The original Vacheron Constantin Historical Cornes de Vache

Posted by lifata on December 19th, 2023

Case in the sign of the lugs

In plain English, cornes de vache are nothing more than cow horns. There are, of course, solid reasons why Vacheron Constantin has given this unusual name to a chronograph that is not entirely new. Strictly speaking, these date back to the 1940s, when round watch cases made their brilliant comeback in watch design after an era of rectangles. In contrast to the angular design, round watches are much easier to seal. This means that water had less chance of reaching the sensitive work. Of course the manufacturers wanted to differentiate themselves. So they gave product designers as much freedom as possible. And they, in turn, turned to the lugs with verve. The imagination knew almost no limits. And she put those of the “cow horns” genre on the shield.

The “Cornes de Vache” horns for attaching the leather strap were particularly popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Vacheron Constantin particularly highlighted it 200 years after the company was founded. And this is by no means a singular product. The traditional replica watch info manufacturer created a whole range of different wristwatches with “cow horn” watch cases. The range ranged from simple hand-wound models to wristwatches with a simple full calendar and chronographs.

Caliber customer

At that time, the people of Geneva did not yet have their own calibers with a stop function. By the way, like Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Rolex, to name just a few examples. Rather, they had full confidence in the expertise of the Valjoux elaboration company. Their VZ or 23 column wheel calibers were beyond any doubt of quality. The added value compared to the standard product was simply perfect finishing down to the last detail. That and the eye-catching overall appearance make these timepieces so popular these days.

However, this featured the “Harmony” chronograph shown in the middle above and not the retro version of the “Cornes de Vache” stopper with a platinum case that was introduced at the same time. Here, Vacheron Constantin continued its long-standing cooperation with the Swatch Group subsidiary Lémania. Their time-writing top movement and oeuvre is succinctly called 2310.

The history of this caliber can even be traced back to 1941. In terms of its popularity, the movement did not come close to its Valjoux counterparts. The design features with ratchet wheel control for the three functions start, stop and zero position and horizontal wheel coupling as well as the reliability and precision did not have to shy away from comparison with the competing product.

When Valjoux reduced its production to the 77xx economy family in the course of electronics development, Lémania, ennobled by the early versions of the Omega "Speedmaster Professional", was virtually alone in the field. It's no wonder that Patek Philippe opted for a - albeit heavily modified - version of this movement until it released its own caliber CH 29-535. As the CH 27-70, it featured in the top chronographs from Geneva.

Successful cooperation

Regardless of the renaming of Lémania to Breguet Manufaktur, Vacheron Constantin replica still has contractual access to components of the 27.5 millimeter "small" and 5.6 millimeter high hand-wound caliber 2310. In addition to the classic column wheel and the no less traditional horizontal gear clutch, the basic caliber has a rare these days balance frequency that has become.

The gear regulator therefore completes a moderate 18,000 half-oscillations per hour. This feature allows stops to be accurate to a fifth of a second. However, when it comes to the possibility of regulation and long-term accuracy in everyday use, this number seems to be rather a hindrance.

For this reason, Vacheron Constantin allows the balance wheel of the modified caliber 1142 to oscillate at three hertz. The technicians also made changes to the balance lobe, among other things. The chrono cock for storing the chrono center wheel and the 30-minute counter is also visually different. And the screw for attaching the switching wheel is designed as a Maltese cross, the Vacheron Constantin brand logo.

Finally, the lovingly fine workmanship of all components of the Vacheron Constantin 1142 caliber is presented at the usual high level. One example of this movement requires 164 parts. After fully wound manually, the mechanism equipped with a barrel ensures around 48 hours of autonomy.

This movement can be found in the recently launched “Historiques Cornes de Vache 1955”. Protection is now provided by a steel casing with a diameter of 38.5 millimeters, the visible back of which will give eye lovers their money's worth. Like the platinum version presented in 2015 for 73,800 euros, this fake watch with the Geneva seal also fits on the wrist. According to him, the discreet, noble chronograph with a tachymeter scale on the dial must not go wrong by more than one minute for seven days.