Introducing: Vacheron Constantin Breaks The World Record for Most Complicated Wristwatch With The Les Cabinotiers ‘Solaria Ultra Grand Complication’ (Live Pics)

Vacheron Constantin’s Les Cabinotiers department has done it again, setting a world record for the most complicated wristwatch with the “Solaria Ultra Grand Complication” less than one year after the announcement of the world’s most complicated watch. Far from a pocket watch this time, the Solaria features 41 complications, 13 potential patented inventions, and a shockingly modern design and wearable size. Fair warning, this story will (yet again) be the longest we’ll run during Watches and Wonders.

Obviously, the brand is no stranger to high-complication watchmaking over their 270-year history. Their forays into this mini-competition among the world’s complications specialists resulted in 2017’s Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600, with 23 complications. But they still didn’t have nearly the number of complications of the Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4, with its 36. But Franck Muller’s website is wildly out of date. Not only has the Aeternitas not been the most complicated watch for some time, but it’s no longer the most complicated wristwatch either.

Beyond the awe at the Berkley Grand Comp, there was some fair critique that the 960 gram, 90.8mm diameter by 50.55mm thick “pocket watch” wasn’t so much a watch, but a clock (though, where the line of one ends and the other begins is up for debate) or – my favorite comment – a horological kettlebell. “Impressive. Now make a wristwatch version,” said one reader. Well, they kind of just did.

As they did last year for that watch, Vacheron yet again previewed the Les Cabinotiers Solari this year on the day before Watches and Wonders to a select group of press. That means that, not only do we have all the details, but I also had a chance to go “hands-on” (literally, versus the Berkley which we couldn’t touch) with the watch. 

Overview

Alright, we know that the watch has 41 complications and has 13 patents applied for – and we’ll get to the specific complications shortly – but I think one of the most impressive things is the size and overall aesthetic of the watch. Vacheron has not shied from tying the idea of “complicated” closely to the word “loud” with watches like the 2022 Tribute to Bacchus, and yet, this has a relatively reserved case design and modern dial language in a wearable package.

How wearable? The watch measures 45mm by 14.99mm thick. Compare that to the recent Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean World Time, which is 0.5mm larger and 4mm thicker. While these are two different watches with two different use cases (the “Solaria” has no listed water resistance, so I’d say it’s just dust-proof), and Vacheron’s offering is a unique piece from their high watchmaking arm with no price given, it just goes to show the achievement of micro-mechanics and miniaturisation from Vacheron.

The entire movement, the Calibre 3655, measures only 36mm in diameter by 10.96mm thick and features everything from 14 astronomical complications to five chiming complications, including a Grande et Petite Sonnerie, a split-second chronograph that also doubles as one of those astronomical complications, and more. With 1521 components and 204 jewels, the watch runs at 3Hz with a 72-hour power reserve.

Unlike the Berkley Grand Complication, which was made on commission, the Solaria is a fully Vacheron-driven project. One watchmaker, yes, just one, was given carte blanche to go hog wild and make the most incredible feat of horology he could, and spent eight years on the task. He certainly took full advantage of the brief. There was no budget, and there is no price tag but the watch is for sale. In fact, the Solaria is actually called “the Premiere” to end its official name, because the program is open to orders with future examples modified in ways to keep them all unique. Yet each would have the full suite of complications. We will have a list of all the complications at the end, but here are some highlights.

Yes, there are the normal (and extremely complex) chiming complications, a chronograph, and a tourbillon, but in this case, the Westminster minute repeater mechanism is integrated into the base movement along with the chronograph mechanism and tourbillon regulator. The Civil time display module is also coupled to the base movement, while Sidereal time runs independently.

There is a Gregorian perpetual calendar and a second time zone display. But the second time zone has an independent hour and minute hands for your local time that are separated from the home time, and another worldtime display. The astronomical display also gives high and low tides for a selected city (as it does sunrise, sunset, moonphase, and age of the moon), but it also gives you the date of the Spring tide and the neap tide (seven days after a spring tide when there is a period of moderate tides and the sun and moon are at right angles to each other).

The most fascinating complication (or combination of them), in my opinion, is the use of the column-wheel split-second chronograph as an astronomical tool. The rear of the watch features a display of the “celestial vault” (the apparent surface of the sky) with two overlapping sapphire displays. It’s complicated (for lack of a better word), so bear with me.

First, the rear dial displays a full slate of constellations for the night sky above a chosen location and displays the changing view of the constellations in real-time. The split-second chronograph is mounted in the middle of this display while another disc in the center of the dial has a green arrow that points to an hour between 0 and 24. There’s also another green index line halfway from the center of the dial to the edge. As explained by Vacheron, this is how you use them:

“To operate the complication, the user visually selects a given star on the celestial chart, then activates the chronograph. When the chronograph hand reaches the green reference marker, stop the first hand but let the second hand continue until it reaches the current position of the chosen star, then stop the hand. The time (in hours) that must elapse until the user will see the chosen star in the sky is indicated by the green triangle on the small counter in the centre of the dial. The peripheral month display marked on the back crystal enables the wearer to adjust the celestial vault to reflect the Earth’s position in its orbit around the Sun.”

Last but not least, the display is – you guessed it – very complex. The front dial has four subdials, with two metal discs under the subdials for cities and astronomical signs, and three sapphire discs for sunrise, sunset, and moonphases (including spring and neap tide). Each sapphire disc is only 0.18mm.

On the reverse, the transparent caseback is actually an astronomical disc marked with the months and constellations and is 0.6mm thick at the endge, while the rotating disc, which display the celestial vault and the sidereal time, is only 0.3 mm thick.

From an aesthetic point of view, it took me a little time to appreciate the use of so much color on the dial. At first I thought the use of so much yellow, red, and green made the watch look less serious than I’d expect the most complicated wristwatch to look. Eventually I realized that each of these colors wildly increases legibility and makes it much more modern than any other ultra-complication ever made. It also is much more muted in person than the provided photos. In short, it’s one of the most visually balanced multi-complications possible.

The 13 Patent Applications

Understanding the achievements of the Berkley Grand Complication last year required considerable knowledge and explanation of the Chinese calendar and its application in the Chinese perpetual calendar. That made up the bulk of the change from the 57260 to the Berkley. Here, Vacheron has instead patented a wide range of complications.

Why does this matter? Well, the brand has used pieces like this in the past as proving grounds for things they could integrate into future, more commercial releases. For instance, the spherical tourbillon from the 57260 made its way into the various versions of the Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon we’ve seen over the years. This is even more likely in a watch with a movement size that is more applicable to other wristwatches.

There are two patents for time indications. The first is a “plug and play” mounting system for aligning and securing the astronomical displays while allowing easy service and indexing. Second is a new system for universal time that allows the local time to be disassociated from home time, but using a differential instead of a spring as has been used in the past. The split-seconds chronograph also has a new split-seconds insulator system that is meant to allow better isochronism and vibration reduction.

The bulk of the patent applications are actually for the minute repeater – a total of seven. They’ve reworked the minute repeater architecture with developments to optimise the size of the hammers and maximise the energy transmitted to the hammers and, therefore, the gongs for a better sound. I was surprised to hear that this meant that they actually shrunk the hammers, which minimized backlash, and made them out of steel for more power with 18K gold added on three of them. They’re also arranged in a novel way, with pairs of hammers on each side of the baseplate. Finally, there’s a new mode selector system for selecting the striking mode on demand of the repeater, choosing between hours only or engaging the entire striking mechanism with hours, quarters, and minutes.

I think there’s no way to convey how fascinating a watch like this is and how difficult it is to comprehend that I’ve been looking at a watch that’s so technical (with a dial that reflects that) but is only 0.6mm thicker than IWC’s Eternal Calendar from last year. It’s also just a testament to how far watchmaking technology has come to make a watch like this.

The Complications, 1 Through 41

Just as we did for the Berkley Grand Complication, I thought it might be useful to break down the 41 complications of the Solaria one by one. One thing to note: one of the listed complications is the tourbillon, which is a regulating organ (albeit a complex one to make). The debate about whether it’s a complication is so fierce that the only way to win is not to play the game. When I asked Ben his opinion on this recently, he said, “Even though it’s not one, it is one,” which I think sums it up perfectly.

That said, if you have the facts and are voting no on the tourbillon, Vacheron credits itself for only one complication for the second time zone hours and minutes (two different complications by my count), so the number could be 40, 41, or even 42 complications. Either way, there’s no doubt that this watch stakes the claim to be the most complicated wristwatch in the world with the following functions.

Time Measurement (6 Total): 1. Day and night indication for reference city 2. Second time zone hours and minutes (on 24-hour display) 3. World time indication for 24 cities 4. Second time zone day and night indication 5. 3Hz tourbillon with silicon balance wheel (with high Q factor) 6. Civil time display module coupled to the base movement

Gregorian Perpetual Calendar (8 Total): 7. Perpetual calendar 8. Days of the week 9. Date 10. Months 11. Year indication 12. Leap-year indication 13. Indication for the number of the week within the year (ISO 8601 calendar) 14. Number of the day of the week (ISO 8601 calendar).

Lunar Indication (3 Total): 15. Astronomical Moon phase and age of the Moon 16. Tide level indicator 17. Spring and neap tides indication.

Astronomical Indications (14 Total): 18. Indications of seasons, equinoxes, solstices & astronomical zodiac signs 19. Position of the Sun 20. Sunrise time (according to the city of reference) 21. Sunset time (according to the city of reference) 22. Duration of the day (according to the city of reference) 23. Equation of time on tropical gear 24. Culmination time of the Sun (according to the city of reference) 25. Height of the Sun above the horizon (according to the city of reference) 26. Declination of the Sun, 3-dimensional Earth showing the latitude of the Sun in the North/South hemisphere 27. Sidereal hours 28. Sidereal minutes 29. Astronomical zodiac signs 30. Sky chart (according to the city of reference) 31. Temporal tracking of celestial objects.

Chiming Complications (5 Total): 32. Minute repeater 33. Westminster carillon chime (4 hammers & 4 gongs) 34. Choice of hour-only or full chime 35. Crown locking system during the chiming 36. Double-stop hammer system to limit rebound and optimize transmission of the hammers’ kinetic energy

Chronograph (4 Total): 37. Chronograph (1 column wheel) 38. 60-minute counter 39. Split-seconds chronograph (1 column wheel) 40. Isolator system for the split-seconds chronograph

Additional Feature: 41. Power-reserve indication (outer disc at 190°)

For more information on the Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers “Solaria” Ultra Grand Complication, visit the brand’s website. Stay tuned for more over the coming days from Watches & Wonders – you can follow all of the show’s new releases right here.

​Hodinkee 

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