Passions Watch Exchange

About This Watch

Vintage. No boxes or papers.

An exceptional Vacheron & Constantin Geneva Hunter cased pocket watch in heavy solid 18ct Rose gold case with guillloché finished pine cone pattern on the covers. Fitted with an oven baked white enamel dial & some of the finest hands ever produced.

The movement is decorated with horizontal pattern and jewelled to the center with anglage (bevelled) bridges. Signed, numbered and engraved Made for JAS. H. Hart. For the watch collector, all the hallmarks of fine watch making can be found here.

This watch has a set of beautiful Fluer de Lys (flower of lily and a symbol often associated with French royalty) hands in blued steel fitted to it while the dial has large Arabic numerals in black with minutes in red and a sunken small seconds. The layered enamel dial is flawless. The case was made by James H Hart, Brooklyn for VC and stamped with matching numbers with the movement and most probably retailed under Hart Bros store in New York. This example has an extra exhibition cover with a glass over the movement for the owner to admire it's movement which is a nice feature and rarely available by ordinary watchmakers. As a result of the quality construction, this watch weighs a hefty 140gram and the gold value alone with movement would be in excess of S$8000 today.

It takes about 12 winds on the crown to full power reserve & the large balance beats with a wonderful tick. Case has some usual wear to the decorative guilloché on the edges of the covers but no signs of serious dents nor marks throughout and of course micro hairlines as seen. The bow (crown ring) and hinges remain tight and hunter cover springs open with vigour. To adjust time, simply pull the lever out between 4-5 o'clock and turn the crown to set. It is consistently losing about 20 secs/day on average over several positions which is impressive for it's age.

Overall, an impressive pocket watch in excellent condition and a heavy weight for it's class.

James H Hart was born in 1832 and active as a jeweller from 1855 to 1910 often based in Brooklyn of New York and partner of Hart Brothers jewelers located at 247 Fulton St in Brooklyn of New York.

Vacheron & Constantin is the oldest watch manufacturer in continuing production for the last four centuries centuries starting in 1755 and our watch here dates back to approx.1904.

The year when Wright Bros built the Flyer II and the war between Russia Empire and Imperial Japan which saw the decline of former and rise of Japanese military campaigns. This watch has lived for more than a century and saw it all including the devastating WW2. It was made by the Geneva factory for the North American market with a triple signed case, dial and movement.

A truly fine collector's item that keeps time yet costing a fraction of modern day compatriots. This is a quality watch not to be missed & nothing else quite like it out there at the moment.