Vacheron Constantin FiftySix watches

The Vacheron Constantin FiftySix is a collection the brand unveiled at SIHH 2018. It takes its name and design from the reference 6073 of 1956, one of the first Vacheron Constantin watches with a self-winding movement, the calibre 1019/1, in a water-resistant case with a multi-sided caseback.

The lugs are the feature that sets the FiftySix apart: their shape is inspired by the branches of the Maltese cross, the brand's emblem. A box-shaped sapphire crystal rises above the bezel, the crown is recessed into the case, and the sector dial alternates gold Arabic numerals with baton markers. Every model is self-winding, and the movement shows through a sapphire caseback behind an openworked 22K gold rotor shaped as a Maltese cross.

The core models share a 40 mm case in steel or pink gold. The Self-Winding is the slim one at 9.6 mm, with calibre 1326, a date window, stop-seconds and a 48-hour power reserve. The Day-Date and the Complete Calendar both measure 11.6 mm and give about 40 hours of reserve. The Day-Date, calibre 2475 SC/2, shows the day at 9 o'clock, the date at 3 and a power-reserve indicator at 6. The Complete Calendar, calibre 2460 QCL/1, puts the day and month in windows at 12, the date on a central gold hand and a moon phase at 6 that needs correcting only once every 122 years. The steel blue-dial Self-Winding also comes on a bracelet (4600E/110A-B487), and the steel Mr. Porter Day-Date (4400E/000A-B943) has a blue dial and is limited to 30 pieces.

The FiftySix Tourbillon is the outlier: a 41 mm pink gold case, 10.9 mm thick, with the ultra-thin self-winding calibre 2160. A 22K gold peripheral rotor keeps it slim, the tourbillon carriage is shaped as a Maltese cross and shows through an opening at 6 o'clock, and the watch carries the Hallmark of Geneva.