Check out the most complicated watch ever made: It contains over 200 jewels and displays the zodiac’s constellations
Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin has outdone itself with its latest timepiece, officially considered the most complicated wristwatch ever made.
If you are looking to have a wristwatch that does more than just tell you the time but is also a work of art, timepieces from Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin will not disappoint. The oldest watch manufacturer in continuous operation, founded in 1755 in Geneva, home of watchmaking, is known for watchmaking excellence.
The luxury brand, now owned by Richemont, is also known for setting records, its first coming in 1770 with the world’s first horological complication. After eight years of work, Vacheron Constantin unveiled ’Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication‘, a wristwatch with a record-breaking 41 complications and 1,521 separate components, at the Watches and Wonders trade fair this year.
A wristwatch like no other
A complication in horology, the art of making clocks and watches, is any function on a watch other than the display of the time. It has filed 13 patent applications, seven of which are for its chiming mechanism which incorporates four gongs and four hammers. The tour-de-force of watchmaking also includes five rare astronomical complications.
Four relate to the Sun; tracking its position in real time, its height, time of culmination, and angle relative to Earth’s equator. The fifth is a world first, a rotating display featuring the zodiac’s 13 constellations in combination with a split-seconds chronograph enabling the wearer to “calculate the time it takes for a constellation or a given star to appear centred in the observer’s field of vision.”
Given all the complications and concentrating them in this one-off design timepiece that is 1.8 inches (45mm) in diameter with a height of only 14.99mm (0.59 inches) the watchmaker said that ensuring legibility was a major challenge. For that reason, four of the counters are located on the front of the watch, two of those contain five complications each. On the reverse side the chronograph functions are combined with a sky map.
The 18-karat white gold watch case contains 204 jewels including sapphire discs. Two of the sapphire components “facilitate optimal energy transmission, allowing for repeated connection and disconnection without wear,” states Monochrome.
The outlet says that the price hasn’t been disclosed yet, but that anyone thinking about acquiring one should expect it to be in the seven figures.
Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.
Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.