This post originally appeared in Rescapement Weekend, our weekly newsletter about watches. Subscribe now.

Paul Newman’s Big Red sold for $5.5m, but you probably already knew that. Let’s look past the headlines at a few other watches from this weekend.

Vacheron Constantin 4072: State of the market

While many were tuned into Phillips Racing Pulse this week — including us — Heritage Auctions also held its watch sale in Dallas. A number of interesting lots were offered, but my eyes were fixed on this Vacheron Constantin reference 4072 chronograph. It’s a model we wrote about earlier this year, when watchmaker Peter Toot conducted a survey of 80+ sold examples, categorizing the dials into six “variants”. Excitingly for us, Heritage referenced this article in its catalog entry for the ref. 4072, even referring to it as a ‘Variant 2’ in the entry title, as per Mr. Toot’s categorization.

Vacheron produced the two-button reference 4072 from 1938 until the early 1970s. Total production only reached 1178 examples in three metals: yellow gold, rose gold and stainless steel, with a small number of two-tone watches (plus the possibility of several examples in white gold). The Variant 2 dial is characterized by its applied markers, and was the most commonly found variant in our survey, making up roughly half of the observed examples.

The example from Heritage was particularly notable because it was double-signed by retailer Turler. More recently, it was acquired and displayed by Vacheron’s Les Collectionneurs, the brand’s effort to highlight some of its most important vintage timepieces. Heritage sold this example for $45,000, an impressive result for what’s still a relatively small, 36mm, niche chronograph from the 1940s. Last year at Phillips Geneva, we saw a retail-signed yellow gold example (this one by Hausman), similar to this example from Heritage, sell for CHF 38k. So it’s possible the Heritage result even illustrates some appreciation in the ref. 4072 market, though only a fool would call a straight line between two data points a “trend”.

It’s at least the third ref. 4072 we’ve seen at auction this season, with two other examples having surfaced in Geneva last month. At Phillips Geneva XII, a two-tone steel and pink gold example sold for CHF 63k. This same example sold just a year prior at Sotheby’s for CHF 66k, perhaps a reminder that, while there is a strong collector appreciation for vintage Vacheron, it remains a relatively small niche of the collecting world, and you shouldn’t buy one expecting to flip it for a profit in 12 months (not that you should buy any watch for such repugnant reasons).

Antiquorum also sold a nice-looking pink gold example with a pulsation scale, this lot for CHF 44k. Notably, all three of the examples sold this season feature the most-common “Variant 2” dial with applied markers and outer scales, with all three movement numbers separated by less than 100 digits, indicating the production year of all would have been at most a couple years apart in the ‘40s. To summarize the fall results for the Vacheron ref. 4072:

• Heritage Auctions, Variant 2 dial (retailed by Turler): $45k

• Phillips Geneva XII, Variant 2 dial (two-tone case): CHF 63k

• Antiquorum Geneva, Variant 2 dial (pulsation scale): CHF 44k

Of course, the Phillips result is the outlier, but isn’t that always the case? Further, the Phillips lot featured a two-tone case (the mid-case of which was stainless steel), and stainless steel examples of the ref. 4072 are exceedingly rare. So, perhaps that particular result is justified by more than hype and a charming auctioneer, especially considering it’s a lower result than achieved at Sotheby’s a year prior for that same watch.

There’s also a lesson (as always) to be learned here about condition. While these last few examples have had no problem matching (or surpassing) estimates, that’s not been the case with every ref. 4072 we’ve seen. For instance, one example was passed on at Antiquorum, twice — first last December, and then again this March.

You’ll see some damage and slight oxidation on the dial, and additional damage to the yellow gold case. Even lowering the estimate for the second auction (to half that of the results we saw for the sold examples above) didn’t gin up any additional interest in this particular example. What to make of this? It’s tough to say, but in a world where exciting watches pop up every day, if an example’s not in top condition, no matter how desirable the reference, it whiles away unsold. That’s why, for example, a sharp, clean Movado M95 can go for nearly $20k, while a Vacheron chrongraph can’t even garner a bid of that amount in two tries.[1]

Heritage and style

Also of note from Heritage: the sale of another Cartier Crash 1991 Paris Edition for $87.5k. I wrote at length[2] about the model last week, but the larger point is this: Sure, the Crash is a great watch, but as collectors we need to look past the headliners and record-breaking results to identify other potential icons, the ones no one else is paying attention to. Even with a string of strong results, the Vacheron ref. 4072 might be one of these icons.

When asked to choose a favorite among Vacheron’s three classic chronographs, Christian Selmoni, the brand’s Heritage and Style Director said: “If I have to make a choice, it would be the 4072 because it was introduced in the mid-1930s and production continued into the early 1970s. Having come through four decades, it is a lesson in longevity. Its classic style has endured regardless of changing fashions, all the while evolving to reflect technical developments.”

Listen, no celebrities or historical figures have been seen wearing a vintage Vacheron ref. 4072. Even today, it rarely graces the cover of auction catalogs, and I’m not sure I’ve seen one posted on Instagram.com more than a few times. But complicated vintage Vacherons are rare treasures, with the brand producing them in extremely limited quantities to ensure that only the best timepieces were manufactured. Even Vacheron itself celebrates the importance of the ref. 4072. We should too.

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[1] A Collected Man also has a yellow gold ref. 4072 for sale right now.

[2] In last week’s newsletter, I also mentioned the Cartier Tortue Monoposuher CPCP at Phillips Racing Pulse as “relatively under appreciated”, though I did say it’d blow past its estimate of $8k-12k. That said, I wouldn’t have predicted the $50k it achieved yesterday.