The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Self-Winding is today’s best high-luxury sports watch.
Since its 2016 redesign, the basic Overseas automatic has overtaken the long-dominant chronograph to become the clear star among Vacheron’s sports segment models, and this is the first Overseas auto that compares favorably to the long dominant Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet hegemons in this space. With perfect size and impressive attention to detail, the current Vacheron 4500V is a class leader that puts the segment standards to shame.
Vacheron Constantin launched the first Overseas automatic (42040) in 1996. The 37mm watch was handsomely modeled on 1977’s Vacheron Constantin 222 sports watch. Finish was handsome, and a Girard-Perregaux automatic movement was included with a Vacheron rotor and a COSC Swiss chronometer certificate. The second generation Overseas automatic (47040) arrived in 2004 with a 42mm case and Jaeger-LeCoultre power (Richemont added JLC alongside VC in 2000).
But even greater size and horological pedigree couldn’t establish the Overseas auto as a true Nautilus and Royal Oak-fighter. Watch collectors often viewed the 2004-2015 watch as a customer-caliber compromise compared to the AP and Patek options, and the lack of a display caseback became a liability by the mid-2000s. Second, the generation-two Overseas Chronograph (49150), a model launched alongside the automatic, was the unquestioned star of Vacheron’s sports watch line as reflected in both sales and customer interest.
2016 was an important reset year for the standard automatic Overseas. While the entire line received a 20th anniversary makeover, the basic auto gained the most relative to its prior iteration. Now 41mm instead of 42, the new “Self-Winding” reference 4500V gained features never before seen on a Vacheron sports watch. More significantly, the updated automatic added features not found on the basic Royal Oak and Nautilus.
Consider how many notable “firsts” Vacheron could claim with the 4500V; a manufacture movement; a Geneva Hallmark on that movement; a sapphire display caseback; a 60-hour power reserve. Alongside these milestones, VC watchmakers added features not found on equivalent Audemars and Patek sports watches; quick-release lugs; included leather and rubber accessory straps to match the dial color; a deployant clasp for the straps; micro-adjustments in each side of the clasp.
Old Overseas advantages like 150-meter water resistance, 25,000 ampere-per-meter anti-magnetism, and a bracelet with all links removable returned from the second generation watch.
Unfortunately, the third generation Vacheron Constantin Oveseas launched into the toughest market for luxury watches since the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. Despite a relatively healthy world economy, the period from early 2015 to early 2017 was a sector-specific recession that hammered the luxury watch industry.
Economic headwinds were challenge enough, but Vacheron Constantin exacerbated the adversity by raising the price of the Overseas line in a fashion commensurate with its increased sophistication. Regrettably, the Overseas II of 2004-2015 had gained a reputation as a popular “budget” alternative to AP and Patek; discounting at dealers and grey market sales drove volume at the expense of consumer perceptions. Clients used to paying thousands of dollars below the list price of $14,000 for a Gen-II automatic were greeted with a Gen-III 2016 retail of almost $20,000 with no discounts initially available.
Demand was nonexistent, and the launch stalled. Years passed. Discounting recommenced. Despite fielding its best sports watch ever, Vacheron was left baffled by limp demand…
…until the watch market flexed resurgent strength in late 2017. Steel sports watches became a collector mania in 2018. In 2019, the standard steel Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, and the Patek Aquanaut became unobtainable. Preowned values soared as speculation set in. Suddenly, watch collectors were looking for alternatives.
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas was ready. Demand flickered to life and then caught fire at retailers. Used values began to rise; as of 2021, the Overseas auto sells used for two to four-thousand dollars above its retail price of $20,900. On paper, that’s a bargain compared to the $22,900 of the AP Royal Oak 15500ST and the $33,710, but the retail difference blurs into irrelevance; Vacheron’s watch can be ordered and bought, and the other two are waitlisted for years.
To be sure, there are other models in the lately coveted Overseas family of watches. But the modestly dubbed “Self-Winding” is the best of them. Unlike the celebrated second generation chronograph, the third generation Overseas chrono struggles with proportional compromises, and the loss of Gen-II’s famed “grande date” undermined the charisma of the Gen-III dial. And while the Dual Time is practical, its asymmetrical dial is not classically beautiful. Enter the basic “auto.”
Close inspection of a 4500V reveals the depth of Vacheron’s attention to detail.
Case and bezel finish is handsome; detailing of the bracelet’s polished facets is exhaustive. The “Maltese Cross” motif – VC’s logo – is omnipresent, but nowhere is its presence more expressive than in the interior recesses of the bracelet’s center. Here, small planes of steel receive mirror polish amid the largely satin finish of each link. Despite the many moving, removable, and extensible (clasp) parts of the bracelet assembly, the full article imparts a greater sense of total solidity than the comparatively limp links of the Nautilus 5711/1A. And unlike the Nautilus, the Overseas’ bracelet links are not bound by TAG-Heuer-grade pin sleeves.
Each dial variant of the Overseas Self-Winding has unique charm.
The bright silver sunburst is the classical option and the most commonly requested. Now discontinued, the quirky brown metallic remains a cult favorite and a worthwhile target for offbeat dandies willing to shop preowned watches. Blue is the color of our moment, and it is the most difficult to photograph; internet images do not convey the mirrored metallic effect of the blue Gen-III dial, and the F.P. Journe Chronometre Bleu is the nearest comparison. A black dial arrived for the 2018 model year, and it can be considered the most imposing presence available. Lume on all versions is ample.
Given its 150-meter water resistance, the current Overseas SW practically consigns AP’s Royal Oak 15500 to the kiddie pool. That 50-meter watch probably shouldn’t venture far beyond the shore, but the Overseas is ready for the reef, a wreck, laps in the pool, and any other aquatics short of pro diving. And while a standard “antimagnetic” watch (ISO 764) is resilient against, 4,800 a/m, the Overseas is ready for 25K a/m. It’s not a Milgauss (80,000 a/m), but the Overseas puts the other two legs of “holy trinity” Swiss watchmaking to shame in this regard.
Vacheron caliber 5100 was worth the wait.
Having launched with a GP movement in 1996 and then transitioned to JLC in 2004, the early Overseas collection was designed to obscure its movement lineage under solid casebacks. Generation three puts the machinery on display, and Geneva Hallmark-levels of finish ensure that the show lives up to its billing.
There’s nothing as ambitious as sharp angles or acres of black polish, but caliber 5100 sports mirrored anglage, luminous Côtes de Genève, and tight perlage engine turning. Screw heads are black polished with chamfered slots and circumference. Best of all, a 22-karat gold winding mass includes manual finishing in four separate styles. Altogether, it’s a credit to the Poinçon de Genève.
Where should you spend your luxury sports watch money? Unless you’re inclined to pay a king’s ransom or wait for years, the best game in town hails from Vacheron.