What We Know
Vacheron just brought back its incredibly unique Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, and it’s a welcome sight for dedicated collectors of the brand, along with general enthusiasts of unexpected yet innovative takes on complicated watchmaking.
If you’re not familiar with the original Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar, launched back in 2019, the watch offered an incredibly novel solution to a problem often found within perpetual calendar watches. Let’s be honest, though the entire appeal and genius of the perpetual calendar is for someone wearing one watch all day, every day, for the whole year, watches like these are most often owned by those with a large collection to begin with. A weekend for a perpetual calendar in a watch box or drawer would mean that the complication would need to be set again after winding, and so Vacheron introduced this perpetual calendar with a whopping 65-day power reserve.
To achieve this, rather than putting in an unfeasibly large mainspring in the barrel, the Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar lives up to its name by offering a new system that allows for switching between two beat rates for the watch—a contemporary high-beat 5Hz frequency with a 4-day power reserve for normal timekeeping during wear, but a much slower 1.2Hz mode with that prolonged power reserve for the “Standby” phase.
The Caliber 3610QP comprises two separate gear trains for the two regulating systems, with a series of differentials that allow these completely separate timing mechanisms to work seamlessly from the double barrel to the single output for the hours, minutes, and perpetual calendar. A V-shaped spring on the movement essentially acts as a hacking spring, but alternates between halting the 5 Hz balance wheel and the 1.2 Hz balance wheel when the pusher on the case is activated. Despite these additional systems, combined with an instantaneously jumping perpetual calendar, the movement remains quite compact at 32mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness.
At a glance, the new Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar appears almost identical to the discontinued original model. But impressively, Vacheron has managed to squeeze out an additional 5 days of power reserve in standby mode, meaning that at its lower frequency, the updated Caliber 3610QP can run for up to 70 days while maintaining accurate timekeeping and updating the perpetual calendar indications every single night. This boost in energy is thanks to a redesigned instant-jumping perpetual calendar mechanism, which iterates on the mechanism developed for the 2019 version of the movement and requires much less energy than similar mechanisms on the market.
Aesthetically, the Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar doesn’t deviate much, with a 42mm platinum Traditionelle case paired with a modern dial aesthetic—a mixture of a grey hand-guilloché half-dial with large portions in transparent sapphire. The transparent discs for the perpetual calendar date and month indications offer a bit more visibility into the movement this time around, with a gentler frosting than the opaque rings from before. Of course, a large arrow points to the two frequencies at 9 o’clock on the dial, and at 12 o’clock sits the power reserve indication that shows both power reserves with a single hand. While the dial is certainly busy, the dauphine hands with contrasting polished and sandblasted facets, along with applied hour markers, help lend a bit of light-catching visibility for telling the time.
The new Vacheron Constantin Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar ref. 3200T/000P-H167 is available now in the permanent collection. We reached out to Vacheron for the price, but were told that the price was on request. My colleague Mark will be seeing this in person later this week, so stay tuned for more.
What We Think
This update to the Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar is such an interesting concept to me. Not necessarily due to its maximalist take on a surprisingly practical answer to a first-world problem in haute horlogerie, as those chuckles of amusement came from me when I first saw the original’s launch back in 2019.
But I find it quite admirable that the brand took an incredibly innovative movement and decided to continue and improve on a mechanism that was being produced in incredibly small numbers to begin with. It’s this kind of approach to innovative watchmaking that has really defined many of the brand’s impressive, complicated creations over the past few years and has earned a lot of my respect. Do I wish we had seen a more dramatic change in styling, or at least a new dial color? For sure. But even in this subtly iterated form, the Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar is a welcome sight, and I hope it bodes well for more creations down the line using this creative architecture.
The Basics
Brand: Vacheron Constantin
Model: Traditionelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar
Reference Number: 3200T/000P-H167
Diameter: 42mm
Thickness: 12.3mm
Case Material: Platinum 950
Dial Color: Grey
Indexes: Applied
Lume: No
Water Resistance: 30 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Black calfskin with textured finish and platinum pin buckle
The Movement
Caliber: 3610QP
Functions: Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar, power reserve indicator, two frequency modes
Diameter: 32mm
Thickness: 6mm
Power Reserve: 4 days (5 Hz frequency); 70 days (1.2 Hz frequency)
Winding: Manual
Frequency: 5 Hz & 1.2 Hz
Jewels: 64
Chronometer Certified: No
Additional Details: Geneva Seal, 480 components
Pricing & Availability
Price: On Request
Availability: Vacheron Constantin retailers
Limited Edition: No
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