Brad Pitt, ever a fan of tennis, turned up at the Women’s Final of the French Open to watch the clash between Mirra Andreeva and huge underdog Maja Chwalinska.
Andreeva won at Roland Garros in straight sets as Pitt watched on in a white, flannel shirt and an exceedingly rare Vacheron Constantin Overseas Ultra-Thin on his wrist.
The Fight Club actor, who has maintained a home in France since around 2008, has been a longtime fan of the brand, even through his stint as an ambassador for Breitling.
Retailing for over £100,000, only 255 pieces of the watch have been manufactured and according to Vacheron Constantin’s website, they are already sold out, despite only hitting the market in the last few weeks.
It’s the first Overseas model to be crafted entirely from platinum and features a beguiling salmon coloured dial.The watch also includes Vacheron’s new Calibre 2550 and the brand’s first ever platinum micro-rotor.
In keeping with the Overseas range but still something of an anomaly in the luxury watch world, the piece comes with three interchangeable straps, made out of platinum, leather and rubber.
Only announced last month at the latest edition of Watches and Wonders in Geneva, this Overseas is the thinnest watch Vacheron have ever made and combines sporty versatility with effortless elegance.
Vacheron Constantin have a long history when it comes to ultra-thin movements. The Maison has, for decades, explored the miniaturisation of mechanical calibres. In 1955, on the occasion of its bicentenary, Vacheron Constantin unveiled the Calibre 1003, a manual-winding movement measuring just 1.64 mm in thickness, what they described at the time as “a symbol of watchmaking excellence and of the perfect balance between extreme miniaturisation, reliability and finishing quality.”
Before this, in 1968 the self-winding Calibre 1120 was introduced with a height of just 2.45 mm and is still regarded today as a masterpiece for slenderness and the technical solutions it provided in terms of reliability and precision.
When announcing the new, ultra-thin calibre, Vacheron Constantin said in a statement: “In keeping with the Maison’s guiding principle ‘Do better if possible, and that is always possible’, the watchmakers and engineers spent seven years developing solutions aimed at improving performance in terms of slimness and autonomy.
“They devised an innovative ensemble composed of three key elements – a micro-rotor, a suspended double barrel, and a compact gear train – enabling this optimisation within a confined space measuring 30.6mm in diameter and 2.4mm in height. A series of rigorous tests, particularly relating to ageing and shock resistance, ensures the reliability and precision of this new movement configuration.”
Pitt is a renowned watch enthusiast and appears to have a particular fondness for Vacheron Constantin, having been seen wearing their pieces on many occasions, most notably at the 2023 Wimbledon final where he sported the oldest watch manufacturer in the world’s iconic 222, which went out of production in 1985 and is also noted for its thinness. He is said to own at least three different versions of the 222.
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