Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A luxury watch is time unto itself.



The technological world is moving fast; T.Vs are flatter and clearer, Computers are faster and can store a wealth of information; toys and games light up and spin and flash. As the world turns great minds are finding ways of making products more cost-effective and flashier; churning out products in great identical numbers to be mass marketed.

Let us step off the speeding train of manufacturing, trade and mass production, and enter the world of individuality, craftsmanship and precision. The luxury watch. No corners have been cut to make the luxury watch more cost effective, no detail omitted, on the contrary, attention to the slightest detail takes hours of precise planning and crafting. The complications have been perfected over time, a complication such as the tourbillon - a movement that is said, eradicates the effect of gravity on the watch can take three years from idea to delivery.

In the 1980's Vacheron Constantin focused it's attention on crafting a minute repeater,undoubtably one of the most complicated movement in watchmaking today. The company took apart a 1940's wristwatch, examining each peice with intense precision, and an idea for a new minute repeater began to take form. Vacheron Constantin, hand picked a team of expert watchmakers and engineers and drew up plans. The new minute repeater from conception to completion took four years of hard work, committment and tireless determination. Finally in 1993 Vacheron Constatin unveiled its first piece, the caliber 1755, in honor of the year Vacheron Constantin was founded. This exceptional accomplishment is the final series of the caliber 1755 – that is to be found in the Platinum Les Cabinotiers Skeleton Minute Repeater watch.

This is just one example of a watch crafted to be exceptional. A watch that will travel through time, never ageing, never to be outdone by the passing of time.
A luxury watch is crafted to belong to time, and although it will keep time with precision, time itself will have no impact on it.