Watches and Wonders 2025: Vacheron Constantin unveils most ambitious complication timepiece yet featuring 41 patents

Vacheron Constantin unveils the ambitious Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication to mark its milestone moment

Vacheron Constantin celebrates 270 years of uninterrupted watchmaking this year, the longest of any mansion in the world, with the launch of the most complicated wristwatch in the world.

Haute horology has always been at the heart of the brand, and the Les Cabinotiers Solaria Ultra Grand Complication, a piece featuring an astonishing 41 complications, is a culmination of centuries of watchmaking know-how that traces back to 1755.

This unique piece, a fusion of innovation and tradition, is protected by 13 patents. It continues the brand’s legacy of Grand Complications, combining technical innovations in astronomy, chronography, and acoustics.

Among the complications are five rare astronomical functions: the position, height, culmination and declination of the sun, and the temporal tracking of celestial objects, which is a world first. A Westminster minute repeater 

Seven patents are applied to the new Westminster minute repeater to enhance the musicality of the chime through new architecture and striking mechanism; among the new patented features is an option to select between on-demand repeaters of the hour only or to chime the hour, quarters, and minutes. 

For a timepiece featuring 41 complications, every millimetre counts when it comes to enhancing the wearability and legibility of the dial. Measuring 45 mm, the white gold case housing calibre 3655 and its 1521 components has a thickness of just 14.99 mm.  

Its architecture splits into two interconnected sections: a base movement handling timekeeping, chronograph, and chiming functions and an upper module dedicated to astronomical displays. Vacheron Constantin’s new patented plug-and-play mechanism enables seamless energy transmission and assembly between the two sections. 

Presenting the rich information across the dial and case back in an aesthetically pleasing and legible way presents another great challenge.  The dial plays with striking contrasts—matte and polished greys, rhodium-plated white gold indexes, with a sub-dial featuring a miniature 18K gold Earth with polished continents against sandblasted oceans at six o’clock, accented by a yellow gold sun declination indicator.  

The sapphire crystal caseback reveals a celestial spectacle of constellations, elliptical orbits, and a rotating star chart rendered in dual-tone metallisation. Vibrant red and green split-second hands pop against the monochrome backdrop, mirrored by a peripheral power reserve resembling a precision instrument gauge. Every detail marries form with function in this horological masterpiece. 

Also see: Panerai: A century of watchmaking unfolds in Hong Kong