Vacheron Constantin Overseas Automatico 41 mm 4500V/110A-B128

The storyWhy this reference matters

This watch's grandfather was called the 222 and came out in 1977, the year Vacheron Constantin turned two hundred and twenty-two. It was drawn by Jörg Hysek, a twenty-four-year-old who had come from Rolex: a 37 mm tonneau case, a round notched bezel, an integrated bracelet, a discreet Maltese cross at five and 120 metres of water resistance. Production stopped in the mid-eighties, and for a decade Vacheron walked away from that territory while Genta and his disciples turned it into a genre of its own.

The Overseas proper arrived in 1996, back on a tonneau case with a fluted bezel. A second generation followed in 2004, larger and more angular at 42 mm. Then in 2016, for the collection's twentieth anniversary, Vacheron rebuilt the watch from the ground up: a rounder, thinner, less aggressive case, and a bezel with two notches removed — from eight down to six — so the shape genuinely echoed the house's Maltese cross.

That third generation, the 4500V, is the first in the family with in-house movements. The calibre 5100 runs 172 parts, 4 Hz, sixty hours of reserve, the Hallmark of Geneva and a 22-carat gold rotor engraved with a compass rose. Beneath it sits a soft iron cage that shields against fields of up to 25,000 A/m without giving up the sapphire case back, and the case still holds 150 metres.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

Count the notches on the bezel. The 2016 generation has six; the one before it had eight. That is the fastest way to know which Overseas you are looking at without reading the reference. Then the suffix: within the 4500V, B128 is the blue lacquered dial with a sunray finish, while endings like B126 and B146 are silver and brown.

The blue dial is lacquered with a very fine sunray gradient, with faceted white gold applied markers and hands and a date window at three. Round the back, the sapphire case back should show the calibre 5100 with its golden compass-rose rotor and the engraved Hallmark of Geneva. If the case back is solid, it is not a 4500V.

The bracelet links each carry half a Maltese cross motif, and the clasp has a built-in extension for taking up slack as the temperature changes. The whole lot comes off without tools: the case is 41 mm across by around 11 tall, and the watch leaves the factory with a steel bracelet, an alligator strap and a rubber strap, all three swappable by the owner.

CollectingWhat collectors check

There is a rule here that applies to none of its rivals: an Overseas 4500V without all three straps is not complete. The original box holds the steel bracelet, the alligator strap and the rubber one, plus the extra folding buckle. Buying the missing pieces afterwards costs a fortune and the original parts are not always available. Before you talk price, ask for photographs of the open box with everything in it.

The finishing alternates brushed and polished across very small surfaces, particularly on the case flanks and the links. A botched refinish erases that boundary and leaves the watch flat and shapeless, which is precisely what took Vacheron three years to define. Check the six bezel notches too, since they are the detail that knocks file down first.

The Hallmark of Geneva on the calibre 5100 demands a high standard of finishing and a service to match, almost always at the manufacture itself. Ask for the service history and confirm through the sapphire back that the movement really is a 5100 and not something else. And look inside the clasp: the extension system is the part that suffers most and the one that gives away careless use.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

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