Les Cabinotiers Berkley Grand Complication by Vacheron Constantin

EDITOR'S REVIEW

• Les Cabinotiers Berkley Grand Complication by Vacheron Constantin was presented at Watches & Wonders 2024
• Made for billionaire and insurance tycoon William Robert Berkley this is now the most complicated watch in the world with 63 “complications” (the quotation marks are there because brands like to count basic timekeeping functions as complications, which they evidently are not)
• However, it does have few complexities that really are worth remarking upon. Forget triple-axis tourbillons, world times and something as pedestrian as a chronograph (all of which it has, by the way), this watch goes the extra horological mile
• First is the Chinese perpetual calendar, which is included alongside the usual Gregorian one. Gregorian calendars are solar, Chinese perpetual calendars are lunar (there is an 11-day discrepancy between the two years), with each month beginning on the day of the new moon
• In this case, that new moon is the one on the 120th meridian east that passes through the Shangdong peninsula and Hangzhou, the capital city of China’s Zhejiang province near the coast of the East China Sea
•  It also has an agricultural perpetual calendar with indications for the seasons, equinoxes, and solstices
• There is a sky chart on the astronomical calendar as well as sunrise and sunset indications, and day and night lengths, all calibrated to Shanghai
• And if that wasn’t enough, it can chime the Westminster carillon too
• Click  "Buy now"  to find out more on the brand's website