While browsing through Chrono24, I notice Vacheron Constantin has several dial formats to display the "Swiss Made" at the bottom of the dial. The most common one is "Swiss" only, which I believe to be the original dial for vintage VC. Then you have the most common format for new VC, which is "Swiss Made". But you can also find in many vintage VC watches, dials with "o Swiss Made o".

Does anyone here know what does this "o" mean? My guess is that this is a replacement / service dial for vintage VC, but that would be my guess only. I hope some knowledgeable members can share their knowledge about vintage VC

Cheers!

 

I guess that, like for Omegas, it means that the dial is made of gold. But it is not exactly an O, rather a Sigma.

Any pictures?

 

That would probably be a lowercase “sigma” from the Greek alphabet (the letter s), and the dial is referred to as a “sigma dial”

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/what-is-a-sigma-dial

 

Thank you @gwzymytk for the link to Hodinkee.

Today I learn new stuff about sigma dial. Interestingly, I stumbled upon these 2 watches on C24. They both have the same reference number: 31160, one bear "Swiss" dial, one bear " o Swiss Made o" dial. Since the article said APRIOR started collaborating with manufactures in 70s, my initial conclusion was that they came from different years, with sigma dial came first then later VC dropped the sigma dial and went back to the simple "Swiss" dial. But when I checked both watches info, they both came from year 1990.

So what makes the difference then?

 

I suspect the second has been redialed: note the lack of a grave accent in Geneve.

 

It can be a possibility. But personally I prefer to believe that "Swiss" dial is not a redial. Btw, the second picture has the accent in "Geneve". It's just the poor resolution of the picture. I have a similar VC, but not exactly the same model. Mine has "Swiss" dial and also the "Geneve" has accent.

 

The resolution is very poor but I don't see the accent. That was the main reason I was edging towards the dial having been re-done. If you're sure it's there, I will happily withdraw my suggestion.

 

I'm not sure how this will help your questions but I pulled mine out of the box to check it. This is a 1961. I've owned it for a few years and it came with a certificate from VC dated 1979. I am assuming it went back to the mothership in 1979 for a service. I have never been sure if the dial was redone then.