Vacherons chapter in casing automatic movements in their watches began in 1951 with their caliber 477. This movement was available in their +34mm sized references 4466 & 4906, both very classic and timeless watches, usually equipped with very beautiful and lavish decorated dials. These horological important watches, define a significant mark in the history of V&C and are not only much rarer than comparable early 1950s automatics from Patek, but were made with numerous different dials, that will make a collector struggle to get a second exactly same piece.
By the way, Patek is always a little slower, just to make sure they make no mistake, and so they presented their first automatic in 1953 in Patek ref2526, a very beautiful, classic and comparable watch, indeed. And its dials are beautiful and clear, sure, but not as much art as the VCs -- even though the Patek ref2526 dials were probably made by their now-owner family Stern Freres.