Vacheron Constantin Just Unveiled the World’s Most Complicated Watch
At Watches & Wonders on Thursday, Vacheron Constantin revealed the world’s most complicated mechanical watch. Known as the Berkley Grand Complication, this one-off custom order will belong to W. R. Berkley, the American billionaire insurance magnate and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at New York University. Berkley also owns the previous record holder from Vacheron Constantin, the less affectionately named 57260, which houses 57 complications. With 63 complications, the Berkley Grand Complication took 11 years to design and over a year to assemble.
Aside from being the most complicated watch ever produced, the Berkley is also the first mechanical watch to contain a traditional Chinese perpetual calendar. This mechanism will remain accurate until the year 2200. The Chinese calendar is very complicated—tracking zodiac signs, yin and yang, and other anomalies—which makes Vacheron’s accomplishment newsworthy in and of itself. The watch’s astronomical complication tracks the night sky with a calibration to Shanghai, China.
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If it sounds like this watch is largely oriented to China, remember that 13 Chinese complications still leaves another 50. Just singling out the most exciting complications creates quite a list:
a 1/5th of a second column wheel actuated chronograph
a second split-second chronograph
multiple chronograph totalizers
a Gregorian perpetual calendar
equation of time
siderial time
a moon phase that’s accurate for over 1000 years
length of day and length of night indicators
multiple alarms with silencing complications
a Westminster carillon with five gongs and five hammers
The list goes on and on right up to 63.
Built from white gold, the watch weighs over two pounds (960 grams) and measures 90.8 mm across by 50.55 mm thick. Two stacked hockey pucks would be just as tall and a bit narrower. The Berkley’s 2,877 components glide on 245 jewels, and every component is finished by hand in Vacheron Constantin’s renowned custom shop known as Les Cabinotiers.
The French term cabinotier dates back to the 18th century when it served as slang for the watchmakers who worked in “cabinets” on the top floors of Geneva’s horological ateliers. Today the term belongs to Vacheron Constantin, and Les Cabinotiers is widely considered one of the most important, creative, and capable custom houses still operating. Considering that Vacheron is also the world’s oldest continuously operating watch company, it seems obvious Mr. Berkley turned to the right minds to create his second world record-breaking timepiece.
In case you were wondering, yes you can get in touch with Vacheron Constantin and inquire about working with Les Cabinotiers—and, no, not everything built there is as wildly complicated and expensive as the Berkley Grand Complication. Then again, what is?
The Berkley Grand Complication is currently on exhibition in Geneva at Watches & Wonders for viewings by select customers and members of the press.
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