Vacheron Constantin 222 Historiques 222 4200H 222A B934 Watch Review

Hi, this is Tim at the 1916 Company. Welcome and thanks for logging on. If you love this watch, email me. Tim also at the1916company.com for purchase pricing and availability questions concerning this watch. And this watch is the Vacheron Constantin Les Historiques 2-2-2, part of the historical collection of classic re-editions. This version of the 2-2-2 in steel launched for the 270th anniversary of Vacheron Constantin in 2025. Previously in 2022, we saw a re-edition of the old Vacheron 2-2-2 in yellow gold. But a lot of folks held out for the steel because the original in steel was a revolutionary product launched in the 222nd year of Vacheron Constantin in 1977. It was in the vein of work by Gérald Genta and others during the seventies. But the original 2-2-2 was designed by a young Jörg Heysek. And in fact, it was never formally referenced 2-2-2. 2-2-2 was the name of the watch because of the age of the company. The original model and its full-sized iteration was the reference 44018. And this is reference 4200H. Interesting fact, the Heysek family still in watches today. Jörg Heysek Jr. works for us at Debuttoon. You could see the time piece in my hands is very true to the original. It's really only on the case back that you start to realize this is a modern watch and good on them for not going with Fotina. But in steel, this watch is 37 millimeters in diameter, 8.2 millimeters thick. And if you measure it lug to lug, it is 45.7 millimeters. If you measure the first link of the bracelet on each side, the total distance across the wrist is 46.9. And I think that's probably the best number for representing the distance across the wrist. On my wrist, it's beautiful. It's flat. It's comfortable. You can see it sits super flush. You could easily wear this on a wrist as small as 14 centimeters circumference and maybe even 13.5, although there were smaller versions of the original 222. If you are a lady collector today and you're a connoisseur of these pieces and you want to wear the full-size 222, there's no reason why a wrist perhaps as small as 13 and a half centimeters circumference could not wear this watch. Again, my wrist is 16. It'll easily fit under a cuff. The bracelet is beautiful. And I guess just looking at it, you might not realize that it's a modern bracelet, but in terms of the feel, I'm familiar with the vintage 44018. This is much more robust. Also in detail, it is exquisite and it's incredibly solid. There's very little lateral play and you can see that there's very little parting or gap between the links. It's extremely supple and flexible. You can see there's a lovely lug hood bevel that runs all the way down the links. The removable links are fixed in place using screws, and we do have an intermediate size link, so you can size it more precisely if you find you're in between sizes with the main links. We have a clasp that is twin trigger release. Perhaps this is the only place where the watch feels a bit generic. The internal clasp seems like something you'd find on a lot of other watches, but once closed, it's very secure, and that's the important thing. We've got the Maltese cross, the logo of the brand, a pre-owned timepiece, so you can see there's a little bit of burnishing on the bottom, but the watch is in excellent condition. The nice thing about the clasp is you really do have to press both triggers to open it up, so it gives you security even if the clasp mechanism itself is not beautiful. The case is nuanced and handsome. You can see it's thin, which is a quality that's somewhat lacking on the latest versions of the Overseas. You might ask why I have both in the catalog at the same time, and they really serve different purposes. This is more formal. This is more vintage inflected. This is a watch that is really true to history, whereas the Overseas is sort of an imagination of what the 2-2-2 might have become had it stayed in production through the decades. Now, you can see that there's a little bit of an expanding bevel on the underside of the lug, which is something I've never seen on this type of watch. I'm familiar with these little flares on the lug hoods where the bevel expands as it moves towards the end. That's a lovely sort of asymmetrical flare because it flares on the crease of the lug hood, but then it diminishes towards the end and diminishes towards the mid case, but the presence of the same effect on the case back speaks to the attention to detail lavished on this watch. We've got a little plinth with primarily satin decoration, but you can see it has a polished lip on its edge. We have a lovely little solid gold Vacheron Maltese cross. You'll see it again on the crown. It is a push-down crown. It's not a screw-down crown, so the 50-meter water resistance of this watch needs to be understood as splash and rain only. Don't take it swimming. The bezel is very distinctive of Jorg Heisek's original serrated design, and then we get to the dial, which is matte blue. You can see there are no seconds displays on this watch, but it does still have the hacking function, so you can actually stop the movement. I really appreciate that Vacheron recreated the original dial fairly faithfully, but they didn't go with Fotina here. One element that adds a little bit of a sheen of luxury is that the inner bezel is mirror polished as it faces the dial. That's an element I always look for on really nicely thought out watches. We'll turn off the light and you can see there's plenty of lume. We've got a Maltese cross logo, matte black, or I should say matte blue dial. We've got a little polished date frame, white gold hands, logo, date frame, and indices, so they won't tarnish with time. The crown has an intermediate setting position, so you could rapidly cycle the date if you wish to do so. Turning it all over, this is where the watch is most obviously a modern construction. You can see the display case back, Geneva hallmark, the movement with a unique rotor two to two. You can see the echo of the design of the bezel, and it's 22 karat rotors. They didn't cut any costs here, not 21 karat, not 18, and you can see at center those little milky gray ceramic bearings for greater winding efficiency. It's a four hertz beat rate, a five position adjusted, which is the high horology and chronometer standard. Geneva seal, 40-hour power reserve, very nicely decorated, caliber 2455-2. 27 jewels, we have engine turning, we have stripes, we have satination on the wheels and solarization on some of them, polished screw heads with mirrored tops and chamfered slots and circumference, engine turning on the base plate, mirrored on the edge of the bridges, quite handsome. Again, we do have a little bit of a oddity in that the watch does not have a seconds hand, but it does have a hacking function. So if you wish to stop it for some reason, you can easily do so. Again, a four hertz beat rate and a five position adjustment, good looking movement, good looking watch. Compliments rather than replaces the overseas, there's room for both in the catalog and in your collection. So reach out to Tommaso at the1916company.com for purchase and pricing details.