Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar Watch

Timepieces with intricate complications are nothing new for Vacheron Constantin, but the more complications that require adjusting, the bigger the hassle of setup — especially when picking up a watch that's been sidelined for days or weeks. The Twin Beat breaks new ground in addressing that issue, featuring two oscillators that are powered by a single energy source. One runs at a high 5 hertz beat with a 4-day power reserve, and the other at a lower 1.2-hertz mode that offers a power reserve of 65-days. This allows the owner to manually switch to the more passive mode via a pusher at 8 o'clock and not worry about having to make countless adjustments — or take it in for service — if the watch isn't picked up again for weeks or even months. For perpetual calendar watches like this one, that's pretty significant. Despite this high level of detail and power reserve, the platinum case that holds the manually-wound caliber 3610 QP movement remains a compact 42mm and 12.3mm thick, while the dual-finished dauphine-style hands are legible on the mostly skeletonized dial.