Important Collectors’ Wristwatches an...

Hôtel Plaza Athénée - Le Trianon, Sep 28, 2005

LOT 308

?Cornes de Vache? Vacheron & Constantin, Genève, No. 470026, case No. 351609, Ref. 6087. Made in 1957. Very fine and extremely rare, waterresistant, 18K pink gold gentleman's wristwatch with round button chronograph, register, telemeter and tachometer and a pink gold mesh bracelet with clasp.

USD 120,000 - 150,000

EUR 100,000 - 120,000

Sold: USD 92,000

C. Two-body, solid, polished, overhanging teardrop lugs, screwed-down case back with dedication, anti-magnetic cap. D. Two-tone silver with applied pink gold Arabic numerals and bâton indexes, subsidiary seconds and 30-minute register dials, outer minute and 1/5th seconds graduation, outer telemeter and tachometer graduations. Pink gold ?bâton? hands. M. Cal. 492, rhodium-plated, "fausses côtes" decoration, 19 jewels, straight line lever escapement, beryllium balance with timing screws adjusted to temperatures, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring, index regulator. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 35 mm. Thickness 12.4 mm.


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Grading System
Grade:
Case: 3

Good
Movement: 3*

Good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense
Dial: 3-01

Good

HANDS Original

Notes

Ref. 6087 is considered one of the most spectacular wristwatch chronographs of all time. Vacheron Constantin's technical designers named it for the shape of its lugs, in the form of ?cornes de vache?, which naturally evolved from teardrop or flared lugs. According to the Vacheron Constantin archives, a total of 36 examples of Reference 6087 were produced from 1954 to 1959. Of these, 26 examples were in yellow gold, 8 only in pink gold, and 2 in platinum, made on special order. Various types of dials were used for these watches: with telemetric scale; with tachometric scale; and without scale. Watches with mixed scales are extremely rare and this lot is only the second example to appear at auction. Antiquorum sold a similar watch with movement No. 470023 and case No. 351606 in its ?The Quarter Millennium of Vacheron Constantin? auction in Geneva on April 3, 2005, lot 152. For further information on Reference 6087, see the Summer Vox 2004, p. 18.