Vacheron Constantin's Les Historiques collection was introduced in order to revisit parts of their rather robust history and reinterpret greats with modern techniques in a modern design sense. The collection's run saw some of the greatest neo-vintage references ever made. This ref. 47101 started the 1990s on a high, introduced in '89, it was the reincarnation of the legendary ref. 4178 (circa 1940), famed for its artfully flared and faceted teardrop lug profile. The vast majority of ref. 47101 and 47111 were produced in yellow gold. It is estimated that though 1250 examples were made in yellow gold, fewer than 300 examples were cased in platinum and far fewer still with this bewitching engine-turned salmon dial.
There is a refinement in its 37mm case, which has taken design cues from the mid-century and turned them up to 11. The squared pushers have ogival ends and chunkier proportions. The bezel is traditionally chamfered but wider. Its lugs have been made deliberately more voluptuous and larger to be even more dramatic. Despite this, it remains just 10.5mm thin.
The dial, too, while a classic dual-register chronograph, has seen its applied dual-Arabics at 12 & 6 (all in white gold, sigma signature) given a more modern font. The tachymetre scale has thinned out in order to give more dial real estate to those perfectly sized subdials. Most impressively, the entire dial sports traditional vieux panier guilloché, which resembles the brushstrokes of an artist.
And its sapphire caseback does not let the experience down, with equal visual drama. The calibre 1140 is a Lemania 2310 ébauche dressed to the nines; thoroughly reworked and finished by hand, with côtes de Genève, delicate anglage, mirror polished screws and bevels, and perlaged plates, it dances with light.
The overall aesthetic is historic-leaning, but the many tiny subtle design tweaks amount to an elegant modern presence. The 47101 is like a house that has to fit in in a Victorian neighborhood, but was built ground-up last year with central heating, double glazing, a Wolf range, and infinite budget. Every detail has been iterated and innovated upon, to use automotive parlance: Singerized. That’s the genius in the Les Historiques range: building upon design cues which have already proven their success and desirability for decades, just pushing them to be a touch more dramatic. Particularly in salmon, this is unarguably amongst the most beautiful chronographs ever made, a 2310 in an evening dress and neo-vintage at its best.
