Saturday, April 28, 2012

Watches For Men - A Review

By C. L. Whitley


We thought it would be appropriate to write a review for watches for men. Vacheron Constantin: An exceptionally high-quality luxury watches finish. The subtlety and character of thus, a limited edition are maybe best illustrated by the hands and dial of this Vacheron Constantin, also is very much made of platinum.

We have two hands, no date to display, a watch with a slightly substantial diameter, and a very open dial... On paper, all the characteristics of a dial that is too empty or dull appear to be present. Yet, on the the sword-shaped hands - very slender, polished, and faceted - further emphasize the simplicity of the design and harmoniously animate the dial of this Patrimony. Furthermore, even the circular-grained minutes markers - located slightly on the inside of the dial, the 12 applied gold hourmarkers, the Maltese Cross, and the brand name, and above all, the powdered-platinum dial, all succeed in creating some relief, and using the ever so natural light to produce deep and changing reflections.

The Maltese Cross-shaped skeleton rotor, very openworked, lets you admire the movement in its entirety. The caliber is great and that outfits this limited edition is on par with the exceptionally-high level of the finish on the overall presentation of the watch. This is the 1120 caliber watch.

Entirely manufactured and decorated by Vacheron Constantin, this movement, based on the rough sketches of the Jaeger-LeCoultre 920, possesses interesting characteristics making it a high-level movement. For example, the balance, beating at a rate of 19,800 alternations per hour, is driven by a free-moving hairspring. The free-moving hairspring is an alternative to the traditional adjusting mechanism for the movement's accuracy. Most of the time, this adjusting is done by changing the length of the spiral, which allows you to adjust the balance's oscillating frequency. On the 1120 caliber, the length of the spiral is fixed. The adjusting is done by taking advantage of the balance's inertia of the watch, using weights screwed in the periphery of it. If this solution requires more attention during the adjustment, it also provides more stability. Using our little great "chronocomparator" on this Vacheron Constantin tested here, we were able to confirm the impressive rigor of the adjustments in seriously all five positions.

All the data obtained in this fashion ranged between 0 and +3 seconds per day, keeping in mind for comparison purposes that the tolerance level accepted by the C.O.S.C. is itself -4 to +6 seconds per day. The gold oscillating weight rotates in the movement's periphery, with four ruby wheels to ensure a perfect rotation. This de-centering of the weight results not only in maximizing its inertia - and thus a more efficient rewinding of the movement - but also in a noticeable thinness for the caliber - only 2.45mm! Finally, the decorating work is exemplary: the Ctes de Genve, the beveling, and the sunray patterns are all of an extremely high quality. As a testimony to the high quality of this Vacheron Constantin, the Poinon de Genve is applied on the movement as a validation of the excellence of the work achieved by the fabulous brand.




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