The third of the trinity, with a quick change
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ·
The ref. 222 of 1977, designed by a young Jorg Hysek, is the forgotten third of the great steel sports watches of the 1970s, after the Royal Oak and the Nautilus, and Vacheron has spent several decades and three Overseas generations trying to make you forget that it was ever forgotten. The good examples of the 222 have become serious auction watches lately, and I was rather pleased to see it.
The Overseas proper arrived in 1996, and the third generation came in 2016. Its signature is the bezel, cut with six notches that echo the Maltese cross, and the quick-change system that lets you swap the bracelet for a leather or rubber strap without tools, which is the most useful thing Vacheron has done in years. This is the chronograph, with the in-house 5200, a column-wheel movement with 52 hours, visible through the open back. The case is 42.5 mm by 13.7 mm, the dial is blue, the bracelet is steel, and it is water resistant to 150 m.
The problem is size. At 42.5 mm and nearly 14 mm thick, it is a big watch, and the bracelet and case do not taper away as a Nautilus does. On a smaller wrist it looks like a sports watch for a larger man. And at thirty-four and a half to thirty-six and a half thousand dollars, it sits awkwardly against a Daytona at list (which you cannot get) and a Royal Oak chronograph (which you cannot get either).
Which is, in the end, the Overseas's great advantage. You can buy one. For the collector who wants a steel sports chronograph from one of the three great Geneva houses without the queue, I think it is the right choice, and the time-only Overseas is even better if you can live without the chronograph.