Vacheron Constantin serial number checker, as precise as the record allows

On modern watches a number is engraved on the caseback, alongside the reference. On vintage pieces it is usually between the lugs at 6 o'clock, sometimes under the strap, and occasionally inside the case. The movement carries its own number too, so a case number and a movement number that disagree are not a fault on a Vacheron: they are two separate numbers, and Vacheron's archive records both. Which of the two the published tables were compiled from is not stated anywhere we could find, and dated auction lots fit the case number more often than the movement number, so enter whichever you can read and treat the result as a period.

Because that is what the record supports. Vacheron has produced since 1755 and only partial serial data has been published; for some periods the years in circulation are interpolated rather than documented. The width is not even: the first band covers 1755 to 1849, ninety-five years, because almost nothing survives to split it with, while the modern bands run five years each. Narrowing either would mean inventing precision the evidence does not have.

Yes, and there are two different documents, so ask for the right one. The Extract from the Archives records the calibre type, the case and movement numbers, the type of dial and strap and the dates of manufacture and sale; you provide the case and movement numbers at a boutique and the watch does not have to be examined. Vacheron states that an extract in no way constitutes a certificate of authenticity. The Certificate of Authenticity is the other document: the Heritage Department examines the watch itself, and the certificate states the year of manufacture. Vacheron publishes no price for either, so a boutique has to quote you.

Approximate, and partly interpolated. Vacheron does not release its production records in full, so the tables are compiled from auction records, service documents and horological archives. Treat a band as a reasonable reading of incomplete evidence rather than a fact. We tested the modern end of the table against auction lots that carry both a catalogued year and the watch's numbers, and the bands did not reproduce: on several lots the catalogued year sits four to twenty years away from the band our table returns. That is why this page will not put a single year on a modern Vacheron.

No. The reference identifies the model and carries no date. It is written as a base number, then a slash, then a group with a letter that dealers and auction catalogues read as the case material, so 47200/000G is the white gold version. The serial identifies the individual watch and is the one in this table. On modern casebacks they are engraved next to each other, so check which you are entering.

No, and on this brand the serial is one of the weaker tests available. Counterfeits carry numbers. The movement finishing, the Geneva hallmark and the case construction decide it, and none of those can be read from a serial.

Probably not usefully. Pre-1850 serials are rare and thinly documented, and the first band of the table runs 1755 to 1849 as a result. For a piece that old the Archive Extract is not optional: it is the only route to a real date.

It is a certification mark applied to movements meeting a defined standard of finishing and construction. It speaks to how the watch was made, which is far harder to fake convincingly than an engraved number, and it carries more weight with an authenticator than a serial.