Vacheron Constantin Toledo 1952

[morlock]

I want to show one of my favorite dressing watch and provide some information about it. It is not a full review due it is not fare to compare a $ 150 rep with a $ 30,000 gen, anyway I will point out the main difference (mostly obvious).

Vacheron Constantin Toledo 1952 (GEN)

Vacheron Constantin re intruduce this design at the the Salon International de Haute Horlogerie Geneva 2003, the Toledo is inspired from a timepiece dating from 1952.

Gen Specifications:

Reference: 47300/000G-9064, 47300/000J-9065, 47300/000P-9067

Case dimension: 35.7 mm w/o crown, 41 mm & height 12.7 mm

Caliber: 1125, selfwinding, 36 jewels, 28,800 vph

Power reserve: > 40 hours

Indications: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, moon phases

Case: 950 platinum or 18K gold in yellow or white

Dial: Slate-colored or silver-toned, vertically engine-turned at center, applied Arabic numerals and hour markers, circular date calendar with Arabic numerals

Water resistance: 30 m

Strap: Night-blue, brown or black alligator leather, with VC buckle

Vacheron Constantin Toledo 1952 (REP)

I got this over a year ago from a dealer that is on the scam site list so I am not going to post name here, maybe I was lucky. The watch becomes one of my favorite because for work I wear suit mostly of the time, and this piece is perfect for that matter. It is not too big, not too small, it's 36 mm width but It looks bigger on the wrist. Also it's hard to be call out because 95% of the population ignore the VC brand, and a smaller group knowns about a US$ 30K Toledo.

The dial is really nice, the guilloche has the same design as the gen, not that crisp but really well done. The general layout of the dials is close to the gen, the main difference are 24hr / day-night indicator at 6 in rep instead of small sec. / moon-phase in gen. The 24hr. indicator is not really useful because it's too small without any numbers, but it keeps the balance in the dial. Also the day and month windows are closer than the gen.

The month and day windows are located at 12, and fully functional, of course it need a manual correction on month with fewer than 31 days. The day is indicated by a blue hand and the numbers are in a silver inner circle.

My only complain is that it kind of hard to read the time in quick glance, because in the center it has 4 hands for hours, minutes, seconds and date, and the first 3 are almost identical.

Of course, not sapphire crystal, but it has a nice dommed crystal that follow the case design. Logo in crown, and it has 3 pusher in the same position as the gen to quick set day, date and month.

The band is leather with crocodile design, not top quality but acceptable, it has a good feel and look, and it uses a simple buckle with the VC design.

The movt is the reliable (at least on my case) Asian 21J with decorated rotor (glued), which could been seen by the round exhibition back case. And the inscription in the back in the lower right site said 1957 instead of 1952. The gen has a solid caseback.

Rep Specifications:

Case dimension: 36 mm w/o crown, 43 mm & height 13 mm

Movt: Asian 21J, selfwinding

Power reserve: > 24 hours

Indications: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, month, day/night, 24hr.

Case: Stain Steel

Dial: white, vertically engine-turned at center, applied Arabic numerals and hour markers, circular date calendar with Arabic numerals

Water resistance: none I guess, anyway who swing with suit & tie.

Strap: black leather w/ alligator design, buckle

Conclusion

Nice design, elegant, reliable (after 12 months) and cheap. Inspire in the gen, not a 1:1, but I saved $ 29,850.

[robertk]

Lovely watch! Very good review! Wear it well.

[dluddy]

Not one you see every day. Thanks for the nice review

[TeeJay]

Fantastic review, thanks for sharing it That looks like a really nice watch, I'm sure it's a pleasure to wear