Vacheron Constantin
Ref. 4400E/000R-B436
On request
Message on WhatsAppThe 1956 reference reborn: Maltese cross lugs, a soft dial, and a case that reads dressier than its size.
Vacheron Constantin reference 4400E/000R-B436, 40.0mm in 18k rose gold with a Grey dial.
The reference in depth
Vacheron launched the Fiftysix in January 2018, taking the name and the lug shape from a 1956 watch, reference 6073, whose lugs were cut as quarters of the Maltese cross. The collection arrived with three models at once and was positioned to sit below Patrimony and Traditionnelle at its entry point. The argument that followed the launch was about that entry self-winding model, whose base movement was shared inside the group rather than developed by Vacheron.
The Day-Date arrived on the same day, one step above it, and runs Vacheron's own 2475 SC/2, so the base-movement argument never applied to it. It adds day and power-reserve registers to the collection's sector dial, where the entry model carries only a date window.
The 2475 SC/2 is self-winding, runs at 4Hz, or 28,800vph, holds about 40 hours, and carries a 22K gold oscillating weight you can watch through the back. It drives central seconds plus three indications on the dial: day at 9, date at 3, power reserve at 6. It is a conventional automatic, well finished, with no complication to go wrong. Service it on schedule and leave it alone.
40mm in pink gold with short, curved Maltese lugs, so the case sits flat rather than perched. If fit is the question, ask for the lug-to-lug measurement: we take it in-house and will send the figure rather than guess at a wrist range. Three registers on a sector layout keep the dial busy, which suits a shirt cuff and daily clothes more than formal wear.
Is the movement a proper Vacheron calibre?
Yes. The 2475 SC/2 is a Vacheron movement with the house's own finishing and a 22K gold rotor. The argument in 2018 was about the entry self-winding model, not this one.
How does it differ from the Fiftysix Complete Calendar?
The Complete Calendar adds month and moon phase and drops the power reserve. The Day-Date has the simpler dial.
Steel or gold?
Steel is the less expensive of the two. Gold gives you the warmer case colour and the weight that goes with it. We do not publish resale comparisons between them without figures, a source and a date.
The collection
A 1956 case shape brought back in 2018, with lugs drawn from the Maltese cross
Fiftysix arrived in 2018, built around the design of reference 6073, a Vacheron Constantin model from 1956. The lugs give it away, four of them, each cut as a branch of the Maltese cross. Dials are sector type, an opaline centre inside a brushed railway chapter ring, the hours alternating between applied Arabic numerals and batons under a box shaped sapphire crystal. The line runs from a self winding time and date through a day date with power reserve to a complete calendar, in steel or 18k pink gold.
40 mm on the main models, 41 mm for the tourbillon
For the buyer who wants the house name in something worn with a jacket or without, rather than a strict dress watch.
