In 18th century Geneva, watchmakers were called cabinotiers and their achievements represented the pinnacle of watchmaking. Vacheron Constantin's Atelier Cabinotiers continues that grand tradition of Swiss watchmaking with its bespoke division. Here, there are no catalogs, no reproductions and no limits. Each commission is based off of a conversation where it discerns exactly what each client is looking for, and then creates the perfect timepiece, one which will never be recreated and most are never discussed. Many are designed to a customer's specific requests, including the most complicated watch ever made. Reference 57620 pictured here, contains 57 complications, including a Hebrew perpetual calendar, grande sonnerie minute repeater and double retrograde split-seconds chronograph. Other timepieces test the watchmaker's imagination and creativity, focusing on the métiers d'art that Vacheron Constantin has perfected for over 260 years, including some unusual to watchmaking. This year, for the first time, it created a fully-integrated movement without a special commission, Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600. There are 23 mainly astronomical complications, and it's the brainchild of one watchmaker - it took him five years to develop the caliber. It's incredibly thin for such a complicated watch, clocking in at 8.77mm, and it has an astounding three weeks of power reserve. In addition to more traditional astronomical complications, there are rare ones that show sunrise and sunset, the running equation of time, the length of day and night, seasons, solstices, equinoxes, zodiac signs and even a tide-level indicator. It's beautiful too, with details such as a transparent celestial chart of the Northern Hemisphere on the back and a subdial that shows the sun-moon-earth conjunction.
Details
Price ($) | 1,000,000 |
Price range | > $1,000,000 |
Gender | Unspecified |
Case | Round |
Complications | Day/Week Indicator Tides Indicator Date Additional features Month Indicator Hours Zodiac Moon Phase Leap Year Tourbillon Calendar Power Reserve Indicator Sunrise/Sunset Minutes Day/Night Indicator |
Tourbillon | Tourbillon |
Water resistance | 30m |
Movement | Manual |
Power reserve range (hours) | > 97 |
Power reserve | 504 hours |
Case size | Large (>39mm) |
Case diameter (mm) | 45 |
Case height (mm) | 14 |
Case back | Double-Sided |
Case colour | White Gold |
Case material | White Gold |
Dial colour | Grey |
Limited edition | Limited edition |
Caliber | 3600 |
ReferenceNumber | 9720C/000G-B281 |
Operating uninterrupted for 260 years, Vacheron Constantin is the oldest watchmaking manufacturer in Switzerland. At no time in history has the watchmaker ceased to create, overcome and enhance the horological landscape, contributing greatly to the technical advancements that we benefit from today. To date, the company still strives to achieve the best artistry, agility and dependability, making its watches interactive and robust in a bid to both fascinate and serve its wearer.The limitlessness of the brand is reflected by the astrological inspiration of its collections. Even from its Traditionnelle line, the sculpted dragons and birds found on the watch surface prance around an eye-catching sphere of linear and triangular lines that allude to the horoscopic symbol. Similarly celestial, the Fistysix and Égérie collections depict the versatility of time through sun and moon phase displays and feature a complex, self-winding mechanism.