the richemont group industry watch manufacturing founded 1755 founder jean marc vacheron fran ois constantin headquarters geneva switzerland key people jean marc vacheron and fran ois constantin founders products luxury watches parent richemont website www.vacheron constantin.com vacheron constantin french pronunciation va. . r k s.t . t is a luxury swiss manufacture of prestige watches and a brand of the richemont group . it employs around 1 100 people worldwide most of whom are based in the manufacturing plants in geneva and vall e de joux . it is an active member of the federation of the swiss watch industry fh . past owners of vacheron constantin watches include napoleon bonaparte pope pius xi edward viii and harry truman . 1 contents 1 history 2 recent history 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit vacheron constantin building in geneva switzerland aerial view this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message the company was founded in 1755 by jean marc vacheron an independent watchmaker in geneva switzerland . 1 2 in 1770 his company created the first complication and nine years later he designed the first engine turned dials . the son of jean marc vacheron abraham took over the family business in 1785 . 2 during this period the company was able to survive the french revolution 1789 1799 . later in 1810 jacques barth lemy vacheron the grandson of the founder became the head of the company . he was the first to initiate the company s exports to france and italy . later jacques barth lemy realized that he was not able to handle his business alone . in order to travel overseas and sell the company s products he needed a partner . consequently in 1819 fran ois constantin became an associate of vacheron . the company continued its activity under the name vacheron & constantin . fran ois constantin traveled around the world and marketed watches . thus he helped the company to open new markets . the main market was north america . the company s motto which remains today do better if possible and that is always possible first appeared in constantin s letter to jacques barth l my . the letter was dated 5 july 1819 . in 1833 vacheron and constantin hired georges auguste leschot . his job was to supervise the manufacturing operations . leschot was an inventor and his creations turned out to be successful for the company . his inventions had a great impact on the watchmaking industry in general . he was the first person to standardize watch movements into calibers . in 1844 georges auguste leschot was awarded with a gold medal . the arts society of geneva highly appreciated his pantographic device a device that was able to mechanically engrave small watch parts and dials . later after constantin s death in 1854 and vacheron s death in 1863 the company was taken over by a series of heirs . at one point the company was headed by two women . in 1862 vacheron constantin became a member of the association for research into non magnetic materials . in 1885 the company created the first nonmagnetic timepiece which included a complete lever assortment made of materials able to withstand magnetic fields . its construction included a balance wheel balance spring and lever shaft that were made of palladium the lever arms in bronze and the escape wheel was in gold . in 1877 vacheron & constantin fabricants geneve became the official name of the company . in 1880 vacheron & constantin started using the maltese cross as its symbol which it still does as of 2016 . this was inspired by a component of the barrel which had a cross shape and was used for limiting the tension within the mainspring . advertisement from 1896 promoting their observatory trial results in 1887 vacheron & constantin was reorganized into a stock company . for the remarkable achievements of the company it was awarded with a gold medal at swiss national exhibition in geneva in 1887 . citation needed faberg s 1887 third imperial egg contained a vacheron constantin lady s watch as the surprise . the first boutique in geneva was opened by vacheron constantin in 1906 . this store can be seen today on quai de l ile . during the great depression vacheron & constantin found itself in a difficult situation . charles constantin became the head of the company in 1936 the first time since the 1850s that a representative of the constantin family was president of vacheron & constantin . in 1979 vacheron constantin made kallista one of the most expensive wristwatches . its initial price was 5 million but today the watch is valued at about 11 million . kallista had 118 emerald cut diamonds . it took about 6 000 hours for the watch masters to make this watch and about 20 months for jewelers to enrich the watch . recent history edit when jacques ketterer died in 1987 vacheron constantin changed hands . today when the company produces about 20 000 timepieces per year . citation needed sheik ahmed zaki yamani former oil minister of saudi arabia and avid watch collector became majority shareholder who then folded vacheron constantin into his personal portfolio of holdings . in 1996 the entire share capital of the company was bought by the swiss richemont group . in 2003 vacheron constantin introduced a new sports line called overseas and a collection called eg rie the first to include watches for women . in 2004 vacheron constantin opened its new headquarters and manufacture in plan les ouates geneva . the richemont group named juan carlos torres as the chief executive officer of the company in october 2005 . in 2005 vacheron constantin created the wristwatch tour de i lle to mark the anniversary of 250 years of vacheron constantin . the watch includes 834 parts and 16 horological complications . it was only available through the vacheron constantin shop in geneva and sold for more than 1 million . citation needed in 2007 vacheron constantin introduced the m tiers d art les masques collection of timepieces featuring miniature reproductions of primitive art masks . the company selected twelve masks from a private museum collection and reproduced the masks on a small scale . the miniaturized masks are featured in the dial centre of every watch from the les masques collection . 3 in 2015 during the manufacture s 260th anniversary year vacheron constantin revealed the world s most complicated mechanical watch named reference 57260 . it took three watchmakers eight years to build the 57 complication marvel at the request of a client . in the bloomberg.com interview about this grand complication vacheron constantin would not disclose the exact price of this watch but did confirm that the price was between the 8 million and 20 million u.s. dollars that had been estimated on various internet sites . 4 see also edit companies portal list of watch manufactures the vacheron constantin reference 57260 patek philippe audemars piguet references edit a b nancy wolfson . cigar aficionado march april 1998 with 243 years of experience swiss watchmaker vacheron constantin continues to push the horology envelope . a b jean marc vacheron 1731 1805 suisse le point vacheron constantin metiers d art les masques . stephen pulvirent bloomberg.com the most complicated watch ever made 30 october 2015 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to vacheron constantin . official website official vacheron constantin discussion forum vacheron constantin the oldest watchmaking company disputing the fact that vacheron constantin is the oldest watchmaker vacheron constantin s infinite illusion of time les univers infinis vacheron constantin and the art of openworking v t e brands owned by compagnie financi re richemont s.a. full ownership a. lange & s hne azzedine ala a baume & mercier cartier chlo dunhill giampiero bodino iwc schaffhausen jaeger lecoultre lancel manufacture roger dubuis montblanc officine panerai peter millar piaget purdey shanghai tang vacheron constantin van cleef & arpels joint ventures ralph lauren watch & jewelry company sarl 50 % other investments yoox net a porter group authority control worldcat identities viaf 172799383 lccn nb2006003555 gnd 2132562 5 sudoc 091575087 bnf cb144436478 data retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title vacheron constantin & oldid 744059661 categories 1755 establishmentswatch brandsswiss watch brandswatch manufacturing companies of switzerlandluxury brandsrichemont brandshidden categories use dmy dates from july 2015articles containing french language textarticles needing additional references from october 2009all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2016vague or ambiguous time from july 2016commons category with local link same as on wikidatawikipedia 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