The 1950s was the decade of jazz and counterculture, Miles Davis and
Aldous Huxley, and the making of a watch classic. Designed in 1956,
Swiss manufacture Vacheron Constantin’s Reference 6073 dress watch
came equipped with an automatic, self-winding movement. It had
a water-resistant construction and a distinctively crafted case with
elegantly integrated lugs that resembled the arms of a Maltese cross.
Some 62 years later, the Maltese emblem appears on the dial,
crown and movement of a new Vacheron Constantin collection,
the Fiftysix. Taking their cues from the Reference 6073, the watches
in the collection, each available in an 18ct pink gold or stainless
steel case, sport a modern, cosmopolitan design with handsome,
midcentury-inspired detailing: dials feature a double opaline-
sunburst effect, there is a luminescent coating on the baton-type
hands, and the Mississippi alligator strap has a half-Maltese-cross-
shaped buckle. A polished, satin-brushed 22ct openworked rotor,
with a frosted-snailed finish and a Maltese cross appliqué, defines
the collection’s signature look. Cool, as Miles liked to say.
wallpaper.com/w-bespoke/vacheron_constantin_ftysixJAZZ HANDS
A new watch collection from
Vacheron Constantin rifs on a vintage classic
Photography Adrian Samson
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