A solid eighteen carat yellow gold Vacheron Constantin bracelet watch made for Hermeès. There are watches, and then there are watches. This one falls into the camp of the latter. Not only is this from the finest name in horology, exquisitely made, it was then retailed in the iconic Hermès Paris boutique during the 1960's. This is an exceptionally rare model with only 3 other examples known to exist. It was produced in this size, and a smaller size. So, a man's and ladies version.
Hermès’ involvement with watchmaking stretches back more than a century. By the 1920s the house was producing leather watch straps, and from 1928 began offering watches from its celebrated boutique at 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Rather than manufacture movements itself, Hermès worked with some of Switzerland’s finest watchmakers, including Movado, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Universal Genève and Vacheron & Constantin.
The relationship with Vacheron & Constantin became particularly interesting during the middle of the twentieth century. Hermès could combine the technical expertise of one of Geneva’s great manufactures with the work of specialist Parisian goldsmiths, creating watches that sat somewhere between traditional horology and fine jewellery.
Central to this story was the workshop of Georges Lenfant. Following the Second World War, the Lenfant workshop acquired Verger Frères, itself a celebrated maker with a long history of working with Vacheron Constantin. During the 1950s, Lenfant began collaborating with Vacheron Constantin on watches destined for Hermès, creating an extraordinary connection between three important names: Hermès as the Parisian house, Vacheron Constantin providing the watchmaking expertise, and Lenfant providing exceptional French goldsmithing.
By the 1960s, with Georges’ son Jacques Lenfant leading the workshop, Lenfant had become particularly celebrated for its mastery of gold chain and articulated bracelets. Jacques explored woven, twisted and textured links, often creating remarkably supple constructions from substantial amounts of 18-carat gold. These techniques became a signature of the workshop and were used for Hermès alongside work produced for Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and other important Parisian houses. This can very much be seen in thie exquisite piece.
Importantly, Lenfant’s contribution to Hermès extended beyond conventional jewellery. Surviving watches demonstrate just how closely these worlds overlapped. A circa-1960 Georges Lenfant bracelet made for Vacheron & Constantin survives with both the Vacheron & Constantin signature and Lenfant’s French maker’s mark, while period Hermès watches are also known with cases made by the Lenfant workshop. One particularly wonderful example takes the form of an Hermès belt buckle, its gold case concealing a watch beneath a leather-covered lid, and carries the Georges Lenfant workshop hallmark.
This helps explain the unusual character of Hermès watches from the period. They were not simply Swiss watches with the Hermès name added to the dial. At their best, they were collaborative objects in which different specialists contributed their particular expertise. Vacheron Constantin could provide the mechanical watchmaking, Lenfant the complex gold work, and Hermès the design language and final identity of the piece.
At the same time, Lenfant was producing some of Hermès’ most distinctive jewellery. The workshop created elaborate gold chains, bracelets, animal brooches and nautical-inspired pieces for the house. The beautifully worked Vendôme links and variations on Hermès’ maritime vocabulary are particularly associated with this period.
The result was a remarkable period for Hermès. Jewellery and watches were not treated as entirely separate disciplines. A watch could effectively be a piece of exceptional gold jewellery that happened to tell the time, while the same workshop responsible for its bracelet might also be producing an elaborate Hermès necklace or bracelet.
It was an approach quite different from the vertically integrated watch industry of today. Hermès brought together craftsmen who were among the very best in their respective fields and allowed their work to sit beneath the Hermès name. The watches produced with Vacheron Constantin and Georges Lenfant during the 1950s and 1960s are some of the clearest surviving examples of this philosophy, and an important precursor to Hermès establishing La Montre Hermès in Switzerland in 1978.
The movement selected for this watch was the caliber 8’’’-153. This is a small, manually wound movement developed for the elegant ladies’ watches and jewellery watches that became an increasingly important part of the manufacture’s output during the mid-twentieth century. Its compact dimensions allowed Vacheron Constantin considerable freedom in case design, particularly when the watch was intended to disappear into a bracelet or piece of jewellery, such as this.
Despite its diminutive size, the 8’’’-153 was constructed to the standards expected of Vacheron Constantin. It is made up of 17 jewels, lever escapement, monometallic balance and self-compensating Breguet hairspring, with movements adjusted for temperature. One recorded example from 1950 also shows the movement decorated with fausses côtes, demonstrating that the finishing of these tiny calibres was not treated as secondary simply because it would rarely be seen.
The calibre appears in some particularly interesting Vacheron Constantin jewellery watches of the 1940s and 1950s. Reference 4260 from 1944 used the 8’’’-153 inside an elaborate pink-gold and diamond-set bracelet watch with a concealed dial, while a 1953 reference 6004 Montre à Secret paired the same calibre with an 18-carat pink-gold bracelet and diamond-set cover. Both illustrate precisely why such a small movement was useful. The mechanics could occupy remarkably little space, leaving the case maker and jeweller free to concentrate on the object surrounding it.
This is particularly relevant to the watches Vacheron Constantin produced for houses such as Hermès. In these pieces, the movement was almost deliberately discreet. The watch was first encountered as a piece of jewellery, with the mechanical component hidden within elaborate gold work. The 8’’’-153 was ideally suited to this approach, allowing serious Geneva watchmaking to sit almost invisibly inside an object created principally to be worn and admired.
It is a wonderful example of a period when the distinction between watchmaking and jewellery was far less rigid than it is today. The calibre 8’’’-153 was small not simply for the sake of miniaturisation. Its size gave designers and goldsmiths freedom, allowing the watch itself to become part of a much larger piece of jewellery.
On the rear plate of the watch are a series of perfect makers marks, French poinçon and an intersting personal engraving.of a date - 15.9.61. This places this watch at the exact year the other example in this size we are aware of was made, as per their extract from the Vacheron archives. The dial is in superb condition. Unsigned and discrete, with a clean and elegant frame featuring black vitreous enamel Roman numerals. The original black painted handset is present, which pops well against the gold dial.
The gorgeous bracelet is in superb original condition, with very little signs of wear or sag to it. Perhaps one of the most beaufoul and captiovsting pieces of craftsmanship on this watch is hidden for all but the owner to behold. The quality, constriction and care taken in making the butterfly double folding out deployment clasp is exceptional. It quite simply exemplifies tyhe quality and care taken in making this piece. And a detail that is hidden. The length of the bracelet is generous fitting comfortably a seven and a quarter inch wrist.
If you are looking for one of the most interesting and rare watches from a partnership of the world’s greatest to do it, look no further. This is a watch that will impress even the most hardened watch collector, and be the perfect addition to any watch collection.
The watch is currently undergoing a full service. So if purchased now, please allow a couple of weeks for shpping. No box or paperwork accompany this watch..
