Hodinkee
Dispatch: Climbing High With The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time Cardinal Points
Somewhere high over the cinematically unforgiving terrain of southern Utah, I cling awkwardly to a metal rung neatly stapled into a slab of near-vertical Navajo sandstone. Using a free hand, I adjust a pair of sliding metal tethers to enable my climb. These are the lifelines that will hopefully keep me alive should my grip or footing fail. Being no fan of heights, I wonder how much longer this will last as I notice the route of rungs extending straight up and out of sight along the cutting topography of the ridgeline. Instinctively, I glance at my wrist to mark the time. I'm met with yet another novel, but very real, concern – I'm wearing someone else's $40,000 watch. I'm in Canyon Point, Utah, not far from the northern border of Arizona, for an event held at Amangiri, one of the finest hotels in the world. The exclusive event celebrates Vacheron Constantin's latest entry into its sportiest category: the Overseas Dual Time Cardinal Points. But I am an interloper among the assembled guests, many of whom are among the brand's most notable North American collectors. While I'm no stranger to the glitz, glamour, and all-you-can-eat shrimp of watch industry press events, this is something altogether different; this is a client event. While your average press trip is often quite nice, our usual hands-on time with a given new model is often limited to an hour or so in a boardroom in some Geneva-based HQ or in a meeting space at a brand's manufacture in Le Locle or elsewhere in S...
