 165 brilliant diamonds, double-row rail-set on the bezel front, snow-setting across the case middle and lugs to represent moon-dust. The front dial is hand-guilloché and treated with blue PVD coating and the opaline border around the counters, serves to accentuate the diamond sparkle.
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers La Quête Cosmica Duo Grand Complication
The Cosmica Duo is a unique double-sided watch with 24 complications, combining a minute repeater, tourbillon and wide array of astronomical indications. It showcases two “worlds” thanks to a reversible case, where one dial presents time and calendar functions and the reverse reveals the mechanics and true solar time displays.
At its core lies the calibre 2756-B1, developed over four years, featuring 1,003 components and 112 jewels, with a 60-hour power reserve. The white gold case measures 47mm in diameter and about 20mm in depth, featuring articulated lugs and a strap system that allows it to be worn on either side without tools. Beyond its technical complexity, the piece’s originality lies in its ergonomic reversibility.
The dual sided nature of the Cosmica Duo Grand Complication, with one dial measuring time in the night sky as well as Earth’s movement through the cosmos. The other allows its impressive mechanics to be viewed.
On the primary side, an ultramarine, blue opaline dial, with counters in blue mother-of-pearl show a sky-chart of Northern Hemisphere constellations with sidereal time keeping hours and minutes, a second time zone with a separate 24-city indication. The reverse side reveals the open-worked mechanics: central hands – including one bearing a sun symbol – show true solar time, sunrise and sunset times, a day-night duration and a lunar age and phase requiring correction only every 1,000 years.
The complex duality of the movement within the Cosmica Duo Grand Complication requires two separate plates.
La Quête series quietly reaffirms Vacheron Constantin’s rare ability to unite technical sophistication with artistic craftsmanship. Each of these one-off creations embodies a distinct expression of that philosophy, whether via astronomical logic (Celestia), gem-set extravagance (Moon Dust), or mechanical excellence (Cosmica Duo). Viewed collectively, they underscore what a landmark year the Maison’s 270th anniversary has turned out to be. Few manufactures combine invention, decoration and restraint as effortlessly, and few anniversaries have been celebrated with such imagination.
Author: Andrew Hildreth
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