Vacheron Constantin brings a minute repeater to the Overseas for the first time with the Grand Complication Openface
Jamie Weiss- Vacheron Constantin continues its 270th anniversary celebrations in dramatic style with an extremely complicated Overseas model.
- Cased in titanium, this is the first Overseas model with a minute repeater, yet it also features a perpetual calendar and tourbillon.
- Its manual-winding calibre 2755 is descended from some of the Maison’s most legendary and complicated movements of all time.
Vacheron Constantin has a storied but sporadic history in producing minute repeaters. Of course, we’ve seen this complication featured in some of the Maison’s recent ultra-complicated pieces, such as the Solaria Ultra Grand Complication released at Watches and Wonders earlier this year, but unlike some other watchmakers at the pinnacle of the art, Vacheron lacks a ‘standard’ minute repeater in its range (if such a thing exists). We’ve also never seen a minute repeater movement inside the brand’s most famous contemporary design, the Overseas. Well, Vacheron’s seen fit to change all of that in 2025, marking this momentous 270th anniversary year with one of the most complicated and visually dramatic Overseas models yet that, you guessed it, has a minute repeater.
Vacheron Constantin minute repeaters have been front of mind lately, with the ref. 6448 “Unique Piece” hammering for an impressive CHF 698,500 at Phillips over the weekend, a highlight of this year’s stacked Geneva watch auction season. Unlike that piece, however, which was cased in platinum and featured ‘just’ a minute repeater, the Overseas Grand Complication Openface has a number of impressive complications and is cased in grade 5 titanium, a material we’re not typically used to seeing house minute repeaters or indeed high complications.
Typically, minute repeater timepieces tend to utilise precious metal cases – emblematic of how prestigious this complication is, as well as consumer expectations at this end of the watch market – but actually, gold and platinum are suboptimal materials for a minute repeater. Because these metals are so dense, they hamper sound propagation, making chimes sound duller than if they were cased in steel or titanium.
Some snobs might still question using titanium for such a high-end timepiece, but in the hands of Vacheron Constantin’s skilled artisans, titanium can be transformed into a truly luxurious material, as the brand first demonstrated with last year’s Overseas Tourbillon ref. 6000V/210T-H032. The mirror polishing on this Overseas’ signature gear-like bezel is just sumptuous, contrasted by a grained finish on the plinth underneath it, subtle brushing down the tops of the watch down through its bracelet, alternating with polished bevels, case sides and a polished minute repeater slider.
The other advantage of titanium, of course, is that it’s light on the wrist, which is a good thing for a watch that measures 44.5mm in diameter and 13.1mm thick. Those aren’t small proportions, but compared to virtually any other watch this complicated, that’s really not bad at all. Specifically, the Overseas Grand Complication Openface, on top of its minute repeater, also features a perpetual calendar, a tourbillon (which acts as a small seconds indicator) and a power reserve indicator, the latter of which is visible from the caseback.
As its name implies, the Overseas Grand Complication Openface exposes its workings through a sapphire crystal dial with perpetual calendar subdials and a minute track in dark blue, the signature Overseas colour. I find open dials to be a study in contradictions: they can either be extremely traditional, like in some skeletonised watches from crème de la crème watchmakers (of which Vacheron surely is one), or they can give off a high-tech vibe. The Overseas Grand Complication Openface’s dial is somewhere in the middle. The colour and material choices – blue and grey, titanium and sapphire – are very modern, but there’s a restraint on display here.
Overall, this complicated Overseas is, idiosyncratically, quite sporty. Vacheron has made much of the fact that this watch is water-resistant to 30 metres: not much in the grand scheme of things, but for a watch this complicated, not bad at all. VC explains that to reach this level of water resistance required a year and a half of R&D and involved a complete redesign of the caseback to fit the minute repeater mechanism. Like all Overseas models, the Overseas Grand Complication Openface comes with two additional straps, blue alligator and blue rubber (the latter of which really makes the watch look sporty), which can be easily swapped out thanks to its quick-change system.
The movement at the heart of the Overseas Grand Complication Openface, the calibre 2755, is not new: it first appeared in the Traditionnelle collection in 2010, and is itself derivative of then calibre 2750 developed for the Tour de l’Ile Grand Complication of 2005, which at the time was the world’s most complicated wristwatch (a record Vacheron reclaimed this year!) Vacheron Constantin Director of Style and Patrimony Christian Selmoni explains that the calibre 2755 was chosen for this first Overseas minute repeater not only for its complexity but also for its slimness and modular design.
It might not be a brand-new movement, but it’s been finished differently for this execution, sporting anthracite grey NAC galvanic-treated bridges and rhodium-plated wheels. In short, the calibre 2755 has never looked more modern, which is befitting of the Overseas Grand Complication Openface’s contemporary aesthetic. Like most Vacheron Constantin movements, it boasts Poinçon de Genève certification, with subtle côtes de Genève, countersunk screws and delightful internal angles providing a feast for the eyes, meaning no matter which side of this watch you’re looking at, you’re in for a treat.
My only complaint about this movement (and this watch generally) is that it’s manual-winding, which seems somewhat at odds with this model’s sporty positioning. I personally wouldn’t ever add a perpetual calendar watch without self-winding to my collection as it’s a massive faff having to manually reset a QP once it’s out of charge – but I also appreciate that combining a minute repeater with automatic winding is easier said than done, and perhaps couldn’t be achieved while still fitting in an Overseas case at a reasonable thickness.
“With the boundaries between watchmaking genres becoming increasingly blurred today, the world of horological complications is no longer confined to fragile, museum-quality timepieces – far from it,” Selmoni elaborates.
“This is exactly what Vacheron Constantin is doing with the Overseas collection. Conceived as a watch with a spirit of exploration adapted to the adventures of everyday life, with useful complications such as a chronograph or a dual time-zone display, the Overseas also knows how to go beyond those boundaries. The collection already includes tourbillon and ultra-thin skeletonised perpetual calendar pieces that in no way detract from it – quite the contrary. Each of them is faithful to the Overseas spirit, respecting its codes while adding a new dimension to the world of complications, one of Vacheron Constantin’s great areas of expertise. The same is true of this new Overseas Grand Complication Openface. It is equipped with a complex calibre but in a form that honours the collection’s adventurous character.”
Vacheron Constantin Overseas Grand Complication Openface pricing and availability
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Grand Complication Openface is not a limited edition but is a limited production model, perhaps unsurprising thanks to its complexity. Price: on request.
| Brand | Vacheron Constantin |
| Model | Overseas Grand Complication Openface |
| Reference Number | 6510V/110T-128C |
| Case Dimensions | 44.5mm (D) x 13.1mm (T) |
| Case Material | Grade 5 titanium |
| Water Resistance | 30 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Sapphire crystal with blue display counters, blue Super-LumiNova |
| Lug Width | Integrated |
| Strap | Grade 5 titanium integrated Maltese cross-link bracelet Additional blue alligator and blue rubber straps |
| Movement | Calibre 2755 QP, in-house, manual-winding, Poinçon de Genève |
| Power Reserve | 58 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds on tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, power reserve indicator (on back) |
| Availability | Limited production |
| Price | On request |