Usually, watch manufacturers like to promote simplicity and ease of use, but on the 17th of September watch manufacturer Vacheron Constantin are doing something different. After 8 long years of development Vacheron Constantin are going to unveil the world’s most complicated watch. The reason it is possible to say that this will be the world’s most complicated watch is because it is going to include more “complications” than any other watch ever created (According to Wikipedia is: “In horology, the term complication refers to any feature beyond the simple display of hours, minutes, and seconds in a timepiece.”)
The watch is being unveiled after 8 long years of development in order to celebrate 260 years of Vacheron Constantin’s history (on the 17th of September, the 260th day of the year). For the entire 8 years just 3 in-house watch makers have worked to create the watch which Vacheron Constantin say “called not only for constant perseverance, but also for unprecedented mastery of mathematics and craftsmanship.”
Continuing Vacheron Constantin’s Tradition of Complicated Watches
This isn’t the first time Vacheron Constantin have created an incredibly complicated watch. Going all the way back to 1905 when Vacheron Constantin released “Complication Pocket Watches” upon request.
Looking at the history of Vacheron Constantin, you can see a wide range of quality watches devised over the years. Many of these watches have been auctioned off for mind-boggling amounts (one watch, with 9 complications, which was made especially for King Farouk of Egypt in 1935, sold for a cool CHF (Swiss Franc) 1,155,000 in 1994). Most of these watches were created as one-offs and pushed the boundaries, becoming milestones in the history of watchmaking.
Most recently, Vacheron Constantin released the Tour de L’Ile to celebrate their 250th anniversary. This watch included 16 complications and only 7 pieces were ever produced, one was kept in the private collection of Vacheron Constantin and another was auctioned for an incredible CHF 1,870,000 on the 3rd of April 2005.
Very little is known about what will be included in the world’s most complicated watch when it is unveiled this year, however it is almost certain to eclipse the 16 complications in the Tour de L’Ile. Vacheron Constantin have announced that there will be a number of firsts which will be announced in the lead up to September.
One of these new complications has been announced by the website Watchtime is a “dual calendar mechanism” for the perpetual calendar function. The watch will present both the traditional Gregorian calendar (months and days) as well as the ISO 8601 business calendar (week of the year). This has never been seen on a watch before, making it a world first.
There’s no doubt that the release of this watch will be a very exciting one, especially as Vacheron Constantin are planning to include even more world firsts in this watch – explaining that many patents have been filed specifically for this watch. Make sure to watch out for the unveiling of the world’s most complicated watch on the 17th of September this year, you do not want to miss out!
