The latest Vacheron Constantin grand complication watch is the Les Cabinotiers Grande Complication Bacchus, a double-sided single-piece tourbillon
With its department of Les Cabinotiers, Vacheron Constantin offers its best clients the chance to create made-to-measure watches. Made up of expert professionals, this team possesses exceptional technical and manual expertise to be able to develop and manufacture highly-complicated watches on demand.
Their latest grand complication watch is the Les Cabinotiers Grande Complication Bacchus, a double-sided wristwatch created in a single-piece edition that combines watchmaking expertise with artistic crafts.
The 47 mm x 19.10 mm pink gold case is hand-engraved with “vine leaves” and gem-set with 113 rubies (1.84 cts) representing bunch of grapes. This representation gives the watch the name of Bacchus, the Roman god of agriculture, wine and fertility.
The 16 complications, essentially astronomical and calendar-related, are powered by the in-house hand-wound Calibre 2755 GC16 with minute repeater and tourbillon.
Positioned at 6 o'clock, the tourbillon completes one full rotation per minute, thus serving as a small seconds indicator. The minute repeater chimes the hours, quarters and minutes on demand. To avoid unnecessary noise as well as wear and tear on the mechanism, the striking of the gongs is equipped with a centripetal flying strike regulator that regulates the duration of the musical sequences making it possible to obtain clear and regular sounds.
The perpetual calendar indications showing the date, day and month are displayed on three counters in the upper part of the dial. The leap-year cycle appears in a small aperture next to the hand indicating the torque of the minute repeater mechanism between 1 and 2 o’clock. This striking mechanism power reserve is matched by an indication of the movement power reserve, which can be read by means of a serpentine pointer coaxial with the day of the week hand.
Positioned between 10 and 11 o’clock, the equation of time complication displays the difference between mean solar time, corresponding to civil or standard hours and minutes, and true solar time, meaning the actual solar hours and minutes.
Sunrise and sunset times – adjusted according to a reference city – appear at the bottom of the dial.
To complete the astronomical functions, a sidereal time indication is displayed on the back of the watch in the shape of a rotating disc depicting the celestial vault with its constellations observable from the Northern hemisphere.
Taking a fixed star in the sky as a reference point, the time required for the Earth to complete a full 360° rotation, or sidereal day, is exactly 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. Since the Earth is both spinning on its axis and revolving around the Sun, it takes about four minutes less than a calendar day to return to its point of origin relative to a given star. On this model, the "celestial" disc thus performs a complete rotation according to sidereal time with the time displayed on the periphery, opposite the date appearing on the periphery of the mobile disc. This same date is read off by a large central hand moving over the fixed outer flange bearing a scale graduated in five-day increments. This hand also indicates the sign of the zodiac, the season and the four dates corresponding to the solstices and equinoxes. The small central hand indicates the age of the moon, i.e. the number of days that have elapsed since the last full moon.
Comprising 839 parts and beating at the frequency of 2.5 Hz (18,000 vibrations per hour), the Calibre 2755 GC16 offers a 58-hour power reserve.
The Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Grande Complication Bacchus ref. 9700C/000R-B755 is matched to a dark brown Mississippiensis alligator leather strap and delivered in a Les Cabinotiers Prestige box including a winder box, a corrector pen and a magnifying glass.
vacheron-constantin.com
vacheron-constantin.com
COMMENTS