Maître Cabinotier Retrograde Armillary Tourbillon 1990

In Context

At 45.7 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 20.6 mm it is very tall, and sits high off the wrist. The sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse.

The movement is hand-wound, so winding it becomes part of the day rather than something the watch does for you. 65 hours of reserve is enough to set it down on Friday evening and find it still running on Monday. At 18,000 vph the seconds hand advances 5 times a second, the slower and more audible rate of an older design.

91990/000G-9882 stands on its own in this catalogue — no other reference here shares its base number. It pairs a skeleton dial with a white gold case. It was a limited edition. Beyond the time it carries a tourbillon.

The manually wound calibre 1990 movement developed and manufactured by Vacheron Constantin features retrograde hours and minutes indications with instant flyback. The double indications are as technically fascinating as they are visually mesmerising. The hands flick back to zero at such a speed that the special attention is needed to ensure a precise indication and such lightweight and resistant materials as the titanium used in the hands.