Inside the world's most complicated wristwatch

It took eight years to conceive and build the Solaria, a double-sided timepiece by Vacheron Constantin

- Bloomberg

Vacheron Constantin, the oldest continually operating Swiss watch brand, just revealed the world's most complicated wristwatch. The Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication is a double-sided technological feat that took eight years of research and development. It boasts a record-setting 41 complications, including five astronomical functions—one of which is the first of its kind. And it was all developed, engineered, and assembled by a single master watchmaker.

Vacheron Constantin has filed 13 patent applications for this watch, whose new movement, Caliber 3655, consists of a mind-boggling 1,521 hand-assembled, hand-finished components. In fact, just the assembly of the movement itself (the engine of the watch) took almost a year to complete. In addition to the five astronomical complications that have never been combined in a wristwatch before, it also features a specially conceived minute repeater with Westminster chime (which sounds the time on demand using four hammers and four gongs in different tones), for which seven of the 13 patents were filed.