The 7 best examples of how Vacheron Constantin pulled out all the stops for its 270th birthday year
Borna Bošnjak2025 seemed to have been a year in which watchmaking brands were deciding which trend to jump on next. Integrated bracelets have been around long enough that they now feel like an everyday occurrence; small, funkily shaped watches dominated 2024 but have slowly tapered off; and throughout 2025, we were treated to a couple of truly forward-thinking developments that could become game-changers in due time. Vacheron Constantin, however, didn’t seem overly concerned with this, mostly continuing on its trajectory of surprising us with even more complications, while doing the basics right. In a nutshell, then, exactly how you’d like your 270th year of continuous operation to go.
Historiques 222 in steel
In our original coverage of the steel 222, I stated that Vacheron had already created what could be the watch of the year for 2025 – that was, at the time of writing, almost exactly a year ago. A lot has happened in between, with numerous incredible and genuinely innovative releases being unveiled, but I don’t think anyone would fault that original prediction. It’s really surprising that a design that isn’t exactly new, in a common material, and with the most popular dial colour would cause such a stir, but if anything, it proves that a watch’s impact isn’t dependent on some avant-garde development or unique metal available only from outer space.
Vacheron has done a great job of still making both the 222 configurations feel special, and all without playing the games that some brands that shan’t be named play for their desirable models. That’s testament to their understanding of the market, as well as the timeless design of the 222.
Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication
If we’re looking purely at innovation, the Solaria Ultra Grand Complication deserves the first spot on this list for being no less than the most complicated wristwatch ever made. Being a much less commercial product, however (for reasons that are obvious), the 222 had to come first. However, that shouldn’t take away from VC’s achievement. With the Solaria’s 41 complications (the full list of which you can find helpfully laid out here), Vacheron Constantin now takes up all the podium positions for the most complicated timekeepers ever made, the first and second being occupied by the ref. 57260 and Berkley.
To highlight just a few, the Solaria sports three gear trains displaying civil, sidereal, and solar time, while the headlining astronomical development is its ability to track celestial objects, a world-first. By using the split-seconds chronograph, the Solaria is able to calculate when a particular constellation is about to appear in the observer’s view, based on the object they select from the celestial chart on the caseback. Or, you can use it as an egg timer. Whatever works.
Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin
There aren’t many instances in which an ultra-slim perpetual calendar will seem like the most pedestrian complication in any round-up, but when we’re talking Vacheron, that’s just kind of what happens. There’s good reason for me to place the new 36.5mm Traditionnelle QP so high up the list, however. When Vacheron Constantin first unveiled this addition to the Traditionnelle collection in 2022, I was a fan, although I did note I would love to see a version that dropped the diamonds and pastel colours in favour of a more traditional metal and dial combination. That’s prety much exactly what we got in December of 2025, with a trio of opaline-dialled beauties in rose and white gold – though one was still blinged out.
Aside from fitting the Traditionnelle name and being very pretty indeed, they’re also unmatched in their class, with basically no other brand making such a compact perpetual calendar. They’re not cheap, but they are exquisite.
La Quête du Temps Astronomical Clock and Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Quest of Time
Marking their 270th anniversary with a huge party, La Quête du Temps was Vacheron Constantin’s magnum opus. The reveal was comprised of a towering automaton clock and a complicated wristwatch mimicking the clock’s movements. Bedecked with lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, bronze, and stone cabochons, the Astronomical Clock took seven years to make, with specialists from L’Épée and the Geneva Observatory helping Vacheron make it come to life. The party piece is the bronze astronomer figure residing in the dome atop the clock, dancing away on request and quite literally pointing out the time in three dimensions, all to the tune of the clock’s built-in music box.
Sporting the astronomer front-and-centre, the accompanying Métiers d’Art Tribute to the Quest of Time wristwatch doesn’t quite reach the heady heights of the clock’s 23 complications, but is hardly a slouch. The newly developed, 5Hz movement is a double retrograde with two modes, either continuously tracking the hours and minutes, or displaying them at the press of a pusher. Unlike La Quête du Temps, the watch is limited to 20 pieces, and you could buy one, in theory.
Overseas Grand Complication Openface
With the revival of interest for 1970s-style, integrated-bracelet watches, the Overseas has enjoyed plenty of success, but unlike the 222, this is Vacheron’s playground for experimentation with its sportiest line. How sporty is a Grand Complication with a perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and tourbillon? That’s up to you to decide – but the Overseas has never shied away from complexity.
In this case, the calendar and tourbillon are on full display via the sapphire dial, while the striking works and regulator can be seen through the display caseback; the movement itself derived from the Tour de l’Ile Grand Complication, which was the world’s most complicated watch at its launch in 2005.
Les Cabinotiers Temporis Duo Grand Complication Openface
Another watch that got the Openface treatment this year was the one-off Temporis Duo. While it also bore the Grand Complication name, it replaced the perpetual calendar of the Overseas with a split-seconds chronograph, using the calibre 2757 first introduced in 2022, but modifying it with titanium wheels, a silicon split-seconds lever, an aluminium chronograph hand, and the tourbillon now sporting a spherical hairspring that improves isochronism. It’s also really striking visually, with Vacheron taking a slightly unusual approach, combining green highlights with the warm tones of the gold case. The result is a really contemporary design, made all the better by the unveiled complexity of the split-seconds mechanism sitting beneath the sapphire dial.
Les Cabinotiers Cosmica Duo Grand Complication
With two reversible sides, 24 complications, and over 1,000 components, the Cosmica Duo rounds out this winning list in style. With its calibre based on the 2020 Grand Complication, Vacheron Constantin flexed its know-how even harder with two additional perpetual calendar plates and the celestial chart, and a redevelopment of its astronomical complications. This watch really is all about its cosmic indications, showing a rotating sky chart, equation of time, sunrise and sunset indicators, true solar time, as well as a retrograde moonphase – because a traditional one wasn’t complex enough, naturally. Again, any one of these watches dropping in a year would be noteworthy, but that Vacheron released them all is simply unbelievable. Talk about pulling out all the stops… How will they possibly follow this up in 2026?