Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin Watch Review

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin is an extremely seductive watch. Unlike many ultra-thin watches, which more often than not come on straps and are extremely light in the hand, as well as virtually unnoticeable on the wrist, the Overseas Ultra-Thin has a palpable heft to it. Given the slender profile, it’s not an unpleasant sensation at all; there is just enough weight to the watch, on its bracelet, that you’re aware of its presence, and when you combine that with the suppleness and beauty of execution of the bracelet, putting the Overseas Ultra-Thin on for the first time is very much a “wow” experience.

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin is indeed a very flat watch, with a case thickness of 7.5 mm (and a diameter of 40 mm). The movement is the Vacheron caliber 1120, which, as we mentioned in our earlier introductory coverage of this watch at the SIHH, started life in 1967 as the result of a collaborative movement development program which involved Jaeger-LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, and Patek Philippe; AP, VC, and Patek all used the movement under different caliber designations, with Jaeger-LeCoultre producing it as the JLC caliber 920, although JLC has never actually used the movement in their own watches.

The movement was at the time of its launch in 1967 the thinnest full rotor self-winding movement in the world, and rather amazingly, it remains the holder of that record today, 49 years later. Naturally, it’s mostly been used in watches notable for their slim profiles. The thinnest watch from Vacheron using this movement isn’t the Overseas Ultra-Thin, but rather, the Historiques Ultra-Thin 1968, a square-cased wristwatch with a case thickness of 5.4 mm, water resistant to 3 bar/30 meters. Audemars Piguet’s Jules Audemars Extra Thin, which uses the same movement, is 6.7 mm x 41 mm; the Royal Oak Extra Thin, which uses the caliber 2121 – the same movement as the VC1120/AP2120, but with the addition of the date – is 8.1 mm thick, at 39 mm in diameter, with a water resistance of 50 m.

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin Reference 2000V/120G-B122: case, 40 mm x 7.5 mm, white gold. Antimagnetic casing ring, water resistance 50 meters. Dial, grey-lacquered, sunburst satin-finished base with velvet-finished minute-track. 18k white-gold hands and markers. White-gold bracelet, grey alligator, or rubber strap. Movement, caliber 1120, 40-hour power reserve, 2.45 mm x 28.4 mm, 19,800 vph, running in 36 jewels. Geneva Hallmark. More http://www.watchesbuyoff.com/.