A master at creating highly complicated record-breaking watches, Vacheron Constantin this year unveils the fruit of 11 years of research and development on the part of three master watchmakers in its Ateliers Les Cabinotiers department. The Berkley Grand Complication two-sided pocket watch boasts the world’s first Chinese Perpetual Calendar — accurate to the year 2200. It has been deemed the most complicated watch in the world; the movement, Caliber 3752, is equipped with 2,877 hand-finished, hand-assembled parts. In fact, it took one watchmaker a full year to assemble it. Commissioned by American billionaire William Berkley, the watch boasts 63 complications, including two different perpetual calendars. The Chinese Perpetual Calendar was thought to be too complex to put into a watch due to its lunisolar system, different numbers of days per month, and differing start and end dates of the Chinese New Year, among other factors. But Vacheron Constantin’s masters accomplished the feat. The watch also features the Gregorian Perpetual Calendar, chronograph, triple-axis tourbillon, world time and second time-zone indication.
Details
Company | Vacheron Constantin |
Awards | Top New Watches |
Price range | Price on request |
Carrats | 18K |
Gender | Unspecified |
Case | Round |
Complications | Hours Minutes Seconds Day/Night Indicator Retrograde Tourbillon World Time Second Time Zone Alarm Chronograph Calendar Leap Year Week Indicator Moon Phase Additional features |
Tourbillon | Triple-Axis Tourbillon |
Movement | Manual |
Power Reserve Range (hours) | 49 - 72 |
Power Reserve | 60 hours |
Case Size | Large (>39mm) |
Case Diameter (mm) | 98 |
Case Height (mm) | 51 |
Case Back | Double-Sided |
Case Colour | White Gold |
Case Material | White Gold |
Dial Colour | Silver |
Caliber | Calibre 3752 |
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.