In case you had been to sit down me down at a desk and ask me to put in writing down 41 watch issues off the highest of my head, I feel the outcome can be relatively like Ross Geller attempting to call the 50 states in that one episode of Associates. There’s simply no method I may do it. Forty-one is an absurd variety of issues to even conceive of, not to mention cram into one surprisingly wearable watch. And but, that’s what Vacheron Constantin’s one-of-a-kind watchmaking division, Les Cabinotiers, has managed to do.
Nearly a yr after introducing the world’s most intricate watch of any sort — a pocket watch containing 63 issues — Vacheron has unveiled the Les Cabinotiers ‘Solaria Extremely Grand Complication.’ It’s laborious to know the place to start out with a watch like this, particularly since I haven’t had the chance to see it in individual, so to start, I’ll simply say this: I’m wildly impressed by this watch, and try to be too. It’s a severe step up from their earlier most intricate wristwatch — the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600, which housed 23 issues.
It’s price saying right here that, even earlier than attending to the Solaria Extremely Grand Complication, Vacheron Constantin had an excellent Watches & Wonders. The model is celebrating its 270th anniversary this yr they usually’ve completed a hell of a job with it. Their new 127-piece restricted version Traditionelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, with its novel motion and anniversary-inspired hand-guillochée dial, would have been sufficient to mark the event for many manufacturers, however Vacheron Constantin isn’t most manufacturers, and the brand new Solaria is the last word proof of that.
Trying to overwhelm a watch with issues is admittedly nothing new. Most of the world’s most interesting manufacturers, together with all the “holy trinity,” have taken their crack at ultra-grand complication watches. However even the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime (which boasts 20 issues) and Audemars Piguet’s Code 11.59 Universelle RD#4 (which managed to suit 23 issues and an extra 17 “technical gadgets” right into a surprisingly compact 42mm case) are laborious to carry up in opposition to this new Vacheron — although to their credit score, every of these is a serially produced manufacturing piece, whereas this Vacheron is a one-off.
What does that imply for us? Nicely, should you haven’t already had the possibility to see the Solaria in individual, you (and I) probably by no means will. It’s the form of factor that Vacheron will certainly pull out just for very particular events — you definitely gained’t be capable to stroll into the model’s mid-town boutique and simply take a peak. However the growth of the Solaria has resulted in 13 patent purposes and required an entire lot of problem-solving and innovation. It’s laborious to think about all this work going nowhere, although for now even the existence of a wristwatch this sophisticated as basically a prototype is definitely worth the effort.
And as if all that weren’t spectacular sufficient, the Solaria Extremely Grand Complication manages to be all it’s whereas remaining smaller in each dimension than a current-generation Planet Ocean Chronograph. Significantly. The Solaria is, by each measure, a ‘wearable’ watch, at simply 45mm throughout and — and I didn’t fairly consider this after I learn it — 14.99mm thick. Clearly, that is not at all competing with Bulgari for any awards on the thinness finish of the spectrum, however this can be a watch thinner than many Speedmasters or IWC Pilot’s Chronographs.
If I appear to be struggling to seek out the phrases at any level right here, let’s be clear that I’m. It could be straightforward sufficient to only checklist every of the issues which have managed to discover a house on this watch, however I’m going to withstand that temptation and say this as a substitute: I do know, for some collectors, a watch like this may be laborious to care about, however I promise you that is one watch price being attentive to.
Watchmaking, for as a lot as all of us like it, is an anachronism, and a reasonably extreme one at that. By any goal measure, its time has handed, and there’s no sensible justification for many of the watches all of us love, not to mention watches like this one, which certainly price an immense amount of man-hours and possibly an unbelievable amount of cash to supply. However watches just like the Solaria Extremely Grand Complication are additionally one of many strongest circumstances we’ve for the continued existence of this arguably antiquated métier. They present us that there’s nonetheless room to push the bounds of what a watch could be, and I actually hope we will all take the time to understand that. Vacheron Constantin
