Long Expected: Vacheron Constantin Launches The 222 In Steel
The Vacheron Constantin 222 was a little late to the integrated steel sports watch party in terms of enthusiast appreciation, having lived for enthusiasts a little bit in the shadow of the Nautilus and the Royal Oak. The 222 was originally launched in 1977 at the Basel watch and jewelry fair, and was designed by Jorg Hysek; the name was an homage to Vacheron’s 222nd anniversary. This year is Vacheron’s 270th anniversary as reckoned from the company’s founding in 1755, and although the 222 originally debuted in gold (and to considerable fanfare) at Watches and Wonders in 2022, a steel model was both universally expected and widely anticipated. In the metal, the yellow gold 2022 model was priced at launch at $62,500, and while as with most modern luxury watches, the opening price was also an opening to a conversation about luxury watch pricing in general, it did feel, in the hand and on the wrist, every inch a faithful homage to the original. Today Vacheron’s announced the long-awaited and long expected follow up to the yellow gold 2022 model; the 222 is now available in steel.
The original 222 was available in a number of versions, including two tone, yellow gold (as seen in our pre-owned Vacheron collection), and stainless steel, so the 2022 version was hardly a departure from tradition – it was in fact, an almost exact reproduction of Hysek’s original design, including the crenellated bezel and distinctive tapering bracelet, with its hexagonal interlinks. The major difference technically was in the movement. The original used Vacheron’s version of the JLC caliber 920, which was used in both the original version of the Nautilus, and in the Royal Oak (as the 28-255, and the 2121 respectively, both with date). At Vacheron, the 920 was used as the caliber 1120, but all three movements are technically identical. The modern 222, both in gold in 2022 and now in steel, uses a modern movement: Vacheron’s caliber 2455, which at 26.2mm x 3.6mm is just marginally thicker than the 3.05mm thick 1120. The 2455 is a version of the caliber 2450 which, at its launch in 2007, was Vacheron’s first modern in-house automatic movement.
The 920/1120/2120/28-255 was at its debut in 1967, the thinnest full-rotor automatic movement in the world (in the most basic version, without date or center seconds it’s 2.45mm thick; 3.05mm with date and 3.40mm with date and center seconds) and astoundingly enough, it still holds that record today.
It’s a masterpiece of classic automatic movement design, both technically and aesthetically, with its distinctive system of ruby rollers supporting the winding rotor at its periphery, but it did have some disadvantages. Two notable shortcomings of the 920 in its various versions were the absence of a quickset date, and also the support for the mainspring barrel. To reduce thickness, the mainspring barrel of the 1120 runs in an unjeweled (and un-bushed) hole in the movement plate and over time, it can produce enough wear in its pivot to require replacement of the movement plate. I miss the 1120 as a piece of very fine watchmaking and also as a piece of history, but there’s little doubt that the 2455 is easier to service and adjust.
The change in movements also resulted in a slight change in the placement of the date window – in the original 222, the date window is right at the edge of the dial and cuts into the minutes track; in the new version, the date window is slightly further away from the dial edge. The gold and steel modern versions of the 222 also have slightly thicker indexes and the printing is bolder, but other than these minor differences (and of course, the use of a display back in the new models) there’s little to distinguish the 2022 and 2025 models from the 1977 version.
The new steel model features a deep blue dial, and other than that (and of course, the case material) it’s identical to the 2022 yellow gold version. The date display is not color matched to the dial, however, this was clearly a deliberate design decision at Vacheron and I think it should be evaluated as such. The idea that a date window should ideally be color matched to the dial is I think partly valid as a rule of thumb, but in this specific case, I think the contrast is pleasing to the eye and also lets the date window act as an hour marker better than if the date were color matched to the dial, which I think could have made the dial look oddly asymmetrical.
Historically, Vacheron did not always color match the date display in the original 222 with the dial – it did in the gold models (a practice Vacheron followed for the 2022 relaunch) but did not in steel models, so there’s historical precedent for a contrasting date window as well.
One final note: the new steel 222 launches in a very different context than the 2022 launch. In early 2022, a steel 222 would have been just as logical in the context of the model and its history as it is now, but it would have appeared at a time when the market for stainless steel sports watches had hit its peak and there has since then been a cooling off in the secondary market for luxury steel sports watches, as well as a resurgence of interest in unusual case shapes and designs, as well as in precious metals in general. However the 222 exists not just in the context of trends in the market and trends in taste, but also in the context of its strengths as a design and a modern 222 in steel is not a less attractive watch aesthetically now than it would have been in 222, just because there have been market corrections and shifts in short term trends.
This is simply to say that it would have been a beautiful watch then, and it’s a beautiful watch now and maybe all the better for not appearing at the height of social media saturation for stainless steel luxury watches. I would expect demand for the new steel model, therefore, to be high and competition fierce. One wonders what Vacheron will have as a follow-up for its launches at Watches and Wonders later this year, but for now, the steel 222 is the biggest news so far of the still very young year.
The Vacheron Constantin 222 in steel, ref. 4200H/222A-B934 : Case, 37mm x 7.95mm, 5 bar/50M water resistant, blue matte finished dial with date; 18k white gold hands and applied hour markers. Movement, Vacheron automatic caliber 2455, 26.2mm x 3.6mm, running at 28,800 vph in 27 jewels; 40 hour power reserve, with Geneva Seal. Price at launch, $32,000; available only at Vacheron boutiques. See it at Vacheron-Constantin.com.