Vacheron Constantin, a luxury swiss watch manufacturer is celebrating their 260th anniversary with the creation of the world’s most complicated watch(ref.57260). This watch has been under development for eight years and is the product of the combined talents of three master watchmakers who oversaw the entire project. With 57 complications it takes over the former most complicated watch, Patek Philippe Calibre 89 that features 33 complications.
This masterpiece which is commissioned was made for a customer. Some features of this watch includes calendar functions displayed on the main dial – the dial on which the time is also displayed – is a Hebraic Perpetual Calendar with 19-year cycle, Hebrew name of the day, Hebrew name of the month, Hebrew date indication, Hebrew secular calendar, Hebrew Century, decade and year, an indication for the number of months in the Hebraic calendar year and an indication for the Golden Number with 19-year cycle. That’s already eight of the fifty-seven complications.
Five other complications are calibrated for New York. The case is made of solid 18-carat white gold, polished, and with glazed bezels on each side. It features a three-position winding crown with corresponding indication window on the case band, to the position of the crown (winding or setting). Inside the crown is the pusher to start, stop and reset-to-zero, the double retrograde chronograph and in the case band is the push-button for the rattrapante chronograph function. Overall specs of the watch includes:
- Weight of the complete watch: 960 grams
- Weight of the movement with dials and hands, but without the case: 597 grams
- Size of case: 98 mm (diameter) by 50.55 mm (thickness)
- Size of calibre: 71 mm (diameter) by 36 mm (thickness)
- Number of parts: 2,800
- Number of jewels: 242
- Number of hands: 19 on front dial – 12 on back dial
- Number of complications: 57
In highlights, below are the complications from 1-57:
Time Functions
1. Regulator-type hours, minutes and seconds for solar meantime
2. Visible spherical armillary tourbillon regulator with spherical balance spring
3. Three-axis tourbillon
4. 12-hour second time zone hours and minutes
5. Indication for 24 world cities for world-time
6. Day and night indication for the 12-hour world-time
Perpetual Calendar Functions
7. Gregorian perpetual calendar
8. Gregorian days of the week
9. Gregorian months
10. Gregorian retrograde date
11. Leap-year indication and four-year cycle
12. Number of the day of the week (ISO 8601 calendar)
13. Indication for the number of the week within the year (ISO 8601 calendar)
Hebraic Perpetual Calendar Functions
14. Hebraic perpetual calendar with 19-year cycle
15. Hebrew name of the day
16. Hebrew name of the month
17. Hebrew date indication
18. Hebrew secular calendar
19. Hebrew century, decade and year
20. Indication for the number of months in the Hebraic calendar year (12 or 13 months)
21. Indication for the Golden Number with 19-year cycle
Functions Of The Astronomic Calendar
22. Indications for the seasons, equinoxes, solstices and signs of the zodiac with “sun” hand
23. The sky chart
24. Sidereal time hours
25. Sidereal time minutes
26. Hours of sunrise
27. Hours of sunset
28. Equation of time
29. Length of the day
30. Length of the night
Lunar Calendar Function
31. Phases and age of the moon, one correction every 1,027 years
Religious Calendar Function
32. Indication for the date of Yom Kippur
Functions Of The Three-Column-Wheel Chronograph
33. Retrograde fifths of a second chronograph – one column wheel
34. Retrograde fifths of a second rattrapante chronograph – one column wheel
35. 12-hour counter – one column wheel
36. 60-minute counter
Alarm Functions
37. Alarm with single gong and hammer striking
38. Alarm strike / silence indicator
39. Choice of normal alarm or carillon striking alarm indicator
40. Alarm mechanism coupled to the carillon striking mechanism
41. Alarm striking with choice of grande or petite sonnerie
42. Alarm power-reserve indication
Westminster Carillon Striking Functions
43. Carillon Westminster chiming with five gongs and five hammers
44. Grande sonnerie passing strike
45. Petite sonnerie passing strike
46. Minute repeating
47. Night silence feature
48. System to disengage the striking barrel when fully wound
49. Indication for grande or petite sonnerie modes
50. Indication for silence/striking/night modes
Further Functions
51. Power-reserve indication for the going train
52. Power-reserve indication for the striking train
53. Winding crown position indicator
54. Locking mechanism for the striking
55. Winding system for the double barrels
56. Hand-setting system with two positions and two directions
57. Concealed flush-fit winding crown for the alarm mechanism
Pricing of this interesting piece has not been confirmed as the Vacheron team refused to disclose details because it was made for a client.
