Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest Haute Horlogerie manufacturer, debuted their latest timepieces in Hong Kong yesterday. The Métiers d’Art Copernicus celestial spheres 2460 RT, a collection that includes three stunning variants, shows off the Maison’s uniquely talented in-house master artisans, who painstakingly hand carved, set and enabled the exquisite pieces. 

Inspired by Nicolas Copernicus, the famed Renaissance astronomer known for placing the sun in the centre of the universe, each model captures not only time, but the movement of the Earth with an exact reproduction of its elliptical path. Over the course of exactly 24 hours, the grand feu enameled planet will fully rotate upon its axis, and every 365.2421898 days exactly, it will complete its path around brilliant sun, passing through each of the hand-engraved zodiac signs. A true fete of ingenuity. According to the centuries old Maison, while the heavenly rhythm of the solar system organises our existence, the mechanical miniatures of intrinsic horological works choreograph the complex celestial ballet of the solar, lunar, sidereal and terrestrial rotations.

This is not the Maison’s first foray into the astronomical. In 2015 the house released Reference 57260, the most complicated watch ever made, which redefined the limits of the possible with a total of 57 horological complications one double-dial pocket watch, 27 of which were astronomical. In 2017 they presented Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600, which featured 23 astronomical complications.

See all of Vacheron Constantin’s Astronomical watches at www.vacheron-constantin.com