Messages: 22 Location: Switzerland
Registered: January 2013
The mysterious VC ultra-thin reference 13370
Tue, 19 March 2013 14:20
I recently came into possession of a Vacheron Constantin reference 13370 from the late 90's. This watch is quite mysterious to me so I am hoping some TZer can shed some light on it.
On surface, it looks like just another VC ulta-thin watch, there is an excellent writeup on VC's ultra-thin calibers on thehourlounge:
http://www.thehourlounge.com/thread/view/slim-is-in-a-look-at-vacheron-constantin-s-ultra-thin-calibers_46086_46086.html
If you search through that page for "1160", you quickly find a watch that looks exactly like mine. Here's what the article on thehourlounge has to say:
"In the mid 70s Jean Lassale, a Swiss watchmaker, created 2 calibers which were at the time the slimmest of their kind, the manual wind cal 1200 with an amazing 1.2mm thickness obtained by suppression of the bridges and each wheel fixed to an axel driven in a micro ball bearing itself fitted to the plate and an automatic calibre 2000 only 2.08mm thick. The brand went out of business in the late 70s and was bought by Seiko but the technical rights to these calibres were bought by Nouvelle Lemania.
In the early 90s Vacheron Constantin used these movements renaming them cal 1160 (manual) and cal 1170 (automatic) used in the references 34070 and 34170. The brand rapidly stopped production due to the functioning and servicing issues: the case back could not be opened without damaging the movement meaning that when a watch was sent for servicing the movement had to be changed! "
So, on first glance, it appears like the mystery is solved. However, I am in possession of the original warranty card for the watch and it clearly is a reference 13370 and not a reference 34070 as shown in the article. Further digging indicates that the ref 34070 is 33mm, the watch I am in possession of is 28mm.
But given the issues with the Cal 1160 and how quickly they were phased out of production, I would assume that very few of these watches are in existence, making my particular sample extremely rare.
The mystery deepens further upon opening up the case. Inside is NOT a Cal 1160, but actually a Cal 1003/2!! My guess here is that at some point, the watch was returned to VC for servicing, and when they received the watch, they swapped the movement with a 1003/2. A call to VC confirmed that Ref 13370 shipped with a Cal 1160.
Does anybody have any additional information on this piece, perhaps from an old catalog? I am very interested in knowing how many were produced (I'm guessing ~100 or maybe even less), what the original retail price was, and if it really is originally a Cal 1160 (and if my theory of a service movement replacement holds water).
- NME24