When Vacheron Constantin devoted most of its Watches and Wonders 2023 launches to a celebration of the retrograde, it might have raised eyebrows. However, what Louboutin is to shoes, and Louis Vuitton is to luggage, so Vacheron Constantin is to the retrograde complication. It didn’t invent it as such – that honour goes to Abraham-Louis Breguet – but it has become so entwined with the maison’s history and its DNA, that there really is no retrograde without Vacheron Constantin.

“Retrograde” refers to an indicator that doesn’t complete a full turn of a dial, but instead returns to its starting point after covering its delineated measurement section. This is usually represented as an arc, though some brands have been known to use vertical or horizontal linear scales. It is simple in appearance, yet difficult to execute, which is what makes Vacheron Constantin’s early adoption so impressive.

It was the 1930s that cemented this synergy between house and complication, courtesy of a Spanish businessman named Francisco Martinez Llano. Llano wanted a unique watch, one that incorporated complications usually only contained in a pocket watch. He eventually settled on a minute repeater with day and retrograde date in a yellow-gold tonneau-shaped case. It took Vacheron Constantin four years to assemble all the component’s parts. The watch, known as Reference 3620 or the “Don Pancho” was finally delivered in 1940 and Vacheron Constantin’s reputation as a retrograde master was born.

Unsurprisingly, quartz’s dominance of the 1980s meant that complicated watches, especially mechanical ones, were no longer in vogue. However, the 1990s saw a horological sea change – a renewed interest in mechanical watches put complications back on the menu. Vacheron Constantin’s first watch to cater to this new-found appreciation was the Mercator in 1994. This impressive timepiece, with a double retrograde of trailing hours and minutes, was designed as a tribute to the 16th-century geographer Gerardus Mercator. Vacheron Constantin followed this up with a second limited edition, the Saltarello in 1997, with jumping hours and retrograde minutes. By the millennium, the retrograde was making regular appearances in core collections, which brings us to 2023, when Vacheron Constantin added retrogrades into three lines – the sporty Overseas, the historically inspired Traditionnelle, and this Patrimony, in platinum for the first time.

The first thing to notice is the swan-like serenity of the dial. It is composed and calm, the two retrogrades leaving it uncluttered, with no indication of the mechanical complexities whirring beneath the surface. The sunbrushed dial is the colour of perfectly poached salmon, so perfect it’s practically calling for a sprig of dill; a shade that indicates to those in the know that the case is platinum. It is a watch of tiny perfect details, such as the dainty diamond-polished white-gold hand-applied spheres indicating the minutes, and the sandblasting and polishing of the applied Maltese cross, the house’s emblem, under the 12 o’clock. Through the sapphire caseback you can see the same attention to detail has been applied to the movement – Vacheron Constantin’s completely in-house 2460 with added retrograde calendar module. Bridges have been beautifully bevelled and decorated with Côtes de Genève, while the mainplate is covered with circular graining. No wonder it bears the Poinçon de Genève – a sign that it adheres to the strict and stringent codes of Genevan workmanship. If Vacheron Constantin is the ruler of the retrograde, this is its crowning glory.

POA; vacheron-constantin.com