At Watches & Wonders 2025, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the next phase in its 270th anniversary celebrations. The Traditionnelle collection was one of the focuses, lauded for its timeless, classic approach to both horology and aesthetics, and rooted in the manufacture’s 18th-century origins.
But the Traditionnelle has dabbled in a more contemporary appearance as well, thanks to one simple change—opening up sections of the dial. Vacheron Constantin’s first openworked dial was executed on a pocket watch in 1918 but, more recently—starting with the Traditionnelle Twin Beat perpetual calendar in 2019—the manufacture has brought the concept back in select references. Although little else changes about the Traditionnelle’s overall philosophy and architecture, it offers a distinct, modern look.
For its 270th anniversary, Vacheron Constantin is introducing a trio of limited-edition openface models. The Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Retrograde Date Openface features a new self-winding manufacture movement that proposes the combination of perpetual calendar with retrograde date. It includes a moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock, and the slim design of Calibre 2460 QPR31/270 means that the watch has a total depth of under 11mm.
Meanwhile, the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Retrograde Date Openface features a tourbillon at 6 o’clock, with a carriage shaped after the manufacture’s signature Maltese cross logo. Its self-winding Calibre 2162 R31/270 features a 72-hour power reserve and peripheral rotor. In part due to the latter, this watch is also quite a slim timepiece given the complications it holds—just over 11mm thick.
The Traditionnelle Complete Calendar Openface completes the triptych; its Calibre 2460 QCL/270 is an updated version of the manufacture’s in-house complete calendar movement. In addition to displaying the day, month, and date—the first two via windows and the last circumferentially—it sports a moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock.
In watchmaking, ‘open’ often implies ‘skeletonisation’ but this is decidedly not the case for these watches, lending them a more solid, almost industrial aesthetic, while allowing viewers to appreciate the finer points of geartrains, levers, and sapphire day and month discs. What sections of the dial that do remain, however, sport an exclusive 270th anniversary touch in the form of a geometric guilloche pattern that seems to burst out of the manufacture’s Maltese cross logo. It is a highly detailed but understated pattern, which keeps to the theme of being traditionally crafted but with a modern outlook. The movements of these watches are finished in the côte unique style, which requires great precision to ensure it has the appearance of running smoothly across the individual bridges. Equipped with platinum cases, each of these timepieces is limited to 370 pieces.
One final reference is the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar. The new Calibre 2162 QP/270 is based on Vacheron Constantin’s self-winding tourbillon Calibre 2160, which was first seen in 2018. It is once again quite slim, with this timepiece having a total depth of 11.1mm. The dial is not open, making for a fuller experience of the 270th anniversary guilloche pattern, while the peripheral rotor makes for easier viewing of the movement’s côte unique finish. Also sporting a platinum case, this timepiece is limited to 127 pieces.
