Vacheron Constantin Spinning the Sky: Part 1: Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Tourbillon Sky Chart, Leo Jewelry

In 2006, the modern Vacheron Constantin revived Les Cabinotiers, a division that inherited the tradition of luxury watchmaking that flourished in the 19th century. This workshop, a bespoke division for one-off production, has produced numerous unique pieces, some of which are not open to the public.
In this series, we will focus on Celestial watches and explore the essence of high-end watchmaking.

Sky chart representing the King's constellation

　Since the 2000s, Vacheron Constantin has had two movements that could be called the Holy Grail. In the field of wristwatches, the pinnacle is the Caliber 2750 of the Tour de l'Ile, released in 2005 to celebrate the company's 250th anniversary. If we expand our horizons to pocket watches, the ultimate movement would be the Reference 57260, also released to mark the 260th anniversary of the company's founding. What's most important is that a number of ultra-complex watches that inherit this lineage continue to be produced today.

　Vacheron Constantin completed the Caliber 2750 in 2005, and in 06, using this technological asset as a foundation, launched the "Atelier Cabinotier Special Order" service, which produces unique pieces according to customer requests. Dominique Bernas, who was then Vice Chairman of Antiquorum, was invited to take charge of the workshop. Due to their nature, the masterpieces produced there were often kept secret, but in 14, the company began producing a collection of unique pieces called "Maître Cabinotier," which adapts bespoke techniques to ready-to-wear wear. The name has now been changed to "Les Cabinotiers," encompassing both.

　The movement most frequently used by Vacheron Constantin's bespoke workshop, Cabinotier, is the Caliber 2755 series. This is an ebauche based on the Tour de l'Île Caliber 2750, which is equipped with 16 complicated mechanisms, with the complications limited to a tourbillon and minute repeater. By adding additional mechanisms according to customer requests, a wide variety of unique pieces have been created.

　The Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Tourbillon Sky Chart Leo Jewel, released in 2021, is one such example, featuring a large celestial disc on the case back. The disc rotates counterclockwise in 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds, equivalent to one sidereal day, and the bezel on the case back features a 24-hour scale marked in 10-minute intervals. The off-center oval on the sapphire crystal disc, essential to such celestial watches, is used to simulate the position of the constellations as seen in the Northern Hemisphere at the time indicated by the watch. The calendar disc, which surrounds the outer periphery of the disc, has uneven scale widths to correspond to the length and width of the moon.

　The dark blue opaline dial features the constellation Leo, hand-engraved with a guilloché lathe. The nine stars that make up the constellation Leo, which has long been a symbol of royal authority, are set with diamonds, but what's interesting is that the image of a lion floating in the sky is expressed with a geometric guilloched touch. Combined with a total of 100 baguette-cut sapphires on the bezel, lugs, crown, and minute repeater slider, this creates an image of tranquility.

Professor Hirota's "This is amazing!"

　Vacheron Constantin's bespoke workshop, the Cabinotiers, produces astonishingly complicated timepieces every year. Not only are the mechanisms and designs excellent, but the outstanding finishes are also being further refined. The delicately machined levers and deep chamfers are elements that make the workshop's creations even more appealing. Boasting a uniqueness and perfection that was unattainable even in the heyday of mechanical watches, it is no exaggeration to say that the creations of Les Cabinotiers are the modern-day Holy Grail. (Masamasa Hirota, this magazine)