I personally love to find watch Doppelgaenger. Timepieces that have been produced, launched and sold at the same time through different manufacturers. And this brings us to the 'Cornes de Vache' chronograph pieces from the 1950s. These very unique designs were featured by both Vacheron Constantin - as ref. 6087 from 1954-60 - as well LeCoultre. I have reported on both these references individually before but thought it would be amazing to put them right next to each other and see how similar they truly are.

October 02, 2024

Same or Different!? 'Cornes de Vache' Chronographs From Vacheron & LeCoultre

    Marcus Siems @siemswatches
    Collector, Author, Data Analyst

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I personally love to find watch Doppelgaenger. Timepieces that have been produced, launched and sold at the same time through different manufacturers. These watches look pretty much the same, come from the same era and only differ by the name on the dial.

Back in the 20th Century production wasn't vertically integrated, rarely would you find what we today call in-house production of components let alone fully assembled watches. The system was called Etablissage: Specialized component suppliers were selling their products to watch manufacturers. And because component suppliers, like let's say a case-maker, would sell their products to several brands at the same time you can find almost identical watches from completely distinct watch manufacturers.

 

One famous pair of these Doppelgaenger vintage watches is the '565' - named after the Patek Philippe ref. 565 (left) that shares the same Francois Borgel case with timepieces from brands like Doxa (right) and Ulysse Nardin. Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum & The Arrow Of Time.

 

And this brings us to the 'Cornes de Vache' chronograph pieces from the 1950s. These very unique designs were featured by both Vacheron Constantin - as ref. 6087 from 1954-60 - as well LeCoultre. I have reported on both these references individually before (see [here] & [here]) but thought it would be amazing to put them right next to each other and see how similar they truly are.

 

Comparing the Vacheron Constantin (left, ref. 6087) & the LeCoultre (right) executions of the famous 'Cornes de Vache' chronographs of the 1950s. Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum & Hodinkee.

 

How similar are these two? Are there any differences besides the dial signature? Because... there should be, right... When the price is manifolds different...?

 

1) The Case

If you are not familiar with these pieces, here's where the name originates from: The lugs can be compared to the horns of a cow - very simple, very straight forward naming for an audacious 1950s design and a signature detail from particularly VC at the time. Cornes de Vache, Teardrop, Spider and a cornucopia of so many expressive lug-styles make their Mid-Century designs so recognizable. Yet, as in this case, other brands hopped on the late Artdeco bandwagon as well.

 

Figure 1. A case study (pun intended) of the LeCoultre execution of the 'Cornes de Vache' chronograph. Photos Courtesy of Hodinkee.

  

Both cases are very very similar and not distinguishable on first glance. Both share the same dimensions (35mm), lug-shape and thickness, same pusher placement and design... and the same case maker* - Charles Dubois & Cie (Le Locle, hammerhead mark #170).

 

Figure 2. The case back comparison between the Vacheron Constantin (left) & LeCoultre (right). Both share the same case maker (Dubois & Cie, #170) and a similar (yet not identical) crown. However, the screw-down case backs got 12 & 10 facets for VC and LeCoultre, respectively. The VC case-backs should further be signed "Vacheron et Constantin" during that production period. Photos Courtesy of the Naked Watchmaker, Hodinkee & Craft+Tailored.

 

However, now we come to the two major difference: The screw-down case back and crown! If you look closely you will find that the case-back on the VC shows 12 facets while the LeCoultre's only got 10 (Fig. 2). Second, the crown. Riveted on both but the 'hat' is rounded for VC and rather flat for LeCoultre (see comparison above).

 

1a) Another Case Design or Condition?

When taking a closer look at the lugs from different examples it appears that the lug flanks might be either rounded and smooth (most examples) or relatively angled and even brushed (rarely). The same holds for the case side. The question now emerges: Is the more pronounced lug and case finishing a sign of a good state of preservation or did the cases vary over time? I would argue that the angled & brushed sides might be the original condition because there seems to be no clustering of this detail to certain case numbers (for example compare Vacheron Constantin case no. 346,042 vs. 346,033, or 351,606 vs. 351,609). This might also hold for LeCoultre cases.

 

Figure 3. Comparing the lug flanks of two Vacheron Constantin Cornes de Vache chronographs with (left) and without brushed case and lug profiles. Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum.

 

2) The Movements

The movement topic is sorted quite easily... Both watches used a Valjoux ebauche: LeCoultre the Valjoux 72 with hour register at 6o'clock and Vacheron Constantin the Valjoux 23 (without hour register) that they finished and modulated to their own standard and sign as the caliber 492. And that is the only aesthethical difference: The VC cal. 492 is finished to a higher level including Geneva stripes.

 

Figure 4. Comparing the two Valjoux based chronograph movements from Vacheron Constantin (left) and LeCoultre (right). The major difference that you can observe from the bottom side is the different levels of finishing on both calibers.

 

3) The Dial

There is some considerable variation in the dials on these pieces but generally the style between both manufacturers overlaps a lot. The one difference up front is the hand style - LeCoultre pieces come with Dauphine hands while the Vacheron examples showcase baton hands. The hour and minute hand on both are golden and the chronograph second as well as the sub-dials feature blued steel hands.

 

Figure 5. Six different dial types on Vacheron Constantin & LeCoultre 'Cornes de Vache' chronographs. Photos Courtesy of Monaco Legend Group & Antiquorum.

 

Most of these dials - if not all - are originally silvered and signed 'Swiss'. They tend to feature numerals only at 6-12 (only 12 for LeCoultre) and either dot (earlier pieces) or stick marker in matching gold colors. You can find either a seconds-, a tachymeter- (base-1000, in blue and in miles for LeCoultre) or combined tachy- and telemeter scales (for example on rose golden VCs).

Sub-Dials. It appears that the correct sub-dial scales are closed 'rail-roads' for VC and open scales with 3-minute markings up to 9 minutes on LeCoultre 'Cornes de Vache' pieces. The sub-dials are further recessed and reeded.

 

Figure 6. Zooming in on the sub-dials of the 'Cornes de Vache' chronographs from Vacheron Constantin (left) and LeCoultre (right). Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum.

 

4) Spotting Shenanigans

This will be a little exercise on what details might be relevant to spot examples that have been touched up. This doesn't indicate that all other examples that I've highlighted throughout the text are 100% original, neither does it indicate that these are the only issues or details to check. The vintage watch world is complicated and having an additional pair of eyes look over a potential buy of yours is always valuable.

Anyway, all caveats aside the following examples made it particularly easy to identify the restoration as the same pieces came up for auction more than once with changed parts**.

Example 1: VC case no. 373,268; movement no. 470,084 offered at Antiquorum HK 2011, Christie's NY 2010, AQ HK 2007, & AQ Geneva 2006.

 

Figure 7. Tracking the restoration process on a vintage 1950s Vacheron Constantin 'Cornes de Vache' ref. 6087 between 2006 and 2011. As you can see the dial has been redone between 2007 & 2010. Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum & Christie's.

 

The dial in this example has been swapped or redone between 2006 and 2010. Two features make this change obvious. First, the outer second-scale has been moved outward and sits in the later 'execution' directly at the dial rim. Second, the number font changed. This is most easily spotted by the 'roof' of the number '4' as well as the 'foot' of the number '2'. Additionally, I must say that probably even the 2006/07 dial hasn't been the original. The aforementioned number font doesn't match other examples. The crown is suspicious, too.

 

Example 2: VC case no. 346,032; movement no. 466,825 offered at Christie's Geneva 2011, AQ Milano 1994, & AQ Geneva 1991.

 

 Figure 8. Tracking the restoration process on another vintage 1950s Vacheron Constantin 'Cornes de Vache' ref. 6087 between 1991 and 2011. As you can see the dial has been swapped everytime this piece came to auction. Photos Courtesy of Antiquorum & Christie's.

 

Stating the obvious... Well it rarely gets easier to identify that a piece has been restored than with this example here. Between 1991 and 2011 that dial has been swapped twice! Hereby, the 1991 dial appears to have been the original one. However, merely three years later the watch re-appears with a completely new gold-colored dial. On top, the crown has been replaced as was the seconds-hand at 9o'clock.

Fastforward 17 years and we see that yet again the dial changed. Now it is a black dial and by now all blued steel hands have been replaced by golden ones. The crown was further switched back to a reference- and period-correct one.

 

We need a brief intermission with something genuine and beautiful:

Wristshot of a stunning LeCoultre 'Cornes de Vache' in excellent condition. After all the restoration and dial swapping part we needed something genuinely cool and original. Photo Courtesy of WindVintage.

  

Example 3: A personal tale about changed cases: About half a year ago I was contacted by a collector/watchmaker who offered me a LeCoultre 'Cornes de Vache'... Well, it wasn't a complete watch but just the movement and dial. As I was told the case - and only the case - was bought by an anonymous dealer just a couple weeks prior. To not go into details it appears that cases might get swapped in the effort to increase the value from LeCoultre to Vacheron Constantin money.

 

4) Conclusion

When all is said and done we can look back at two legends of the golden age of dress chronographs. Both carry the chic of the mid-Century design so so well and display the finest in understatement. One of the two, namely the Vacheron Constantin, is definitely better known today... not just because it sells about 10-15x  over the other but also because in 2015 Vacheron brought the 'Cornes de Vache' back to life in its Historiques collection.

 

The modern interpretation of the Cornes de Vache in the Vacheron Constantin Historiques collection - here as the Hodinkee edition. Photo Courtesy of A Collected Man.

 

Coming back to our original question: These two pieces are indeed very similar and might both have been intended for the US market ('VXN' export code on movements). But we can still easily track their differences when we know where to look. Check the facets of the screw-down case-back, see what shape the crown got and best also identify the stamp inside the case-back.

These are the identifiable details but what really sets them apart is the price... And not by 1k, not by double but rather a magnitude (10x). While LeCoultre examples trade somewhere between 5,000 to 15,000 Euro you would have to go above 100,000 Euro for a similar VC piece. Is this steep price justifiable? The movement in the VC is finished better, I give you that. But otherwise? The VC is also extremely rare with only 36 in total production but speaking from the amount of traded pieces there likely haven't been many more (if at all) LeCoultre pieces.

 

Pieces like this lovely ref. 6087 from Vacheron easily fetch six-figure sums at auctions (this one 126,000 CHF). Photo Courtesy of Phillips.

 

I like to think of this as an opportunity to get one of the most recognizable chronograph pieces of the last Century at a comparably affordable price point even though still as rare as hen's teeth. From a daily wrist experience the only noticeable difference will be the extra sub-dial at 6o'clock. It's the Doppelgaenger!  So I'd say go for the LeCoultre - it is one of these anecdotes that show us how much of a copycat system the Swiss watch industry has been in the 20th Century. And all of this without the extra burden of potential copyright infringements... In every sense a conversation starter of a timepiece

 

Addendum - Vacheron Constantin identified serials 

I thought as a little bonus I'll add the identified 13 out of the total 36 VC ref. 6087 serials (and two extra without serials). And by the way, I would go as far as to say that there exist only 34 because the platinum examples aren't 'Cornes de Vache' by case style and merely officially fall under the ref. 6087 - see [here] and [here]

 

Movement No.	Case No.	Material	Scale	Dial Configuration
(422,599)	509,768	PT	Tachymeter (mile)	6-12 stick, two-tone
(446,384)	/	PT	Pulsometer	6-12 dot
466,825	346,032	YG	Seconds	6-12 dot
466,826	346,033	YG	Seconds	6-12 dot
466,828	346,035	YG	Seconds	6-12 dot
466,829	346,036	YG	Seconds	6-12 dot
469,954	346,042	YG	Seconds	VI-XII dagger (Milos)
469,999	351,612	YG	Tachy- & Telemeter	6-12 stick
470,022	351,605	RG	Tachy- & Telemeter	6-12 stick
470,023	351,606	RG	Tachy- & Telemeter	6-12 stick, two-tone
470,026	351,609	RG	Tachy- & Telemeter	6-12 stick, two-tone
470,072	373,267	YG	Tachymeter	VI-XII stick
470,084	373,268	YG	Seconds	stick (redial)
/	/	YG	Tachymeter	VI-XII stick
/	/	YG	Seconds	stick

Table 1. Identified serials for VC ref. 6087 'Cornes de Vache' pieces from 1954-60.

 

 

* A note of caution here: The only case-back inside on a LeCoultre I could find is from the Craft+Tailored example. That however came with an unusual dial configuration and displayed a 12 facet case-back.

** This section is not meant to bash or defame any individual, seller, buyer, or auction house. I use these examples purely for educational purposes. 

 

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