The luxury manufacturer Fake Vacheron Constantin actually stands for elegant, understated timepieces. This makes the Vacheron Constantin Overseas model stand out all the more. The young, sporty design, the optimized, quick strap change and the remarkable in-house movements make the Overseas a real competitor to the Nautilus and Royal Oak. These are the reasons for its great success.
Vacheron wanted to get out of the crisis with new watches
The Swiss luxury manufacturer Audemars Piguet launched today’s classic watch “Royal Oak” in 1972. Three years later, in 1976, Patek Philippe brought the first version of the now highly sought-after “Nautilus” onto the market. It was therefore clear that Vacheron management also had to respond to this trend towards sporty steel watches with the Vacheron Constantin Overseas. But first things first.
It was not as if they were acting from a position of strength. Rather, the Swiss watch industry was in a severe crisis. And it had taken long enough to respond to the quartz watch revolution and the new players Seiko and Casio.
But this response was now extremely successful. Because people wanted sports watches, albeit luxurious ones with the best mechanical technology. They were prepared to pay a high price for that.
A young designer and the Vacheron Constantin 222
In contrast to its two competitors Audemars and Patek, the chronometric upper-class brand Vacheron, founded in 1755, does not rely on the design skills of Gérald Genta. Instead, it hired the young designer Jörg Hysek for its sporty luxury model.
Like Genta, the designer, born in East Berlin in 1953, also relied on maritime elements, such as the porthole look. Accordingly, the look of the Vacheron Constantin 222 is reminiscent of a screwed ship’s hatch, and the so-called “double crown” ensures resistance to the wet element. The young designer thus succeeded in creating a design that was noticeably different from its two predecessors.