Say Hello To The World’s Most Complicated Watch That Costs 5 Million Dollars

Vacheron Constantin is a Swiss watchmaker that is looking to claim the award of most complicated mechanical watch that has been made till date with its Reference 57260. It features 57 complications (the previous record holder sported 33 complications) along with a number of functions and more than 2,800 components and each one hand-decorated by one Master Watchmaker by making use of conventional techniques. It has also been certified by Hallmark of Geneva that implies that it has been assembled, timed and cased in Geneva and has therefore gone through rigorous criteria when it comes to production, workmanship and precision.

The case has been created from white gold and measures in at 3.8 inches diameter while being 50.55mm thick and sporting a sculpted crown and pushbuttons on the sides. Full dials are featured on front and back that are further divided into a complex area of sub-dials, retrogrades, windows and indicators. It contains a 242 jewel Caliber 3750 movement that is 1.4inches thick and operates at a frequency of 2.5Hz with a 60-hour power reserve. Vacheron Constantin moto is, ‘Do better if possible and that is always possible.’

A complication is defined as any function other than the simple task of timekeeping. Vacheron Company introduced the first complication in a watch back in 1770. For this particular watch, timekeeping is managed via regulator displays of hours, minutes and seconds of solar time. There are 6 time complications that this watch has. It can show you the name of city in a window with cities’ names abbreviated while also telling you whether its day or night and can offer time of 24 cities in total. It also features a complication that overcomes gravity and thus allows the watch to remain on balance and keep proper time. Another complication ensures that the watch internal mechanism doesn’t cause any irregularities to the time keeping.

The watch also sports seven perpetual calendar functions. It makes use of the conventional Gregorian calendar while automatically computing the leap years and displays the month, day of the month and date on a retrograde dial while also showing the number the year is in the leap year cycle, number of the day of the week and the number of the week in the year.

It offers eight Hebrew calendar functions. It offers the traditional 19-year Metonic lunisolar cycle and features the Hebrew day number in Hebrew, the Hebrew month name and the Hebrew day while also displaying the Hebrew secular calendar that offers Hebrew century, decade and year along with the age of the Hebrew year while telling if its 12/13 lunar months. It can also tell the golden number – the 19-year cycle in the Hebrew calendar.

The third calendar offers a total of 9 astronomical complications that include showing the seasons, equinoxes, signs of the zodiac and solstices. It also features a complication for sidereal time (based on the interval between a star appearing one night and in the same location the next). It offers sidereal hours and minutes in their own complications as well.

It features a complication that is the equation of time and depicts the time difference between mean clock and solar time. Lunar calendar complication depicts the Moon’s age and phases. The watch also tells the date of the Jewish festival of Yom Kippur and offers a total of 4 three-column wheel chronograph complications that are capable of counting off seconds and split-seconds. The watch also offers a total of 7 alarm functions.

It can sound Westminster chimes carillon with five hammers and five gongs, gradual striking gong along with an alarm power reserve. It can sound the alarm loudly or softly while also featuring a strike/silence indicator and can disengage the striking mechanism when it winds down.

There are still many complications that are not being covered here, but we are sure you get the idea about how complex and wonderfully engineered this watch is. It is estimated that it will be priced at $5 million.