1962 minute repeater wins Best of Show at the first Concours d'Élégance Horlogère

A 1962 minute repeater received the jury's special prize, Best of Show, on the evening of 10 November in Geneva at the first Concours d'Élégance Horlogère, devoted to vintage Vacheron Constantin watches and organised by the brand and Phillips, in association with Bacs & Russo. The jury also chose one winner in each of the seven categories.

The ceremony took place at the Hôtel Président, where the 34 finalists, from several continents, had been on show since 4 November. The results were announced in the presence of a bailiff to guarantee impartiality. The jury was co-chaired by Aurel Bacs, senior consultant at Phillips, and Christian Selmoni, legacy and style director at Vacheron Constantin.

According to the organisers, the Best of Show watch stands out for its case design, its unique origins and its state of preservation. Vacheron Constantin knew the model existed but had never been able to examine it at close quarters.

The seven winners

The chronographs category went to a 1929 pocket chronograph that belonged to Gregorio Marañón, the Spanish physician, writer and humanist, and that Gregorio Marañón Moya later gave to Marino Gómez-Santos. According to family tradition, Marañón used it to take his patients' pulse. The gold case, with a stepped bezel and coin-edge borders, is of a very rare design, perhaps unique.

In métiers d'art, the winner was a 1930 pocket watch bearing the enamelled crest of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, presented to the minister of agriculture and senator Otto von Frangeš. The watch was in the motorcade in which the king was assassinated in France in 1934. After the Second World War, the family smuggled it out sewn into the lining of a coat and crossed Europe via Madrid and Lisbon, finally boarding a flight to New York on Christmas Day 1947. It has been in the family for four generations.

The Chronomètre Royal category went to a 1976 steel Chronomètre Royal, reference 2215, with a black dial and three diamond markers. In astronomical complications, the winner was a unique 1957 platinum piece, the reference 4764 "Cioccolatone", with calibre 495 and a full calendar.

The "Don Pancho" won in multiple complications. Commissioned in 1935 by the Chilean collector Francisco Martínez Llano and delivered in 1940, it is a unique yellow gold tonneau wristwatch combining a minute repeater with a retrograde date. It vanished in 1947 and, rediscovered decades later, was restored by Vacheron Constantin's heritage workshops.

The design category went to a 1957 wristwatch with universal time by the Cottier system, integrated into an automatic movement, bought in Miami from Anna Colombo's collection. In chiming mechanisms, the winner was a 1926 pocket watch that passed from the current owner's grandfather to his father.

"A Concours of tears and emotion"

"It began as a competition of dreams and elegance, and went on to become a competition of scholarship, knowledge and history. And tonight, it became a Concours of tears and emotion," said Aurel Bacs. Christian Selmoni highlighted "the emotion of their owners, their passion for watchmaking and, above all, the opportunity to celebrate their stories".

The competition accepted Vacheron Constantin pocket watches and wristwatches made between 1755 and 1999, entered by their owners. Of the more than 550 submitted, 95 went before the jury, which chose the 34 finalists.

Find out more on the brand's website.