Towards the mid-20th century, Vacheron Constantin produced only 36 examples of minute-repeating wristwatches, in pink, yellow, white gold and in platinum: 17 examples beginning in 1942, 9 beginning in 1944 and 10 beginning in 1951. Of these, only ten examples of large extra-flat minuterepeating wristwatches had a 13’’’ movement (3.1 thickness, total thickness without glass 5.8 mm): 8 in yellow gold, one in pink gold, and two in platinum. A similar watch, bearing the number 501910, was sold by Antiquorum, October 11 and 12, 2003, lot 140. Collectors and professionals the world over consider this model to be the most beautiful minute-repeating wristwatch made during the last seventy years. The teardrop lugs of these models are a unique and distinctive characteristic of the company’s wristwatches, and were used for watches ranging from the simple timepiece (Ref. 4218, Ref. 4412) to the most complicated (Ref. 4241 with full calendar and moon phases; Ref. 4261 with minute-repeat).