Vacheron Constantin’s record-breaking run continues. Having cornered the report for the world’s most complex pocket watch final yr with the Les Cabinotiers Berkley Grand Complication and its 63 capabilities, the luxurious Swiss watchmaker has now set a benchmark for the world’s most complex wristwatch: the Les Cabinotiers Solaria Grand Complication, with 41 capabilities.
The one-of-a-kind watch, which the model stated took eight years to develop and had 13 patents, was not commissioned by a personal shopper. As a substitute, it was created for Vacheron’s 270th anniversary, this yr.
“We all the time have one or two tasks like Solaria in our minds and a few are stopped due to numerous elements, however the concept is all the time to display our excellence in excessive craftsmanship and watchmaking,” stated Sandrine Donguy, Vacheron Constantin’s product and innovation director.
What are the Solaria’s issues? In addition to common indications such because the time and date, and acknowledged high-end watchmaking capabilities akin to a perpetual calendar, a split-seconds chronograph (which might time two occasions concurrently) and 5 chiming capabilities, it has 14 astronomical capabilities, 5 of which Vacheron has stated are showing in a look ahead to the primary time.
4 of these observe the solar, therefore the watch’s identify, whereas the fifth exhibits the hours till a specific star seems within the sky. “It’s like slightly telescope on the wrist,” Ms. Donguy stated.
The watch, she added, was made attainable by the technological advances of synthetic intelligence-powered manufacturing that may produce tiny parts to microscopic tolerances.
“The ingenuity of this undertaking was in combining excessive issues with miniaturization, which allowed us to have these tiny parts,” she stated, noting that the corporate had labored to tolerances of a tenth of a millimeter.
Because of this, Vacheron has squeezed the watch’s 1,521 parts into a forty five millimeter white gold case that’s barely lower than 15 millimeters thick. Indications are displayed on each side of the watch, permitting Vacheron to protect its typical clear dial aesthetic.
Manufacturing and ergonomic challenges have meant that watches with giant numbers of issues are few and much between. Patek Philippe’s finest effort has been its Grandmaster Chime with 20 issues. Essentially the most difficult watch earlier than the Solaria is believed to have been Franck Muller’s $2.7 million Aeternitas Mega 4, with 36 issues.
How a lot additional can Vacheron go? “Generally, business just isn’t mature sufficient to permit us to go additional,” Ms. Donguy stated. “However I’ll come again to humanity’s quest all the time to look additional. What a couple of show that appears up from the moon, that appears on the solar from a unique angle? The probabilities are limitless.”
