The bespoke luxury of Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon

The custom departments of Vacheron Constantin and Rolls-Royce reveal their first collaborative timepiece

The Les Cabinotiers department at Vacheron Constantin exclusively specialises in bespoke time instruments of sublime proportions. Similarly, the Rolls-Royce Coachbuild is the marque's equivalent of haute couture, dedicated to individualisation and experimentation.

Both recently revealed the result of a project they had been working on: the Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon commissioned for a Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail. Created for a client who has a passion for luxury cars and watches, it presented a rare opportunity for the two storied brands to collaborate and push the boundaries of engineering.

Design-wise, the timepiece had to complement the interior of the automobile, in particular the fascia panel. The holding mechanism must meet the precise dimensions of the dashboard compartments and should also allow for the watch to be rotated 180° for setting and winding. It should also be removable from the holder, upon when one can fully admire the white gold baseplate adorned with handcrafted guilloche motif featuring an applied Maltese cross, the Swiss manufacture's emblem.

Above The Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail car that houses the one-of-a-kind Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon

A special holder had to be created for the watch for it to fit on the dashboard

Above A special watch holder had to be created for the dashboard

Technically, the watch boasts a bi-axial tourbillon with a cylindrical balance spring that gives the gravity-cancelling complication a perfectly concentric beat for enhanced isochronism and hence, precision. The escapement consists of a silicon escape-wheel and pallet-lever with diamond pallets to reduce friction to the point where there is no need for lubrication. For time-telling, the watch features retrograde hour and minute display. The minute track recalls traditional speedometers while the crown, deliberately oversized for easier winding, is reminiscent of hand-wound chronometers.

The manual-winding movement, Calibre 1990, incorporates certain technical elements from Reference 57620, the most complicated watch presented by Vacheron Constantin in 2015, for instance the “armillary” tourbillon, which is a nod to the moving sphere with a planetary gear invented by 18th-century French watchmaker Antide Janvier.

Above Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon in its custom holder

Above The caseback of Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon

Vacheron Constantin has filed for four patents for this watch: the instantaneous retrograde system that synchronises the jump of the two hands at noon and midnight; the escapement collet in titanium; the architecture of the tourbillon carriages that rotate every 15 seconds to form the Maltese cross motif; and the diamond-coated silicon pallet-lever.

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The bespoke luxury of Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon