Pre-1935 Vintage Vacheron & Constantin 18k Tank Watch In Ultra Rare Color Combo

After 40 years of collecting my employer has decided to truly begin the laborious chore of liquidating his watch collection. We have started this process a few times over the last several years only to get waylaid by the demands of new sales and service. The current situation has removed this impediment, and so I will be listing watches over the coming days, weeks, and possibly months. The extra time comes with the trade off of some technical limitations as access to my shop is quite limited and may eventually become nil. I do not have access to most of my tools or testing equipment.

In cases of quartz watches (yes, there are a few), if a nicer watch that might usually merit a photo of the movement was known to have passed water resistance at its last cell change, I will not be opening it as there is little to see other than to possibly verify authenticity. Most of the preowned quartz models I will be listing come with their original boxes and paperwork, so hopefully that can assuage concerns. At the end of the day we have not and will not ever knowingly represent something we know, or even suspect, to be less than 100% genuine. I hope we can all be understanding as things arise given the unpredictable events we are living through; we are doing our best.

This collection has been amassed from pieces that have come through the front door of our 60 year old family owned business, as well as fine examples tracked down and lovingly restored over the more than four decades since the owner's graduation from watchmaking school. To say this collection is large and varied would be an understatement. From modern unworn watches by brands we've carried over the last several years to historic pieces dating to the 17th century.

There are examples of wrist and pocket watches from some of the most desirable manufacturers in the industry. Brands include Patek Philippe, Vacheron and Constantine, Rolex, Omega, LeCoultre, Brietling, Heuer, etc; as well as a truly staggering collection of Railroad grade pocket watches. Hamilton 992s and 950s, Waltham Vanguards, Illinois Bunn Specials, early high grade Howards, up down indicators, and much much more. In each case we will be listing the watch with an honest description and many photos to clearly show the condition of the piece.

Unless otherwise stated, watches should be considered functional, but possibly due for service. Many were thoroughly gone through before being put away, but in some cases that may have been 30 years ago. Our feedback is modest but all positive, and you will see that it includes many multi thousand dollar watch sales. We recommend that you check out our stores website or come in to visit us if you're in the Portland area once we reopen. In the case of modern pieces it offers an opportunity to own something that has already depreciated some significant part of its original monetary worth but hopefully retains most, if not all, of its material value. Alternatively, with vintage examples one has the chance to own functional history. You can embrace the refined styling of Art Deco pieces from the 20s and 30s or the funky colorful sport designs of the 60s and 70s emulated by so many current watches. Like with preowned cars the novice and experienced collector alike can make extremely costly mistakes. Well beyond the simple, but very real, concern of counterfeits is the more amorphous issue of condition. That is far less quantifiable than real or fake, and the older the watch the more likely it is to drastically bear on the actual value of any one example. This can happen innocently; many people do not maintain there watches properly and honestly have no idea how bad the condition may be until it catastrophically fails.

It can also happen by design; I've yet to see horological "Bondo" but there are some pretty questionable practices out there. It is my goal to show the pros and cons of the watches we will be listing so the purchaser can at least make an informed decision about what they are getting. " when I inform them that their most recent "score requires repair that will greatly exceed its value. This attitude and practice devalues the whole market because it means for safety the knowledgeable must hedge and assume that any watch offered likely has undisclosed and potentially insurmountable issues, while the novice gets burned and often walks away from the hobby entirely.

This distorts prices in really profound ways. We will not be listing things at bargain basement prices, but we try to make sure that you'll get what you paid for. We would always prefer to undersell than over promise. This is a new paradigm for us; we may make mistakes. If you have any questions, I encourage you to ask; if you feel the price is too high, please make us an offer. Enough with the slog, now for the fun part! Pre-1935 Vacheron & Constantin 18k Tank Watch In Ultra Rare Black & Rose Color Combination. This fine example's serial number dates its manufacture to the few years right before 1935. I will not go into the long and storied history of Vacheron & Constantin, suffice it to say (as they did in an advertisement 44 years ago) that this top tier firm had just celebrated their 20th anniversary when us upstart colonists declared our independence in 1776. If you are reading this I hope you are a seasoned and knowledgeable collector, as I would not recommend this piece as your first "nice watch". I say this because the overall condition of this is good, but as a solid gold wristwatch built roughly 85 years ago, that could change in hurry. Wearing watches built in the 30s & 40s is like driving cars from the period; they are beautiful and fun, but lack even basic modern safety features. One wild night out and they can be irreparably damaged.

The heavy two piece case is crafted entirely of 18K gold in what I would call rose. I state it this way because color tone is not a standard, so I default to a classic paraphrased Supreme Court Justice's quote on obscenity; I can't define it but I know it when I see it.

It is definitely much pinker than the buttery yellow I expect from the usual 18k of that era, but I'd like to avoid any issues if your opinion differs. At 24mm x 24mm (24mm x 33mm including lugs) this is somewhat diminutive by today's standards, but is actually quite sizable for the period. It takes a 17mm strap which is nice as most pieces from the 30s fit 14,15, or 16 mm straps which are increasingly hard to find in men's lengths.

It is currently fitted with a new unworn gloss black lizard strap made in Austria by Hirsch. As a bonus it is accompanied by it's matching heavy 18k rose tone tang style buckle. While not signed by V&C, which would have been uncommon unheard? Of in that time, it is fully hallmarked as 18k with the European standard 0.750 (18k=75% pure gold). The lubrication is past its intended lifespan, therefore it should be serviced before regular use.

This periods relatively recent evolution in movement design from pocket to wrist watch usage is evident in most details of this calibre. Absent scale, the only details differentiating the movements made by V&C (or Patek Philippe) in this period from their historic pocket watch movements are the lack of wolf's teeth winding wheels. I referred in the subtitle of this listing to the rare black dial as "gilt". This term is used often (especially in association with 50s/60s Rolex sport watches) and with varying definitions. As with the case color I will explain my meaning to avoid disagreement if you define it differently.

Unintuitively, "gilt" in this context refers to the complicated printing method(s) used to make these black dials; it was basically an inverse printing method which created a black gloss dial with lettering and markings that were in relief of the dial and allowed the dials base metal to show through. This creates an effect where the lettering, minute tracks, etc appear to be incised into the black dial causing them to catch light in interesting ways. This is by no means a deep dive into this subject, and in its brevity may raise hackles amongst some; oh well.

Another effect of this dial type is that it proved extremely hard to photograph well because the markers, etc visibility varies dramatically on how much light they catch. Paired with a curved acrylic crystal it is hard to capture the in person feel of this dial in photos. As is obvious in the photo with the case open there is some general loss to the dial, however the significant "case bite" is not visible when cased. The hour and minute hands are rose gold, matching the case and incised dial markings perfectly. Sadly the sweep seconds hand was obviously replaced at some earlier date and, while fully functional, does not match.

I had always meant to track down a better replacement (initially why this sat in the vault instead of a showcase), but as with so many things it fell off my radar as time went by. It is certainly not the first thing that catches the eye, but it needed to be mentioned. In summary I would describe this as an excellent piece to acquire for the knowledgeable inveterate collector looking for rare examples to wear with pride or tuck away for the future. Given its uncommon pink color, rare black dial and overall condition it is not likely you will see another anytime soon. Please inspect all photos closely as they should be considered part of the description.

In photos with serial number visible the last two digits have been obscured, this was done in the image not to the case, tag, or certificate. We do however guarantee 100% that this is a genuine Vacheron & Constantin. We are a brick and mortar jewelry store in Beaverton, Oregon (Portland area), that have been in business since 1957. We are an authorized Omega dealer and service provider with an Omega certified WOSTEP trained watchmaker on staff. We do our absolute best to represent all our items as accurately as possible. We would much rather undersell than over promise. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Watches, Parts & Accessories\Watches\Wristwatches". The seller is "smithandbevill" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.

Gender: Men's
Country/Region of Manufacture: Switzerland
MPN: 263918
Display: Analog
Brand: Vacheron & Constantin
Serial Number: 4200XX