In the mid-1970’s, as the arrival of quartz watches harmed the Swiss watch industry, the great manufacturers reacted late by launching new models of watches made by young designers.

These watches are disruptive, informal and casual! Their stylistic codes go against everything we’ve seen before. These are high-class sports watches with integrated bracelets, which are a radical break from the traditional wristwatches of these important houses.

Audemars Piguet launches its “Royal Oak”, Patek Philippe its “Nautilus”, IWC its “Ingenieur SL”; all three designed by Gérald Genta (1931-2011), a Genevan designer jeweller.

In 1977, to celebrate its 222nd anniversary, Vacheron Constantin launched its “222”, designed by Jorg Hysek, a young German designer (born in 1953): a thin tonneau-shaped case, with a rounded bezel and a tiny cross of Malta encrusted at 5 o’clock.

The “222” is produced in different versions:

· Ø 37 mm., with a self-winding movement with date at 3 o'clock, made on the basis of Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 920 (also used for the “Nautilus” and the “Royal Oak”);

· Ø 34 mm., with a self-winding movement with date at 3 o'clock (a derivative of the previous movement of the Manufacture of Le Sentier);

· Ø 25 mm., with quartz movement.

The “222” is available in different materials and is, in fact, produced in very small quantities:

· steel (less than 520 examples);

· gold and steel (less than 150 examples);

· all gold (less than 150 examples).

Manufactured for only 7 years, it will be replaced in 1984 by the “333”, a rectangular evolution that will last only 2 years.

Like the “Royal Oak” and the “Nautilus”, the “222” is now an icon of watchmaking from the 1970’s.