Large Swiss silver key less lever deck chronometer Circa 1940

Silver navigation watch by Vacheron & Constantin
–
A very fine, rare and large Swiss silver open faced key less lever deck chronometer with power reserve, circa 1940. Rhodium plated movement, Geneva striping decoration, 18 jewels, straight line lever escapement, cut bi metallic anibal brass Guillaume balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, swan neck micrometer regulator. Hinged silver cuvette. Matte silver dial with black painted Arabic hours, outer minute divisions, up and down indication at 12 o’clock, large subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and blued steel spade hands. Polished case.
Dial signed, case and movement signed and numbered.
–
Diameter: 60 mm
–
Signed: Vacheron & Constantin Genève
–
The present timepiece is from a series of 150 lever chronometers made by Vacheron Constantin for navigational use in the 1940s.
–
Jean-Marc Vacheron was born in 1731 and died in 1805. He founded a watch workshop in the Geneva district of Saint Gervais in 1755. In 1785 his son Abraham took over the then-still-small company. Their watches were favoured by the nobility, clergy and wealthy merchants. Sales deteriorated dramatically during the French Revolution and Abraham found himself confronted with numerous problems. According to tradition, he married and attached to his name, his wife’s surname. Thus the name of the workshop changed to Vacheron-Girod. At the beginning of the 19th Century, Abraham’s son Jacques Barthélemy Vacheron took over management of the company, which changed the name to Vacheron-Chossat. On numerous business trips to Italy, France and Germany, Jacques Barthélemy found new customers for their sophisticated products, including pocket watches with very flat movements for the time, hunting cased watches and minute repeaters, built into expensive and elegant cases. In 1819, Vacheron brought in the son of a cloth merchant, François Constantin, as a partner to support the distribution of watches and the company became known as Vacheron & Constantin. Constantin had gained his first experience in the watch industry as a salesman for Jean-François Bautte and his exceptional abilities soon overcame the company’s previous financial difficulties. Sales figures rose significantly and Vacheron & Constantin began selling in New York by Jean Magnin and in New Orleans by Brey by 1830. In 1970 the ‘&’ was taken from the name, henceforth the company was called Vacheron Constantin. It is the oldest continually active watch manufacturer in the world. The brand logo is the Maltese cross. Today, Vacheron Constantin is part of the Richemont group.