We’ve just heard from Vacheron Constantin that their Traditionelle 14 Day Tourbillon –which was announced in late 2011, and which first wowed us in person at the 2012 SIHH –has joined the Collection Excellence Platine.  If you’ll recall, the Collection Excellence Platine is a series of (very limited) production watches done all in platinum –and when Vacheron Constantin says “all in platinum,” they mean all in platinum.  The case, crown, dial, buckle, and even the stitching on the strap are in platinum, which has to make the straps on the Collection Excellence Platine watches the most valuable in the world.

The most attention getting part of the new platinum version of this tourbillon is undoubtedly going to be the dial, though.  As with the other members of the Collection, the dial of the 14 Day Tourbillon is solid platinum (marked PT 950 between 4 and 5:00.)  It’s sandblasted to a lovely, subtle, matte glow, which suits this watch and Vacheron Constantin very well –on the one hand, the watch is extremely luxurious, even opulent; on the other hand it’s extremely discreet.

As with the original version, this model meets all the revised requirements for the Poinçon de Genève, or Geneva Seal, which were updated in 2011 to include not only construction and finishing details of the movement, but also of the case and casing-up components, as well as the performance of the watch (including accuracy, and other aspects of the performance of the watch, including power reserve.) 

Inside it’s everything that we loved about the 14 Day Tourbillon when we first saw it: a straight shot of one of watchmaking’s most visually striking complications, with nothing to obscure the tourbillon and the lavish hand-finishing on display (the beautiful black polishing of the Maltese Cross tourbillon wows us every time we see it.)  Only fifty available world-wide –look for them to start appearing in early 2014, at around $323,500 (USD.)