These timepieces at Watches and Wonders 2024 set new world records in horology

In a display of precision engineering and artistic mastery, three watch maisons unveiled timepieces that redefine the boundaries of innovation. Vacheron Constantin shattered its own record for the world’s most complicated watch that also incorporates the world’s first Chinese perpetual calendar. To mark its 150th anniversary, Piaget set a new standard for thinness in tourbillon watches. Meanwhile, IWC Schaffhausen's contribution, with its astronomically precise moonphase, challenges the infinite.

Beyond the accolades, each creation’s complexity and precision gives us a glimpse of the endless possibilities that lie ahead in the ever-evolving world of watchmaking. 

VACHERON CONSTANTIN LES CABINOTIERS – THE BERKLEY GRAND COMPLICATION

The one-of-a-kind Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers – The Berkley Grand Complication is the world’s most complicated watch. Weighing at 980g and boasting an unprecedented 63 complications and 2,877 components, it takes over the previous record holder – the Reference 57260 from 2015, which featured 57 complications, also made by Vacheron Constantin. Both bespoke creations were commissioned by American insurance magnate, philanthropist, and watch connoisseur, William R Berkley.

Powered by the Calibre 3752, this dual-face watch is especially notable for its inclusion of the world’s first Chinese perpetual calendar. Working on this timepiece for 11 years, three master watchmakers from the maison succeeded in modelling the ultra-complex calendar by first transcribing it into algorithms. From there, they devised a mechanism that’s capable of following the many irregularities, variables and layers of the Chinese calendar, whose years and lunar months have different durations, as well as a fluctuating first day of the year.

To achieve this, the team ingeniously devised three mechanical “brains”, in which each drives one of the calendar's components: The lunar cycle, solar cycle, and the Metonic cycle – all of which are programmed to function flawlessly until the year 2200. In addition to displaying the complexities of the Chinese calendar, the watch showcases another world-first: A disc that accurately indicates the variable date of the Chinese New Year.

On display at the fair, it was incredible to see the Chinese perpetual calendar's intricate details displayed in Chinese characters on the front of the watch. The phases of the moon and the agricultural year's 24 solar periods are featured on the back, along with a second-time zone display that highlights the earth's global sunshine duration from a geographical perspective.

Visible on both sides of the watch, the Calibre 3752 is a technological marvel that incorporates a split-seconds chronograph, alarm, and other astronomical indications, such as a sky chart that displays the stars and constellations as seen from Shanghai in real time, as well as an accurate moonphase that won't need adjusting for over 1,000 years. It also includes a complex triple-axis tourbillon regulator that can be admired at the back of the watch.

The timepiece even boasts a chiming mechanism of a Grande Sonnerie with a Westminster carillon that chimes to the five-note tune of Big Ben's bells in London. This precision extends to the watch's ability to track multiple time zones and world time, visible through an aperture that showcases a selection of 24 cities representing different time zones.

Housed within a polished white gold case measuring 98mm in diameter and 50.55mm in thickness, each component, including its 31 hands and even those hidden within the movement, is meticulously finished by hand. As much a kinetic art piece as it is a feat of micro-engineering, it’s easy to see why it took over a year for the watch assembly alone.

To commemorate its 150th anniversary, Piaget unveiled a horological marvel in the form of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC) Tourbillon, the world’s slimmest tourbillon watch. Measuring a mere 2mm, the wafer-thin timepiece, which echoes the maison’s first record-setting AUC watch from 2018, now flaunts a sophisticated flying tourbillon.

Although the calibre underwent significant reworking, the new watch retains the fundamental construction of the first AUC, where the movement's components are built directly into the caseback. At the heart of the timepiece is the Piaget Calibre 970P-UC, a manual movement boasting a 40-hour power reserve.

Piaget’s master watchmakers created 70 tourbillon prototypes before developing the one that is positioned at 10 o’clock. To accommodate it, 90 per cent of the movement had to be redesigned, and the mainspring’s energy output was increased by 25 per cent to power it. Also allowing the AUC Tourbillon’s slim profile is the rim-driven tourbillon cage, and innovative use of ceramic ball bearings, which can bear the weight of the components with very little friction. Connoisseurs will also appreciate the transparent sapphire opening in the caseback that shows the intricate tourbillon within.

Precision machining of miniaturised parts, including a 0.2mm thick sapphire crystal, is a feat that required meticulous attention to detail. Wrought from a rigid and robust cobalt alloy, the 41.5mm case (it’s 0.5mm wider than its predecessor) optimises thinness without sacrificing hardness, and even boasts a water resistance of up to 20m. The patented crown system, also seamlessly integrated into the caseband, requires a dedicated tool for adjustments. The elegance of the limited edition 15-piece watch is further accentuated by its blue and gold colour palette that reflects Piaget's distinctive aesthetic of timeless sophistication.

Drawing from nearly 40 years of calendar expertise, IWC introduces its pioneering souped-up perpetual calendar in the form of the Portugieser Eternal Calendar. Beyond the conventional leap-year adjustments, this watch accounts for the Gregorian calendar's intricate leap-year exception rules that takes timekeeping to another level. Comprising only eight parts, this mechanism seamlessly integrates into the watch, which showcases IWC’s engineering prowess.

It has a newly engineered 400-year gear, which ensures that the calendar automatically skips three leap years over four centuries – a rare event that is set to occur in the year 2100. Here’s a quick explanation of the phenomenon: If a year is divisible by 100, but not by 400, it is not considered a leap year. For example, while the year 2000 was a leap year, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not. This means that the upcoming year 2100 will skip the leap year status. As most conventional perpetual calendar watches do not mechanically account for this exception, a manual adjustment by a watchmaker will be needed when the year arrives.

But the main highlight of this watch is its extremely precise moonphase display that achieves unparalleled accuracy through a novel reduction gear system. The key to high precision lies in the number of wheels used, their proportions and the number of teeth they have. For this watch, IWC engineers used a special computer programme to simulate over 22 trillion different combinations, which resulted in the creation of a new reduction gear train using three intermediate wheels. Mathematically, the display will only deviate from the moon’s orbit by just one day after 45 million years. This means that the extraordinary timepiece sets the record for having the world’s most accurate moonphase display. 

With high complications like this, the challenge was integrating the new gear train into the confined space of the eternal calendar module. Here, the moonphase is displayed at 12 o’clock using the IWC-patented Double Moon indication, which depicts the moon as seen from the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The display comprises two superimposed discs, in which a glass celestial disc with two small circular openings rotates above a lower titanium disc with two dots. This representation gives the impression that two small moons are waxing or waning.