We were granted the privilege of wearing the new Vacheron Constantin Overseas in rose gold with a green dial for a week, and the watch blew us away. We never really know how a watch is going to work for us until we spend some time wearing it in daily life, and—to be honest—at first the Overseas felt like a bit too much . Too much gold, too much dial, too much weight—just too much watch .
But after a few days, the initial shock of so much watch wears off, and the rose-gold Overseas starts to make its own kind of sense. With this timepiece, it was pure luxury that emerged, and—contrary to our first impressions—it was very easy to wear on the daily. When dressed down, we found the Overseas distracting on the bracelet.
But that was so easily solved via the quick-change strap system —in fact, that system is so good that the watch became a contender for the mythical one-watch collection. On the rubber strap, the Overseas was sporty, and almost casual. That rose-gold watch head is admittedly never going to be totally casual, but the overall vibe of the watch was utterly transformed when swapping between the strap and the bracelet.
(We didn’t use the leather strap that’s also included, but the color is also dark green.) Robb Report senior editor, Justin Fenner —who, along with many of us, prefers smaller watches —wore the 42 mm Overseas with a classic blue sport coat and gray slacks. On the rubber strap the watch looked out of place with this ourfit, while the solid gold bracelet was stunning on Justin.
Meanwhile, acting editor in chief, Josh Condon , wore a polo and mid-rise pleated slacks, and the rubber strap brought the watch down to earth and looked superb with this outfit. Josh also wished it was a little smaller, but noted that on the rubber strap the Overseas laid down flatter and looked smaller. The ease of swapping those straps is just genius, and Vacheron Constantin deserves full credit for not only introducing such a system to the market, but for having what is clearly the best one to this day.
Of all the high-pedigree luxury sports watches out there with history dating back to the 1970s, Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas is unique for many reasons, including that it was not designed by Gerald Genta . That accolade goes to Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak , of course, as well as to Patek Philippe’s Nautilus , and even to IWC’s recently reissued Ingenieur with integrated bracelet . There’s no question that Genta helped invent, define, and refine the genre of the luxury sports watch , and Vacheron’s Overseas certainly owes something to Genta .
At the same time the Overseas stands alone as the descendant of some odd-yet-wonderful watches in the Vacheron backcatalog. Many contend that the original elegant sports watch for Vacheron Constantin was the so-called “turn-o-graph” reference 6782, its nickname lifted from Rolex’s pre-Submariner Turn-o-Graph model with rotating timing bezel. The Vacheron 222 was the brand’s more obvious initial offering into the 1970s luxury sports watch showdown.
As the 222 evolved, it gave way to the Overseas, which became the flagship luxury sports watch from Vacheron Constantin in 1996. History aside, in 2024 Vacheron’s Overseas remains one of the most compelling entries into the revived genre of the luxury sports watch. The warm, almost-orange tone of the copper-heavy rose gold against that deep emerald green dial is pure luxury on the wrist.
I won’t speak for everyone here at Robb Report , but I would say the only watch in this genre that surpasses it is the reissued Vacheron Constantin 222 from 2023. That watch is thinner and somehow swankier, but if you’re looking for a sportier, more masculine edition of the endlessly cool luxury sports watch with an integrated bracelet , we can all recommend the Overseas as a serious contender. Allen is Robb Report's digital watch editor.
His writing and photography have appeared in Fortune, Hodinkee, WatchTime, International Watch and many others. When he's not obsessing over vintage..
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