Vacheron Constantin

By 1814, third-generation watchmaker Jacques Barthelemy Vacheron was leading the company, but Vacheron realized that he needed a partner if the company was to survive. He could not oversee the company's day-to-day operations and travel overseas to market the watches. So it was that in 1819, Francois Constantin, son of a wealthy grain merchant, became a partner in the firm. From that point forward, the firm went under the name "Vacheron & Constantin", a name that is to this day synonymous with the finest quality timepieces.

By all accounts, Francois Constantin led an opulent lifestyle and was quite a flamboyant character. He relished his role as Vacheron & Constantin's representative and journeyed around the world selling watches. Whenever Constantin traveled, the firm protected itself by constructing huge shipping cases with all sorts of hidden compartments. Francois Constantin also led the charge in opening new markets overseas, especially in North America, where the Vacheron & Constantin agency was eventually established in 1864. Francois Constantin's unique motto remains the company's motto to this day: "Do better when possible, and it is always possible!"

One of the best possible moves Vacheron and Constantin made was in 1839, when they contracted Georges-Auguste Leschot, a local watchmaker's son, to develop and construct machine tools exclusively for Vacheron & Constantin. Leschot became the company's Thomas Edison. 

Leschot's work over the next 40-odd years, until his death in 1884, included improvements to the free-lever escapement, invention of the diamond bit and invention of pantographic drills and cutters for watches. These advancements enabled the production of standardized movement parts, which was instrumental in the industrialization of watchmaking. 

When the last member of the founding Vacheron family died in 1887, the firm became a joint stock company. By 1911, the company's capital had doubled, and it had won numerous prizes for excellence. 

Although Vacheron & Constantin suffered through lean times during the Great Depression, the one bright spot was that Charles Constantin became president of the company in 1936, the first time that a Constantin had led the company since the mid-1850s. Unfortunately, with the advent of World War II, sales once again plummeted. Georges Ketterer acquired a majority ownership position and under Ketterer's watch, Vacheron & Constantin bounced back. It was during Ketterer's reign that they produced some of their most famous watches, such as the "Chronometre Royale" wristwatch.

Vacheron Constantin recently introduced a number of popular models such as the sporty "Overseas", as well as the "Les Historiques" series of mechanical wristwatches whose designs are clearly modeled after classic designs from the 1940s and 1950s.

Vacheron Constantin also continues to manufacture a limited number of ultra-complicated watches, such as the Tourbillon watches, the unique "Grand Mercator" and a magnificent minute repeater/perpetual calendar.