This perpetual calendar by Vacheron Constantin is as elegant as it is complex

One of the secrets of good watch design is how something almost bafflingly complex can be made simple and elegant. That’s exactly what this new perpetual calendar timepiece from Vacheron Constantin achieves.

It’s called the Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin and it’s available in three different versions. All three have a compact, 36.5mm case that’s available in 18K pink gold or 18K white gold, with the latter offered with or without a diamond-set bezel. That’s an important aspect of this new model, since it’s the first time the Traditionnelle has been made available without a diamond bezel – and thus the watch becomes more of a unisex piece than ever before.

As suggested by its name, the Ultra-Thin has a case thickness of just 8.43mm – which is particularly impressive, given it houses an automatic perpetual calendar movement, the Manufacturer Calibre 1120 QP, which if always wound will show the correct date until the start of the next century, leap-years included.

Despite its compact size, the elegant dial is still simple to read. Hours and minutes are front-and-centre, of course, with month and leap year at 12 o’clock, date at three, a moonphase complication with moon age (zero to 29.5 days) at six, and the day at nine.

The white gold with plain bezel is paired with an alligator strap in a shade of light brown that’s new for the Traditionnelle, while the white gold with diamond-set bezel switches the gold hands and indices for white gold, and is paired with a dark blue alligator strap. That same strap appears on the pink gold model too.

The compact dimensions mean power reserve is limited to approximately 40 hours, so you’ll likely want to buy a watch winder too. That way, it’ll keep the right time – and, more importantly, the perpetual calendar will stay accurate – when it hasn’t been word for more than a day or two.

As you might well expect, this is an expensive timepiece – but the difference in cost between the white gold and diamond-set bezels might come as a surprise. Both plain-bezel models are priced at £84,500, while the 76 diamonds of the other white gold model increase the price to £37,500. All three variants are available now.