VACHERON & CONSTANTINE

[John Cote]

You would probably get quite a bit of arguement among American watch collectors on this topic, but here is my 2 cents worth. Vacheron Constentin made excellent watches. They seem to have made different grades, like most of the American companies. Their highest grades are works of art and comparable to Patek Philippe. I have also seen Vacheron movements which were sort of plain jane.

The best Vacheron movements compare favorably, in my opinion, to some of the prestige American movements like the American Grade Walthams, and the Hamilton Masterpiece etc. (This doesn't mean I might rather have the Vacheron). The run of the mill Vacheron made for export to the US was usually a lesser grade because of US import restrictions on higher grade (adjusted) watches.

I guess it depends on what you have. It sounds like a really nice watch. Can you post pictures?

JohnCote
President, Indiana Chapter 18 - NAWCC
Member Chapter 149 (Member #105)
http://www.interstatetime.com

[Kent]

Not too far off topic, and somewhat connected, here's a picture of a fairly High Grade Open-Face, 16-Size V & C (260 kb) (http://www.knology.net/~ksinger/v&c_354281.jpg). The picture file size is a little large and the color is a little distorted to bring out the lettering. The 21-jewel and 8 adjustment markings, along with it being lever-set and having an Arabic dial, are good indications that it was intended for the North American railroad market. Such movements were advertised in Trade Ads in 1908 (140 kb) (http://www.knology.net/~ksinger/sep_23_1908_rr_mvt.jpg).

Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[John Arrowood]

Thanks for the links to the pictures.

No jewel count indicated on my watch, the plates/bridges are polished with two parallel lines running lengthwise of the center of the plate or bridge. The wheels other than the center wheel appear to be steel instead of brass and the winding wheels have curved very sharp teeth. Are they perhaps wolf teeth?

[John Arrowood]

Some photos are on my web page:

http://home.att.net/~aejohn

Click on "Photos" to get to them.

[rrwatch]

John,
Yes, the sharply curved winding wheel teeth are called "wolf's tooth" wheels. If the pallet arbor is cap jeweled, I believe you have a 20 jewel V&C, a very high grade movement and the "top of the line" for V&C at the time. The lower center wheel is probably not jeweled, giving the 20 jewels, rather than the more common 21 jewels. Later, V&C added the 21st jewel, especially for the American market.
I believe that your watch has a hollow center wheel arbor. There is a pin (the part with the 1 mm protruding above the center wheel) which goes through the hollow center wheel arbor and is friction fit with both the arbor and the cannon pinion. The head on the pin provides a place to drive the pin through the center wheel and to support the pin when fitting the cannon pinion.
Fron your scans, the gear train appears to be brass. The winding wheels are steel, as is the escape wheel. The center, 3rd and 4th wheels should be brass.
In sum, a beautiful, high grade timepiece! :biggrin:

Ed Ueberall
NAWCC #49688

[John Arrowood]

Thanks very much for the replies. I said steel wheels because they are not brass colored, Could be white brass, I think I've heard that term.

[Kent]

John:

Its a very nice high grade watch. Would you please tell us the name that the watch was specially adjusted for? I can't quite read it in the photos.

An 1890 ad is shown in this link:
http://elginwatches.org/scans/non_elgin_ads/1890/m_06_v&c.html
(you should copy this link and paste it in your browser address bar since directly linking to this website from the NAWCC Message Board is not possible)

A slightly different style of barrel bridge is shown, along with a different regulator.

Kent

That guy down in Georgia :smile:

[Tom McIntyre]

Kent,

If you would just leave off the leading portion of the url, people would be forced to cut and paste it. By posting it in full, those who are unaware of the history end up being exposed to the controversy. Most browsers will patch in the missing http:// when executing the link.

elginwatches.org/scans/non_elgin_ads/1890/m_06_v&c.html

Tom McIntyre
NAWCC 2nd VP Candidate
Tommy the JOAT's Web (http://www.AWCo.org)