The New Family Heirloom. My Vintage Vacheron.

My father did his annual safety deposit box clean up a few weeks ago and he "unearthed" a vintage that has been with him for a long time.

The watch was purchased by him ~30 years ago at a local auction (one of those annual hotel auctions containing assortments of watches, arts, jewelry, etc) in Vancouver, Canada.

The lot/item wasn't popular at the time and he ended up paying something below $5,000 CAD or $3,000 USD equivalent. It was his first vintage piece and his most expensive watch purchase at the time.

With assortment of timepieces he now owns today, he decided that he should pass this one onto me after I came home for a visit.

Now that I can actually afford to do so, I started my own collection. Based on style, heritage, and brand, I would classify myself as a Omega individual. Like many I prefer the Speedys; however, I'm also a huge fan of the vintage Seamasters of the 50s and 60s. The look is simple and timeless.

This Vacheron definitely fits the styling and age and I'm ecstatic to own it.

I did some research and I think it's from the late 40s to early 50s. Watch is rose gold. Has an inscription on the back that would suggest it was originally in the Netherlands, based on names and/or company name. Appears to be all original except the strap and buckle. Strap is calf skin and buckle is unknown. Very clean in my opinion. The odd scratch due to the wear and tear over its history. No cracks (I just realized the image of the back looks like one due to the reflection of my ceiling). Watch remains the same as I wear it today since my father's purchase. Watch has been serviced a couple times since then but nothing too recently. I haven't gotten a chance to bring it to a shop to open up the back to review the inside and serial number.

Wanted to get everyone's thoughts and opinion about the age/vintage, service options, and the less so importance of value of watch.

I want to make this a family heirloom so I am hoping to eventually send it out for a proper service by Vacheron. Perhaps get them to source missing parts (if any), service, verify it their registry, as well as a new certificate. I'll also try to find a vintage buckle and new Vacheron strap for it.

Ultimately, there is going to be cost to do everything, but does anyone know the cost or insight on the process of this. Whether it is actually worth it is probably debatable... haha.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts.

Cheers!

The person who did the inscription left the N off the end of HITMAN.

Also, I think it's an older redial due to the lack of the word SWISS at the bottom, the lack of the accent over the E in GENÈVE, and the wrong font for the ampersand (the & symbol). The rough lettering also pushes me in the direction of redial.

They both look like redials because of the roughness of the fonts / printing.

That watch was originaly presented to Klaas Hylkema of the Dutch/French company Hitma, which is still operational today.

A thank you watch for a hitman would be a much juicier story though

Much is appreciated in everyone's response. Your insights are much valued.


@ulackfocus thank you for feedback. Happened to be wearing the watch today so I snapped a few more pics. Perhaps it's a redial, but I'm not sure myself.

The inscription is actually H.I.T.M.A with periods between each letter. Not sure if it is a person or company. I would've thought it was hitman myself. I looked up Hitma and there appears to be a company named after that but who really knows haha.

Do you have an example of what the "&" should look like?

The first thing I noticed as well is the "Swiss" or lack thereof. The words are actually there on the bottom. Extremely hint. I can see slight black marks and shape of the bottom of the "w" and two "ss". Pics were unsuccessful with the camera phone.

Would love to see a nice example to compare as I haven't been able to locate a pic one. Curious to know how the words/text are applied originally as well.

The only one I've seen this one:
https://instagram.com/p/-GwdkrD8lb/

What do you think?

If my watch is a redial, I might want to make sure it's cleaned/finished properly. If original, I'm sure to keep it as is.

Thanks!

Probably bring it to my local vintage watch dealer next week.

I definitely see what people are saying about the "&", but I'm curious as to whether a) "&" varies between the age/era of the watch b) it's a redial with a wrong "&" that doesn't fit with a vacheron in general or c) an "&" that is a vacheron text but wrong era.

Reason I ask this is that there hasn't been a direct comparison of an identical watch. Each watch seems to have some sort of variation.

Here is an example below that I found looking at the Vacheron Hour Lounge Forum. Watch from the 1940s (design) with similar text. Looking at that text and the text on my watch, it looks identical especially with the "&". The "Swiss" is nonexistent. No "è" on the "e" either. Doesn't appear the watch is a re-dial either, but I haven't read enough of it to figure it out.

The main thing for this particular watch (since its been in the family) of whether it's a redial or not is not too important to me from a keep sake standpoint. If it is a redial, I would like to consider correcting to its original spec. If it isn't, I don't want to screw up and fix something that isn't broken.

The "Swiss" on my watch is faded but not completely gone.

It's confusing to say the least haha. Probably the best bet is to have Vacheron see it, but they'll start counting/charging $$$.

http://www.thehourlounge.com/en/vac...ay-4which-i-almost-missed-568512#reply-568565

I do think the OP's dial is original, the pictures are not good but it seems the signatures are enamel and properly done. 40s and early 50s VC also don't necessarily sign Swiss at 6 o'clock. Mine is shown below for comparison (I think mine is 1952, but have to go check the record). E with accent and Swiss at 6 are good verification points from last half 50s onwards for VC.

Also @2nastie , you can request for an archive extract by sending the watch serial number (on the case back) and movement number (on the movement) to VC and they will issue you a certificate (if the numbers matched, it proves the case and movement are genuine but still doesn't verify whether it is redial or not). You may also want to post picture in "the hour Lounge" (VC forum) to ask for opinions 😀

I also believe we have THL expert here @MikiJ

This is the difficult and wonderful thing about vintage V&C. Many dial variants were made in such short runs that they are practically - if not literally - unique.

I agree with ELV that the OP's dial may be original.

Here are two 50's V&C's of mine. I've examined the dials closely and am satisfied that they are original.





Sorry I don't yet have a better photo of the second one.

Here's another one from the web that looks pretty good to me.



http://www.matthewbaininc.com/watch-details/840

Thanks for everyone's input again.

@ELV web and @MMMD

Thank you for you insight and recommendations. I'll be heading into my local watch shop I usually visit or the vacheron dealer to take a look inside the case next week. Will take down the #s so I can at least verify matching movement and case.

Very interesting adventure. I'll see if can gather more info from the Hour Lounge as well.

Sounds good Al. I'll post one as soon as I bring it in.

@Archer

Hey everyone,

Finally got a chance to go to my local vintage watch store.

They did a quick assessment and everything is clean and running great. Opened it up and determined it is a cal 477/1. Serial number: 49X,XXX which puts it between 1945-1950. My guess is 1948-1949.

Here are the pics: