Vacheron Constantin Spins the Time of the Sky, Part 2: Les Cabinotiers Armillaries Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Planetaria

Les Cabinotiers, the pinnacle of Vacheron Constantin's watchmaking, produces a wide variety of unique pieces, many of which are not even publicly available. This article focuses on the Celestial watch, and explores the essence of modern luxury watchmaking.

The sphere points to an eternal calendar

　Founded in 1775, Vacheron Constantin is said to have produced its first perpetual calendar in 1884. After a period of prosperity when luxury watchmaking in Geneva was reaching its peak, the company established a specialized workshop specializing in the assembly of complicated timepieces in 1900, marking the beginning of the 20th century. This bespoke workshop embodied the aspirations of royalty, aristocrats, and the ultra-wealthy of the time. This spirit is carried on into the present day through the "Les Cabinotiers" collection, a collection specializing in unique pieces that was revived in 2006. The pinnacle of this collection is the Grand Complication pocket watch "Ref. 57260," produced to commemorate the company's 260th anniversary.

　The Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar Planetaria, released in 2021, is a variant of the celestial watch (astronomical clock) that inherits the main functions of the Ref. 57260 while pointing out new possibilities for perpetual calendars. The dial of this watch displays a retrograde date display, a high-precision double moon phase display coaxially aligned with the hour and minute hands, world time and day/night indicators for both the northern and southern hemispheres, and a day-of-the-week and month display around the outer periphery. A small leap year display window is located below the hour and minute displays, and the watch is programmed with a perpetual calendar that will require no adjustment until 2100.

The offset hour and minute display at 3 o'clock and the coaxially positioned high-precision moon phase display are combined with a titanium hemispherical disc and a domed sapphire crystal printed with the Earth's shadow to create a double moon phase display, corresponding to the northern and southern hemispheres.

The 24-hour display for the Northern Hemisphere is located at 12 o'clock, with the day of the week displayed coaxially around the outer periphery.

　The "Armillary" part of the model name does not refer to the original meaning of "rotating celestial globe," but rather to the three-dimensional carriage inherited from the Ref. 57260. However, when it was installed in a wristwatch, the design was changed from three axes to two axes. As a result, the balance wheel is no longer directly facing the front of the dial, and a mechanism was added that allows the movement of the balance wheel to be viewed through a small window on the side at 9 o'clock. However, since the outer carriage, which intersects with the balance shaft at a 90-degree angle, rotates once per minute, the function of displaying the seconds is still intact.

　This watch, which combines a world time display, a high-precision moon phase display, and a perpetual calendar, is positioned as a member of the Celestial family, largely due to its clever visualization. The moon disc at 3 o'clock and the globe-shaped world time discs at 12 and 6 o'clock are made of hemispherical titanium, with intricate engravings depicting the lunar surface and continents. The domed sapphire crystal covering the surface is softly shaded, and the 24-hour display at 12 and 6 o'clock that controls the day and night functions is tilted to reflect the sun-like position of the armillary tourbillon carriage at 9 o'clock.

　This domed sapphire, only 0.35mm thick, is apparently made as a single piece, including the outer date display and the retrograde date display, making it extremely difficult to manufacture. However, the contrast between the sapphire crystal with its huge dome over the armillary tourbillon carriage and the three sapphire crystal domes in the space within the dial is striking, evoking the mystical beauty of celestial bodies.

　This piece expresses the astronomical clock through the power of clever composition and design alone. This is also one way of creating a unique piece.

Professor Hirota's "This is amazing!"

　Vacheron Constantin's strength lies in the sophisticated fusion of mechanism and design. Of course, this can be seen in other companies as well, but what makes the company exceptional is that it generously invests its abundant resources in unique pieces without showing any signs of failure. This is why it is a long-established company. (Masamasa Hirota, this magazine)