Don’t be pessimistic
It would be unnecessary to say anything special about luxury watches with black dials at this point. These models are too distinctive and well-known for that. The Vacheron Constantin Overseas was the last “black” model to be sent into the race for the favor of watch lovers.
The competition is extremely high and established, as the Vacheron Constantin Overseas has to hold its own against comparable models with black dials such as the Audemars Piguet Replica Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus or the Rolex GMT II. A. Lange & Söhne also wants to get a piece of the pie and has launched a steel “Odysseus”. But more on that later.
The pusher at “4”, on the other hand, has a direct effect on the hand date. Logically, it follows the local time hour hand slavishly in both directions. This means that world travelers are always correctly informed in this regard. The associated mechanism can be found under the dial of the in-house automatic caliber 5110 DT.
The function of the cadrature can be seen when looking at the front of the six-millimeter-high movement:
This raises the question of the competition. In the area of top luxury, connoisseurs immediately think of the Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time, reference 5164A and the Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph, reference 5990/1A.
The problem with these steel icons is that you can hardly get them through normal channels at the non-binding public price. If you want to be served immediately, you have to go to the grey or parallel market and shell out significantly more.
In the broader segment at an officially much lower price level, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas Dual Time is flanked by the Rolex GMT-Master II.
Regardless of whether it is a Rolex Pepsi, reference 126710BLRO, or a Rolex Batman, reference 126710BLNR, in steel: availability is just as poor as that of the Patek Philippe models with a black dial. As a result, you have to wait or pay a hefty price premium. And it doesn’t look like the situation will change significantly in the foreseeable future.