Every high end watch maker must have a full steel sports watch in its catalog. This trend started in 1972 when Audemars Piguet released the Royal Oak. Patek Philippe followed with the release of its notorious Nautilius in 1976, and the same year IWC released the Ingenieur.
But for Vacheron Constantin, it wasn't before 1996 they released such a model. Despite its late release, the Overseas has nothing to envy to its concurrents, and has every characteristic of an iconic sports watch. Thus in 1977 we could find the "222" in the Vacheron Constantin catalog. The parent of the overseas holds its name from the celebration of the 222 years of the brands existence. For the celebration a watch designer by the name of Jorg Hysek was charged with the conception of a watch that needed to be modern but that still had the brands DNA.
The Vacheron Constantin 222 is an extraordinary watch, available in 34 mm and 37 mm, with a steel barrel formed case, a notched bezel, and a Malte cross at 5 o'clock. The 222 equipped with the VC1120 caliber was produced until 1984 at 800 pieces (500 in steel, 150 in gold, 150 in steel and gold) before being replaced by the 333 and the Phidias reference that were produced until 1996.
Suite au succés de ces références, Vacheron Constantin décide de lancer le modèle « Overseas » en 1996 afin d’asseoir définitivement sa ligne « sport watch ». La Overseas s'inspire largement de ses prédécesseurs. On retrouve ainsi le même boîtier en tonneau de 37 mm, une lunette ronde crantée rappelant la croix de malte et un bracelet en acier intégré au boîtier. Seule différence notoire la disparition de la croix de malte gravée à 5 heures à même le boîtier et un nouveau calibre maison la VC1310. Depuis cette date, la collection Overseas s'est étoffée avec la version chronographe en 1999, la version dual-time en 2006, la worldtimer en 2016 et la version tourbillon en 2019.
Following the success of these references, Vacheron Constantin Decided to launch the Overseas model in 1996 in order to have a defined and characteristic sports watch in their catalog. The Overseas is directly influenced by the its predecessors, thus we can fin the same barrel case. But the main difference is the disappearance of the Malte cross, and a new caliber: the VC 1310. Since then the overseas has seen some evolutions, like the chronograph model in 1999, the dual-time in 2006, the worldtimer in 2016 and its tourbillon version in 2019.
With such a pedigree and elegant design, it is without a doubt that the Vacheron Constantin Overseas is a powerful iconic watch , that stands with the Nautilius and the Royal Oak.
