We all want a watch that we can use with minimal effort. All we want is to know what time it is by just glancing at our wrist for less than a second. That is the beauty of a watch. But what if this watch came with other features such as a chronograph and a calendar? Well, there is such a watch, and it is called the Vacheron Constantin. In fact, this is the most complicated watch ever made!
A complication is any watch function that goes beyond showing the hours, minutes, and seconds. By Vacheron’s count, this watch has 57 distinct complications. This is all packed into a case that is 98 mm. It looks like a pocket watch, but it won’t fit in your pants pocket soon. It has a solid 18k white gold case and densely packed components inside. It took a team of three watchmakers more than eight years to design and create this watch from scratch!
The front of this watch is the side with the gold Roman numerals up top. Starting with the time, the hours and minutes are shown with regulator-style hands. These are the wide, curvy blue hands. Looking on the back, you’ll see the three-axis tourbillon housing a special spherical balance spring and escapement. The small gold hands show a second-time zone. There is also a world-time indicator and day/night indicator to show you whether the world time is showing A.M. or P.M.
There are three full calendar systems in this watch. The first is a standard Gregorian calendar, the second calendar is a Hebrew calendar, and the last one is an astronomical calendar. You can also see what time the sun will rise and set in your home city as well as how long the day and night will each be on that day. With the three calendars, you’re pretty much out of excuses for running late or missing appointments!
This watch also has a chronograph, and an alarm with a night silencing feature. The alarm is also linked to the carillon system so you can also select to use the carillon chimes as the alarm chime, which also has its own indicator. Finally, there’s a power reserve indicator for the main time-keeping system. Whew. We made it!
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