Panda Dial Makes its Debut on Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph
Vacheron Constantin has just released a new variant of the Overseas Chronograph in a refined two-tone panda layout.
In 2016, the timepiece maker, based in Geneva’s Plan-les-Ouates, launched the Overseas chronograph as a new collection and has since enjoyed the sporty prowess of the bold timepiece. Starting with a full-silver or blue dial in steel or with a silver dial in an 18 ct pink gold case, the collection has seen several variants, appearing in reverse panda, blue and gold models.
It has been seven years since the launch of Ref. 5500V, a reverse panda-dial watch that came with a 42.5 mm, stainless steel case. This black-dial watch had white chronograph counters and a white background date window at 4:30. Vacheron Constantin provided this watch with an in-house Calibre 5200 and a 52-hour power reserve.
For the 2023 model, the timepiece maker has not made any significant changes. The new model now comes with a silver-tone dial with a notched six-sided Maltese Cross-shaped bezel, sunburst, satin finishing and a black velvet-finished flange. The watch sports 18 ct white gold, bar-shaped hour markers and a needle-shaped hours, minutes, seconds hand with Super-LumiNova®.
The 42.5 mm, stainless steel watch comes with snailed chronograph counters for its small seconds at 9 o’clock, a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock and a 12-hour counter at 6 o’clock with black backgrounds. The panda-dial timepiece also gets a white background and a black numeral date window at 4:30. Then there are two chronograph pushers in stainless steel to start the function at 2 o’clock; the 4 o’clock pusher restarts the chronograph function. There is a screw-down crown at 3 o’clock.
Vacheron Constantin has used the same calibre as that in the previous model, namely Calibre 5200. The 52-hour power reserve also remains the same. Turning the watch over reveals a transparent sapphire crystal caseback with a 22 ct gold oscillating weight adorned with a compass rose with a column wheel and a vertical clutch.
Three bracelet options have been provided — a standard steel bracelet with half-Maltese Cross-shaped, polished and satin-brushed links, a black calfskin leather strap with grey stitching and a black rubber strap. There is an interchangeable system to change the bracelets without any equipment.
The new panda-dial version of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph simply sports a new colourway from the already existing model and comes with a water resistance of 150 metres.
Image Credits: Vacheron Constantin
