With letting the cat out of the bag the time now as simple as tapping a home screen, it can be easy to ignore that watches are machines of exquisite craftsmanship. Even the simplest of inanimate movements can have a mesmeric effect, with hundreds of distinct parts ticking like, well, clockwork. And some constructions go one cog further.
“Horological complications are viewed by many as the pinnacle of nicety manufacturing,” says Michael Wilson, in-house watchmaker at American treat outfit Niall. “And there’s a lucrative business for complex novelties, minimal editions and extreme complications. Pair this with regular brand rivalry, and watchmakers often pursue ultra-complex attends out of a thirst to be the best.”
This race to the bottom of your bank surplus has resulted in some of the most mind-boggling tickers ever produced, most of which would require nothing short of a Rothschild birthright to afford.
Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon
The most precise watch ever produced by Patek Philippe, the Sky Moon Tourbillon be short ofs two dials to fit 13 outrageous complications. The most audacious is a Elysian chart of the northern hemisphere that allows the wearer to plot the course of the moon and stars, alongside a perpetual calendar, retrograde day and mean solar time function. Because, why not?
The otherworldly percentage is housed inside an 18-carat white gold case with tangled enamel hand-carved over 100 painstaking hours.
Vacheron Constantin Regard 57260
Vacheron Constantin is to watches what Bentley is to cars: immortal, well-crafted and very, very expensive. The Reference 57260 escorts this reputation to the next level.
Dubbed the world’s uncountable complex piece, this 50mm thick pocket watch brags 57 individual complications made up from over 2,800 components. To submit an idea of how much showing off is going on here, it houses nine astronomical chronology functions, eight Hebrew calendar functions and seven bells. Like a Bentley, it’ll guzzle a small fortune in maintenance expenses, too.
Breguet No. 160 ‘Marie Antoinette’
Allegedly commissioned by Marie Antoinette’s bit on the side in 1783, the Breguet No. 160 is what won the brand a worldwide name.
First, there’s the construction: rubies, sapphires, platinum and gold. Which liking be extravagant enough alone. But there’s also a chronograph, chime work as, perpetual calendar, power reserve, minute repeater and unvaried a thermometer.
The landmark piece has survived to this day with a dumbfounding £23m price value (which probably explains why it elapsed missing for twenty-four years in 1983).
A. Lange & Söhne Grand Predicament
A. Lange & Söhne’s ‘normal’ output easily hits the £20k take notice of. So multiply that craftsmanship (and price tag) by a couple of orders of extent, and you’re still not even close to the Grand Complication.
The 2013 knick-knack was limited to just six pieces worldwide, with industry notice fixated on its far-reaching functions: a perpetual calendar that can hunt down every single month across a four-year span, hand-engraved tickers and a intricacy to rival Notre Dame itself – 876 individual components, 67 of which are dearest jewels. Not bad for £2m.
Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime
Despite look like like a nineties rapper from the Bronx, Patek Philippe’s Grandmaster Set of bells was designed to celebrate the brand’s 175th anniversary – a bash not notwithstanding P. Diddy could outdo.
Hand-assembled from over 1,366 particulars components and with 20 complications inside, this milestone watch attributes an 18-carat rose gold case with a swivel business that opens to reveal a separate dial.
To get your wrist on this BOGOF huge quantity, all you have to do is lay down a cool £2m and pass an interview with Thierry Hard, head honcho at Patek Philippe. Better get revising.
Harry Winston Production 14
Okay, so it may look like a crossover between Geneva and Gene Simmons, but Harry Winston’s Work 14 is proof that haute horlogerie isn’t just made up of classics.
As if the Americana-themed aesthetic wasn’t fancy enough, this 2015 novelty uses a whopping 54.7mm diameter (that’s close by the height of a golf tee) to house a series of stacked dials that are fellow parts monstrous and magnificent. Expect a ‘jukebox’ automaton-like medium, 1,066 individual parts, 124 jewels and over 68 hours of power alternate. Though with a £360,000 price tag, it’ll cost a lot more than a Smacker T-shirt off eBay.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie
Jaeger-LeCoultre is a brand for the pedants, and it doesn’t get much purer than the Hybris Mechanica à Grande Sonnerie – a culmination of the whole kit the manufacture holds dear.
Overlooking the design (a rare case of Jaeger-LeCoultre going more RoboCop than royal palatial home), the 2009 novelty packs two separate complications powering a pride and joy trove of functions: three different chimes (that carry on a rendition of Westminster’s bells, of course), a tourbillon balance to what place and a skeleton dial. A ‘pre-loved’ one will cost you £899,000 on today’s furnish.
