Introducing the Vacheron Constantin Maitre Cabinotier Astronomica

October 09, 2014

We recently brought you Vacheron Constantins Day-Date and Power Reserve from the manufactures Excellence Platine collection. We concluded that while the piece was a moderate complication, it was an expression of Vacherons artisanal passion and a statement of understated perfection.?At Watches & Wonders, we came across the other end of that spectrum C and we are very excited to bring you the Vacheron Constantin Maitre Cabinotier Astronomica. This is a one-of-a-kind timepiece that combines 15 of the most demanding complications in one movement. Its even difficult to pick a starting point, because the Astronomica is packed with so many features.The Astronomica is a minute repeater C that is, it chimes the time (in increments of hours, quarters and minutes) C and the complication includes a flying strike governor. This is a device that regulates the rate at which the hammers strike the gongs (through pretty complex means C two inertia block weights on a rotating shaft that even out energy supplied by the barrel spring through opposing centrifugal and centripetal forces). You can see it employed in the Patrimony Contemporaine Ultra Thin 1731 that we brought you last year.? The Astronomica is also a tourbillon C as is evident at 6 oclock from the Maltese cross-shaped carriage. It fights gravity at a one-minute rotation. Weve covered Vacheron tourbillons extensively this year, and when youre done admiring the Astronomica, be sure to check out the Malte Openworked and the Patrimony 14-day Openworked?C the skeletonization may better reveal the tourbillon, but we're not done with the Astronomica yet.The Astronomica is also a perpetual calendar, but not just any perpetual calendar (like the Langematik Perpetual that requires a date correction every 100 years) C this is a memory of time to come perpetual, and it can maintain the Gregorian calendar for 400 years without need for human intervention. Check and mate.? Were three complications in and have only 12 more to go! The displays on the dial are symmetrically perfect. Speaking of the dial C its 18k white gold in a very subdued slate-colored opaline. The subdials at 9, 12 and 3 oclock feature the day, month and date, respectively. An asymmetric leap year indicator is tucked away at 1 oclock. Opposite that, there is an equation of time complication. This short hand, reserve-like half dial at 10:30 measures the difference in minutes between solar time and standard time. (See, humans divided each year into 365.25 days, then days into 24 hours and hours into 60 minutes. We needed some standardization. But in reality, the time as shown by the sun has a daily variation of 16 minutes. Vacheron has solved this problem for you.)Another rare complication at 8 oclock and 4 oclock is the sunrise and sunset times. It informs the wearer of the sunrise and sunset for that particular day in a particular part of the world. How does the watch know what part of the world? It doesnt, initially. But the client will inform Vacheron, who will in turn tailor the movement to relate to that city. Now let's have a look at the Astronomica's second dial. (This dial is built on two levels.) The central celestial disc reveals the sky chart of the Northern Hemisphere and the four cardinal points. It displays months of the year and sidereal time (corresponding to true time C which allows the watchmaker to adjust the sky chart to the clients chosen city) through the two South and North openings. Sweeping around the rim of the first dial, theres a small hand that indicates the age of the moon C or the numbers of days since the last full moon. The dial on the second level has a long central hand with a sun-shaped counterweight that points to the date on the outer rim of the disc and also indicates the season, zodiac sign and finally the equinox or the solstice corresponding to that dateThe 18k white-gold case is finished in classic Vacheron style C that is to say exceptional C curved lugs, subdued pushers and an overall meticulous attention to sculpting. While the case comes in at 47 mm by 19.1 mm, these dimensions include the crown, pusher (for adjusting the sky chart) and slider for the minute repeater. In addition, the manual manufacture Calibre 2755-B1 has a 58-hour power reserve and 839 parts in 12.15 mm.? The watch comes with a hand-stitched, saddle-finish alligator strap, and it is delivered with a corrector pen, a magnifying glass and a resonator of sound C La Musique du Temps C in a prestige winder box made of Macassar wood. La Musique du Temps enhances the sound and harmony notes of the minute repeater.Without a doubt, the Vacheron Constantin Maitre Cabinotier Astronomica is both as complex and original a piece as we expected to see from the manufacture at the exhibit of Watches & Wonders in Hong Kong. Considering its individuality, the Vacheron Constantin Astronomica is issued as a limited edition of one C which has already sold.For more information on Vacheron Constantin, click here.