Complications
Mark in Paris introduces the Vacheron Constantin 57260, a monumental pocket watch unveiled after eight years of development. This article delves into the watch's 57 complications, showcasing Vacheron Constantin's unparalleled watchmaking mastery and its significance as a landmark achievement in horology.
Time Functions
1. Regulator-type hours, minutes and seconds for solar meantime
2. Visible spherical armillary tourbillon regulator with spherical balance spring
3. Armillary sphere tourbillon
4. 12-hour second time zone hours and minutes
5. Indication for 24 world cities for world-time
6. Day and night indication for the 12-hour world-time
Perpetual Calendar Functions
7. Gregorian perpetual calendar
8. Gregorian days of the week
9. Gregorian months
10. Gregorian retrograde date
11. Leap-year indication and four year cycle
12. Number of the day of the week (ISO 8601 calendar)
13. Indication for the number of the week within the year (ISO 8601
calendar)
Hebraic Perpetual Calendar Functions
14. Hebraic perpetual calendar with 19-year cycle
15. Hebrew name of the day
16. Hebrew name of the month
17. Hebrew date indication
18. Hebrew secular calendar
19. Hebrew century, decade and year
20. Indication for the number of months in the Hebraic calendar year
(12 or 13 months)
21. Indication for the Golden Number with 19-year cycle
Functions of the Astronomic Calendar
22. Indications for the seasons, equinoxes, solstices and signs of the
zodiac with “sun” hand
23. The sky chart (calibrated for the city of the owner)
24. Sidereal time hours
25. Sidereal time minutes
26. Hours of sunrise (calibrated for the city of the owner)
27. Hours of sunset (calibrated for the city of the owner)
28. Equation of time
29. Length of the day (calibrated for the city of the owner)
30. Length of the night (calibrated for the city of the owner)
Lunar Calendar Function
31. Phases and age of the moon, one correction every 1027 years
Religious Calendar Function
32. Indication for the date of Yom Kippur
Functions of the 3 column-wheel Chronograph
33. Retrograde fifths of a second chronograph (1 column wheel)
34. Retrograde fifths of a second rattrapante chronograph (1 column wheel)
35. 12-hour counter (1 column wheel)
36. 60-minute counter
Alarm Functions
37. Progressive alarm with single gong and hammer striking
38. Alarm strike / silence indicator
39. Choice of normal alarm or carillon striking alarm indicator
40. Alarm mechanism coupled to the carillon striking mechanism
41. Alarm striking with choice of grande or petite sonnerie
42. Alarm power-reserve indication
Westminster Carillon Striking Functions
43. Carillon Westminster chiming with 5 gongs and 5 hammers
44. Grande sonnerie passing strike
45. Petite sonnerie passing strike
46. Minute repeating
47. Night silence feature (between 22.00 and 08.00 hours – hours chosen by the client)
48. System to disengage the striking barrel when fully wound
49. Indication for grande or petite sonnerie modes
50. Indication for silence / striking / night modes
Further functions
51. Power-reserve indication for the going train
52. Power-reserve indication for the striking train
53. Winding crown position indicator
54. Locking mechanism for the striking
55. Winding system for the double barrels
56. Hand-setting system with two positions and two directions
57. Concealed flush-fit winding crown for the alarm mechanism
An incredible achievement. And you are right that the dials do not look cluttered. What a watch! Your title refers to a wrist watch. Are you holding back something from us ;-) ?
even if a little "thick" :p Thanks for mentionning the title mistake, I edited it! No I'm not holding something, by the way with the chronograph 1955 and this one I think we have enough material for this month! Cheers, Mark
There seems to be no limit to ingenuity in this watch. I especially love the Hebrew calendar. Bill
57 complications for VC to 33 last record for PP with Cal. 89 ! VC sets a new record which I believe will stay for very very very long time ! Thank you Mark for sharing all these detailed infos and these stunning pictures. Best, Mike
Even if one can, in some cases, ask himself if it is necessary or if it is only a complication piling up, here, it is so beautifully done and coherent that it is a masterpiece. Cheers Bill.
it is an outstanding performance. It is hard to compare such a piece with the Calibre 89 (which I don't know enough about) but I like looking at dimensions too when looking at complications. The more it is big, the easier it is to stack complications (even if it remains a very hard task of course). The VC is 98x50mm whereas the Calibre 89 is 90x40mm. Furthermore I wonder in what extent the evolution of computer assisted design can make it easier to make this watch today compared to the Calibre 8
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