Pocket watch: rarity, Vacheron & Constantin Geneve Aluminium dress watch for Canadian Aluminium Limited with original box, Ref.4348 (1938-1955): Ca. Ø44mm, ca. 21.5g, original aluminium case, back with gift dedication of Canadian Aluminium Limited, inside punched Vacheron & Constantin Swiss, Reference 4348, case number 347748, aluminium Vacheron & Constantin precision movement, calibre 439/7, fine adjusting device, 17 jewels, movement number 513829, signed original aluminium dial, Breguet aluminium hands, in very beautiful, extremely rare condition with original box, in working order. Vacheron & Constantin was ordered by Canadian Aluminium Limited to make a pocket watch entirely of aluminium to be presented to employees of the company for their 25th anniversary. Despite the aluminium case, this watch was to have the excellent characteristics of a Vacheron & Constantin gold watch. These precision watches, which weighed only 1/4 of the gold version, were produced from 1938-1955 and are now sought-after collector's pieces. This type of watch is described in various trade journals around 1950. For a detailed description of Vacheron Constantin's aluminium watches, see: Antiquorum Geneva, 3 April 2005, thematic auction, 'The Quarter Millennium of Vacheron Constantin', ch. III, pp. 76-77 (lots 47-49). A matching watch was sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, on 14 October 1990 for a record CHF 27,600. The watches sold in the thematic auction of Antiquorum, Geneva, on 3 April 2005, lots 47, 48 and 49, were sold for CHF 9,200, CHF 7,475 and CHF 9,200 respectively.