Vacheron Constantin just unveiled the most complicated wristwatch ever made
The headliner for the Swiss watchmaker will have you looking at the sky in a new light. Here, we also visit some of the brand's other highlights from Watches & Wonders
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WE CONSTANTLY HEAR about how complicated constructing a timepiece is. But at Watches & Wonders this week in Geneva, Vacheron Constantin is owning the title. The Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication is, in the words of the 270-year-old watchmaker, “the most complicated wristwatch ever made”.
The Les Cabinotiers line is itself the Swiss watchmaker’s highest expression of exclusivity; the department is dedicated to producing one-of-a-kind models. What ground the Solaria Ultra Grand Complication breaks is with its 41 complications (industry parlance that counts the abilities of a watch beyond telling the time).
To name a handful, it features an innovative minute-repeater and five rare astronomical functions, one of which is dedicated to charting the apparent course of the sun across our sky – its rise and set. And if so much about our sky can be told from the flick of the wrist, the watch also debuts a split-seconds chronograph which can be used in conjunction with a star chart. Allowing the wearer to calculate when a selected star or constellation will appear in the sky, this is a world first.
The masterpiece is sure to earn its place in the most respected circles of horology (and to the discerning astronomer), and the Les Cabinotiers is also a pretty thing to behold with hallmarks of luxurious design in the 18-carat white gold 45mm case.
This is also just the headliner. At the trade show, Vacheron Constantin also released a slew of new models that should make your purview.
What new Vacheron Constantin watches were revealed at Watches and Wonders 2025?
Traditionnelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar
How big of a cake would you need to fit 270 birthday candles? This isn’t one of those how many jellybeans in a jar questions, but rather how old the Swiss watchmaker is turning this year. Vacheron Constantin is celebrating this anniversary by giving the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar a new manufacture calibre with a hand-guilloché dial.
What this means for one of the house’s crowd-favourites is that the ultra-thin toubillon complication and perpetual calendar won’t overcrowd the elegant dial, keeping the Maltese cross motif clear on the dial. (The signature motif engraving on the 18-carat gold dial is what makes this 270-year anniversary edition distinguishable from the rest, if you were wondering.)
Traditionnelle Openface collection
The Openface collection of the Traditionnelle is a contemporary tribute to the house crowd-favourite. Limited to just 370 in three variations, this makes it one of the rarer offerings at this year’s trade show by the watchmaker; each watch is individually numbered.
While the general instinct to keep an openwork looking elegant is with a skeletonisation – effectively minimising materials – the Traditionnelle Openace reveals the movement’s complexity and the inner beauty of the chaos. The Openface is also taking part in the anniversary festivities with the retrograde display designed for excellent legibility, which was first introduced on a Vacheron Constantin watch in 1940 and growing into a house signature.
Patrimony collection
At a certain age, you can claim things like making the most complicated watch in all of existence. That’s what Vacheron Constantin, at 270, did with their Les Cabinotiers; as the world’s oldest watch brand, they’re owning it all. If you haven’t caught on yet either, all their timepieces presented at Watches & Wonders have been strapped with alligator leather. Good thing, too, the watchmaker has much to aspire to the reptile’s 83.5 million. The Patrimony is thus, a elegant blend fitted into an ultra-thin case. It recalls the Traditionnelle, but also mid-century timepieces released by the brand in the 1950s when simplistic beauty was prized.
Les Cabinotiers Tribute to the Tour de l’Île
Vacheron Constantin has really pulled out all the stops during the trade show. The Les Cabinotiers Tribute to the Tour de l’Île feature decorated dials to honour the city of Geneva. In three variations, each distinct depiction is of the ‘island tour’, a remnant of a 13th-century castle. It was in 1843 when the watchmaker set up its workshop in the tour. A symbol of the house, the tribute comes at a time when dials are themselves canvases. What the craftsmen at Vacheron seem to have perfected is creating a single edition timepiece of the tower’s likeness.
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