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Since the company's earliest days, royalty and heads of state were avid customers, and even in their native Switzerland, Vacheron and Constantin were the preferred brand for important official gifts.
A few years after the end of World War II, in 1955, when Allied leaders met at the Palace of Nations in Geneva for peace talks, Nikolai Bulganin (Soviet Union), Anthony Eden (Great Britain), Dwight D. Eisenhower (USA), Edgar Faure (France) were each presented with a Vacheron & Constantin as a commemorative gift from 20 Genevans, inscribed with, "May this watch always show happy hours - for you yourself, your people, and the peace of this world."
A model from Vacheron & Constantin was chosen as the official State gift by the Federal Swiss government in 1953 to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II upon her coronation.
King Chulalongkorn of Thailand was a patron of the House, ordering several pieces to add to his collection in the early 1900's.
The connection to Thailand continues to this day, resulting in a particularly embarrassing incident that is symptomatic of the recent dark cloud plaguing the noble House. It seems that an early Mercator, a very unique design that was to symbolize the re-awakening of Vacheron & Constantin as a global watch industry leader, was presented to King Bhumibol of Thailand. The piece had to be returned - it did not work.
Iconic designs - interesting, signature and important pieces from Vacheron & Constantin
As of 1997, Vacheron-Constantin's offerings were organized along 5 main "collections"
Overseas - Sport Line
Les Historiques - re-editions and re-releases of historical models from VC own history
Les Joailleries/Absolues - high jewelry line
Les Essentielles - basic line, Classic
Les Complications - high horology line
Back to the Future
Rare is the company that can stay at the top of its chosen industry for even one generation of management. Even rarer is the brand that can remain the ne plus ultra, becoming the very essence of the best that this world can offer, across centuries and generations.
From being the greatest watchmaking company in the world, to becoming the "Greatest watch of my grandfather's generation," spoken with veneration, but in the past tense, Vacheron has now almost come full circle. Company management took their eyes off the market, and almost disappeared into obscurity. Lost for awhile, floating without direction or focus, many had written them off, seeing them relevant only for reasons of nostalgia.
There were the styling and positioning missteps as well. It was fairly argued that Vacheron was the only major house that did not have a distinctive icon line, like the Royal Oak from Audemars or the Nautilus and Golden Ellipse from Patek. When Audemars Piguet found such success and created the whole new category of luxury sports watch in stainless steel, Patek Philippe quickly countered with the Nautilus. Vacheron fumbled around for two decades, misfiring with the 222, and then the Phidias. Only now, over 20 years later, is Vacheron even somewhat competitive in the category, with their Overseas line.
And then, there is the apocryphal story of the malfunctioning Mercator to King Bhumibol.
These points hopefully are remnants of the disarray in the dark days of transition from the previous owner to Vendome.
Some traditionalists and purists have bemoaned the acquisition of the brand by Vendome Group, seeing it's absorption into a large luxury brands conglomerate as a homogenizing thing. They fear the profit priority will sterilize innovation and destroy any remaining unique brand distinction.
This concern may be misplaced, as the consolidation of the Swiss Watch Industry may be an unavoidable trend. If losing its independence was an inevitability, then at least it is in the company of other world class brands.
I am a management theorist and practitioner by education, training, and profession. In discussions with fellow watch aficionados, I had a discussion in the middle of 2000 about the role of management in a watchmaker's quality of product and design, brand positioning, reputation, and commercial success. We all agreed that management, as much as individual designers and cabinotiers, has a critical impact on a company.
With the acquisition by Vendome Luxury Group, whose brand jewels include Cartier, Baume & Mercier, Piaget, Panerai, Dunhill, and, in 2000, IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange, Vacheron & Contantin now has the leadership and financial backing to survive and fight the good fight. The management of Vendome are experienced professional managers in the Luxury Goods Marketing, with a solid track record of success. Several executives, especially Mr. Franco Cologni, are distinguished and respected experts and timepiece cognoscenti.
Vacheron & Constantin is widely considered to be the Crown Jewel in Vendome's holdings. That Compagnie Financié‘¢e Richemont AG decided to completely merge Vendome into the parent holding company and consolidate the management structure clearly indicates Richemont's commitment to the Luxury Brands group. Certainly, the developments that have taken place so far are promising - consolidation of the distribution channels, and the re-acquisition of international representation rights from independent agencies, with the intended end of improving sales and after-sales service and making consistent market positioning world wide. That Vacheron Constantin had the ability and commitment to recently purchase an independent movement house for captive design and production work says volumes about the intended ascendency of the Grand House.
I was fortunate enough to have a private conversation with the late Mr. Guenther Bluemlein, the highly respected and well regarded group leader of LMH before its acquisition by Richemont, and who was just appointed group Watch Czar by the Richemont Executive Board a few days prior to our conversation. I was much relieved and comforted that he viewed Lange as the greatest German horology brand, and Vacheron Constantin as the greatest Swiss brand, and committed to seeing both reach and maintain market positions consistent with those views. Since his untimely passing, in private conversations with brand executives, I am assured that these priorities remain within the group.
In the case of Vacheron & Constantin, I am hopeful that the correct ownership is in place to provide the proper stewardship and hands on management to lead them back to their rightful place, at the very pinnacle of the high grade watch brand hierarchy.
