For those who’ve had eyes on the luxury steel sports watch market over the last year or so, they’re likely to have noticed a new player in the ring. After years of living in the shadows, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas has finally become the new hot ticket. A watch once overlooked by many, the Overseas has always been a competitive equal to the Patek Philippe Nautilus and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, and with the aforementioned duo now near impossible to acquire many collectors are starting to turn towards the third player of watchmaking’s holy trinity. What plays in Vacheron’s favor is that it took very little for demand to overpower supply. The low-volume producer’s supply of standard collection Overseas models were snapped up in no time, leading to the start of waitlists at Vacheron Constantin boutiques and retailers around the globe.
One of the early trigger points for the popularity surfaced at the end of 2019, as Vacheron Constantin partnered with American explorer, photographer, and mountaineer Cory Richards, having supplied Cory a prototype Overseas Dual Time for his attempted Everest ascent. Said prototype smashed through its high auction estimate when it sold at the December 2019 Phillips Game Changers auction for north of $100,000. Seeing this as a sign of the market, Vacheron got to work on a limited edition production version of the watch that launched this week alongside a chronograph variant, each limited to 150 pieces. At a glance, the new references seem quite true to the original prototype, though there are a few noteworthy changes.