In 1972, Audemars Piguet’s Royal Oak hit the shelves cementing the “luxury sports watch” as a new category, paving the way for the Patek Philippe Nautilus in 1976, IWC’s revamped Ingenieur SL the same year, and the Vacheron Constantin 222 in 1977. The 222, which was recently relaunched in 2022, was precursor to the Overseas, so we’ll begin here. Unlike the Royal Oak, Nautilus, and the Ingenieur SL, the 222 was not designed by legendary watch designer Gérald Genta—though it certainly took cues from the maestro’s ideas. Named in celebration of the 222nd anniversary of Vacheron Constantin, it featured a monobloc 37 mm steel case; a scalloped, screw-down bezel; an integrated bracelet with hexagonal center links; no crown guard; a matte dial with applied rectangular indices, baton hands, and a date window at 3 o’clock; and an ultra-thin automatic movement dubbed caliber 1121 based on the Caliber 920 from Jaeger-LeCoultre, which was also in use in the contemporary Royal Oak and Nautilus. Measuring just 7.2..
