(CNN) – It follows the position of the sun in the sky. It rings with the sound of hammers hitting four miniature gongs. He even says to the wearer when some stars are visible from the earth.
The latest watch from the Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin is not only filled with new features – it is, officially, the most complicated mechanical wristwatch ever produced.
In watchmakingA “complication” refers to any function that goes beyond the standard time, such as a Gregorian calendar or a moon phase display. And the new ullar complications of Vacheron Constantine contains a record 41 of them.
Unique design, which was presented Watches and Wonders Tuesday, the fair in Switzerland includes 1,521 distinct components. The watchmaker seeks to protect his new creation through 13 patent applications, seven of which concern the formwork mechanism.
Seen by CNN during a fair overview, the watch presents three different measures of the time: a conventional 24 hour day, the sidereal time (the time taken for the earth to turn on its axis, which is about four minutes shorter than a civil day) and the solar day (which is adjusted for the elliptical orbit of the earth).
Among the dozens of other complications are astronomical functions which follow the position of the sun, the height, the trajectory and the angle with respect to the equator of the earth. A rotary display features the 13 constellations of the zodiac can be adjusted to show themselves when these stars are then visible in the sky.
The watchmaker said that his record wrist watch was eight years in the making, describing it as an “innovation masterpiece”. The unique model watch box is made from 18 carat white gold and contains more than 200 jewelry, including several sapphire discs.
Founded in 1755 and now owned at the Luxury Conglomerate Richemont, Vacheron Constantin also holds the record for the most complicated pocket watch. Berkley’s great complicationUnveiled last year, presents 63 horrible complications, including a perpetual Chinese calendar displaying the complex lunisolar cycle.
But although this represents 22 additional complications that those which boast of its latest creation, pocket watches can be considerably larger than wrist watches. At 45 millimeters (1.8 inches), the case of the new ultra large Solaria complication is less than half of the Berkley diameter.
As such, the design challenge also consisted in refining the functions of the watch in a case small enough to be comfortably worn on the wrist, depending on the style and heritage director of Vacheron Constantin, Christian Selmoni.
In a press release describing the wrist watch as a “miniaturization feat”, Selmoni said that the brand’s horologists had organized tiny components of the “most logical and compact way possible”.
“The main objective was to bring together all the main complications, timing, calendar, chronograph and camouade, on a single base plate and concentrate astronomical functions on an additional plate,” he said. “Thanks to this construction, it was possible to create a wristwatch with harmonious proportions.”
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