Vacheron Constantin turns 270 and celebrates with revenues of over one billion euros

The year in which Vacheron Constantin celebrates its 270th anniversary opened on 1 January with the arrival of Laurent Perves as CEO of the maison. In the company since 2016, the manager had already held the roles of chief marketing officer since 2016 and chief commercial officer since 2021. Perves thus succeeds Louis Ferla, who himself became ceo of Cartier in 2024 (both brands are owned by Richemont), with whom he worked closely for eight years.

This was a period in which the maison steadily entered the top ten for turnover of Swiss watch brands: in 2024 it was 942 million Swiss francs thanks to 31,000 watches sold and a market share of 2.5%, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley in collaboration with LuxeConsult. The first product launch related to the celebration was, in January, the Historiques 222, a long-awaited re-edition with an integrated case and bracelet, both in steel, of the luxury sports model 222, originally presented in 1977. Also in January, another novelty concerned Italy with the opening of a multi-level, 200-square-metre single-brand boutique in the central Via Condotti 29 in Rome together with the historic dealer Hausmann & Co. Shop with which the number of the Geneva maison's shop windows in our country rises to three after those already present in Milan and Florence. In April, with the opening of the Watches and Wonders fair in Geneva, the introduction of other new limited edition models linked to the anniversary, one of which, the record-breaking Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication - La Première. It is the most complicated wristwatch ever made in the history of hands.

A unique timepiece, certified with the prestigious Geneva Hallmark, which houses in a case 45 mm in diameter and 14.99 mm thick an unprecedented and highly sophisticated in-house mechanical movement with no fewer than 41 complications: six are related to time measurement, eight to the Gregorian perpetual calendar, three to lunar and fourteen to astronomical indications, five to the striking mechanism, four to the split-seconds chronograph and one to the power reserve via an external disc. A watch for which eight years of development were required before it could be presented this year. Christian Selmoni, style & heritage director at Vacheron Constantin, explains: "Given the number of complications for this model, we acted differently than we had done in the past with other ultra-complicated watches. For the Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication - La Première, the entire design was entrusted to a single watchmaker who designed the movement and imagined the case to fit the architecture of this calibre. He then also directed the choice of finishes for each element of the timepiece".

A watch with 13 patent applications under its belt that resoundingly sums up the 270 years of experience of one of the most important maisons of Swiss haute horlogerie. "It represents an unprecedented feat," Selmoni emphasises. Complications also featured in other new models from the brand such as, for example, the Traditionelle Perpetual Calendar with Openface Retrograde Date produced in 370 pieces with a platinum case and automatic movement, and the Traditionelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar in 127 pieces, also in platinum.