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After
a time, Jacques-Barthelemy Vacheron had to forgo such
extended trips abroad, if he wanted to manage his flu
orishing enterprise properly. So he turned to a friend
of his, Francois Constantin, who joined the company as
a full partner on April 1st, 1819. Henceforth, it was
Constantin who would be visiting the firm's customers
in France and Italy.
Constantin
proved a born commercial agent, having worked in his
own family's enterprise since the age of fourteen, and
a born adventurer to boot!
Carefree and fearless, he spent money
so lavishly that his own associates were sometimes aghast.
He was, in short, a free spirit and a spiritual brother
to the poets and explorers who blithely traveled across
Europe and the world during that eminently romantic
age.
Soon
after setting foot in Paris for the first time, Constantin
di not hesitate to purchase a horse drawn carriage simply
to ensure his own freedom of movement, as he put it.
Neither rain, sleet, ice, mud nor even bandits ever
stopped him for long ... Ever the resourceful salesman,
he one accepted payment in barrels of Cypriot wine which
he suggested Vacheron have bottled and sold on the Geneva
market.
Despite
his foibles, Francois Constantin
was an uncommonly astute and shrewd businessman. Sharing
Vacheron's ideals of horological perfection, he
made a convincing ambassador for the companies products.
Even reputedly impenetrable markets yielded to his persuasiveness,
while his sense of organization provided the firm with
a solid sales network. Vacheron himself was once moved
to write: " We bow to your talents, convinced that when
you bring the full measure of your eloquence to bear,
nothing can resist you".
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