VACHERON CONSTANTIN TRADITIONNELLE GRANDES COMPLICATIONS Manual De Instrucciones página 7

Displays
In addition to the basic functions (hour and minutes), the watch has
a number of displays:
Tourbillon with indication of the seconds (3):
The seconds hand is placed on the shaft of the tourbillon carriage
which rotates on its own axis every minute to compensate for the
effects of gravity on the sprung balance.
Power reserve hand (8):
This indicates the extent to which the watch has been wound and
therefore the available "autonomy". When the power reserve hand (8)
is on the minimum graduation, the spring is almost entirely unwound
and the watch may stop or be less accurate.
Perpetual calendar (day of the week hand (4), month hand (5), date
hand (6) and leap year aperture (7)):
Permanently displays the day of the week, date, month and
the year's leap-year cycle. This calendar is designed to operate
without adjustment until 28 February 2100, provided of course
that the watch is wound regularly and therefore does not stop.
For information, leap years are years that are divisible by 4, save for
"secular" years which are not divisible by 400. For example 2400
will be a leap year but not 2100 or 2200, which will require manual
correction by a Vacheron Constantin watchmaker.
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Use of the minute-repeater
The watch strikes the hours, quarters and minutes on request.
For this to happen, the repeating slide (II) must be pushed clockwise.
Once fully wound, release the repeating slide (II) which returns to its
initial position. The gongs start to chime, firstly the hours on a low
note, then the quarters sounding alternating low and high notes, and
lastly the minutes on a high note.
The minute-repeater is an "all or nothing" device, which means
that if insufficiently wound, the repeating slide (II) will return to its
position without any of the gongs chiming. This system prevents
any incorrect indications as a result of not all of the gongs chiming.
IMPORTANT: Always wait for the mechanical minute-repeater cycle
to finish before rewinding the striking mechanism, otherwise the
mechanism may lose its settings or be damaged.
Never set the time during the minute-repeater cycle.
Check that the winding and time-setting crown (I) is not in the
time-setting position before winding the minute-repeater. The
winding and time-setting crown (I) must be in position A to activate
the minute-repeater by touching the repeating slide (II).
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