Oldest Watch Maker in the World

Celebrating its 250 th anniversary this year Vacheron, Constantin is the oldest watch maker in the world, having produced watches continually since 1755. Like Bovet, Vacheron's long history is closely linked to China having produced many great timepieces for Chinese emperors.

Pascal Brandt, Vacheron Constantin's Communications Director also explained to me that the company has a dedicated team of three people trying to track down unique timepieces lost during the cultural revolution. “We have written records describing these great works, but no pictures or diagrams, it would be a great loss to lose these pieces for good”, he said. Vacheron Constantin also works with the timepiece exhibition in the Forbidden City to supply technical information and tools to help restore and repair pieces in the collection.

Now part of the Richemont Group, Vacheron is widely recognised in China and around the world as one of the leading haute horologists. The company has been selling watches in China since the early 1990s, but the recent boom in the market means that the company is increasing production to cope with the demand. Juan-Carlos Torres, Deputy CEO explains Vacheron's popularity in China , “The Chinese have a history of fine art, and they recognise that a Vacheron Constantin [watch] is a refined object. But the Chinese market is potentially huge, so we don't want o open it up to quickly. We are an exclusive brand and we want to stay that way.” The company currently produces just 17,000 watches per year.

Although the company's state of the art factory incorporates the latest watch making technology, every Vacheron Constantin movement is hand-finished by skilled experts. While touring the factory Brandt asked me, “Most industries claim they are passionate about what they do, it's standard marketing speak, but have you noticed that with the Swiss watch industry it really is true?” And he is right. I was surprised by how keen the watchmakers were to spend time explaining the intricacies of their work. They demonstrated with great pride the incredibly detailed work they were carrying out - even on the tiniest of screws that the future owner will likely never even see.

In celebration of its 250 th anniversary, Vacheron has introduced a limited collection of watches that may be of interest to China 's entrepreneurs, including a tribute to China 's great explorer Zheng He, one of which will be displayed in the Forbidden City timepiece museum. The anniversary collection also includes the Tour De L'Ile, the world's most complicated wrist watch with 16 complications and over 834 parts.

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