Vacheron Constantin Announces “World’s Most Complicated Watc

[serg70]

К 260-летию марки VC анонсировало создание одних из самых сложных часов.







Vacheron Constantin Announces “World’s Most Complicated Watch:” Here’s a Glimpse

On Sept. 17 in Geneva, at a celebration marking its 260th anniversary, Vacheron Constantin will present what it calls “the most ingenious and sophisticated mechanical watch ever made.”
Ahead of the launch, Vacheron has released some preliminary information about the watch to a small number of watch publications around the world, including WatchTime. (It did not provide an image of the watch.)
Here’s what we know.
The watch, which Vacheron says has two dials, has been created entirely in-house by three VC watchmakers, who worked on it for eight years. The watch was commissioned by a prominent, as-yet-unnamed collector. It incorporates, Vacheron says, “entirely new and unique complications representing the most significant technical advancements in watchmaking in modern times. The new complications had to be calculated, designed and developed from scratch. Thus a completely new caliber of movement was created unlike any seen before.”
One of the new complications, WatchTime has learned exclusively, is a dual calendar mechanism that Vacheron has invented for the watch’s perpetual calendar function. It presents data for two different calendar systems: the traditional Gregorian calendar, which emphasizes months and days; or the ISO (International Organization of Standards) 8601 business calendar, which emphasizes the number of the week of the year.
Another unusual calendar feature of the watch is a seasonal calendar and astronomic scale at the edge of one of the two main dials. The scale has three rings, one for the months and days, one for the zodiac constellation periods, and one for the seasons. The scale enables one to calculate the moveable dates of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.
Vacheron does not specify the number of new complications, saying only that there are several (i.e., more than two): “This watch has introduced several important brand new complications to the world of watchmaking.” The watch also has “more familiar” complications, the company said. No word on the number of total complications, but it is likely to be more than 16. That’s the number of complications in the Tour de l’Ile wristwatch, the star of the large collection of unusual watches Vacheron made for its 250th anniversary in 2005. Vacheron refers to the new watch in its briefing material as the “Grand Oeuvre” and “the most complicated watch” and characterizes it as “a watch of hitherto unimaginable complication and technical innovation,” implying that it will outdo the Tour de l’Ile in technical complexity.



Vacheron calls the addition of the ISO 8601 business calendar indication “a significant first.” The ISO model is used mainly in the international financial sector and avoids confusion caused by different conventions around the globe for writing numeric dates and times.
When the ISO 8601 mode is employed, the number of the week within the year and the number of the day within the week take precedence over the traditional month and date indication. The number of the week is read from the dial concentric to the month indication. The number of the day within the week is indicated in a window directly above the week dial: 1 for Monday, the first day of the week in the ISO system, and 7 for Sunday.
Vacheron’s dual calendar mechanism has two separately functioning yet mechanically integrated options. In the Gregorian mode, the date is given via a retrograde display, the months in an inner ring, and the leap year indication (1 to 4) in the window above the calendar dial.
The new watch has a lot to live up to: Vacheron has not attempted to curb its enthusiasm for it. The company states that the research and skills used to develop and construct these and the other new complications “can be considered the greatest contribution to the advancement of mechanical watchmaking since the 1920s.” It said the watch “takes its place as one of the greatest man-made objects in the world.”

В профильном форуме VC это создание обсуждают уже некоторое время. Пока по ряду признаков (скажем, встроенной карте звездного неба) приходят к идее, что заказ сего произведения идет из Москвы. Вот несколько ссылок на дискуссии

http://www.thehourlounge.com/en/vach...digious-628020

http://www.thehourlounge.com/en/vach...-hint-1-628130

http://www.thehourlounge.com/en/vach...al-hint-628286

http://www.thehourlounge.com/en/vach...s-right-628398

Алекс сознательно выкладывает информацию кусками, чтобы держать публику в напряжении )))

[serg70]

В продолжении темы - еще ссылка:

http://quillandpad.com/2015/06/11/va...h-anniversary/

[serg70]

Выложен еще кусок по часам...

Let's take a closer look at the Double Retrograde Split Seconds Chronograph



Completely new to the world of watchmaking, the extraordinary and visually dramatic Vacheron Constantin retrograde rattrapante chronograph is of a totally innovative design and construction.
This is the first watch ever to be made with a rattrapante chronograph with double retrograde action. It is not only a highly visual complication but mechanically ingenious. This new chronograph is read by the user exactly in the manner of a split-seconds chronograph, uniquely however, whilst both hands still work in unison and from the same axis, unlike all other split-seconds chronographs, the two hands never actually meet but operate on two separate scales on opposing sides of the dial. In this respect, the new chronograph can perhaps be best described as a “detached” split-seconds chronograph.
To create this function, a new chronograph mechanism has been invented and made entirely in-house at Vacheron Constantin specifically for this exceptional watch. In addition, it has been necessary to specially design and calculate the weight and balance of the two long and very fine chronograph hands so that the chronograph has perfect stability and extreme accuracy during operation.

HOW THE CHRONOGRAPH IS OPERATED & USED

This chronograph can be used either to time a single event or two events that begin simultaneously but do not necessarily end together. The unique feature of the chronograph is that although the operating function is that of a split-seconds chronograph, the two hands never re-join together in the usual way but are instead each read from a separate scale - providing both clarity and elegance.
Two retrograde chronograph scales, each numbered 0 - 60 and calibrated for 1/5th second intervals can be seen on the left and right edge of the dial just within the minute ring. When the button in the winding crown is depressed, both hands - the main chronograph hand and the secondary hand are started together, beginning their journey up the seconds scale on the left-hand side of the dial for the primary chronograph and the right-hand side for the secondary hand. Upon reaching the 60-second marks at the top of the scales the hands then instantaneously “fly” back to zero. Ingeniously, the movement is made so that the fractional time-lapse created by the fly-back action is automatically compensated for so ensuring complete accuracy.
The secondary retrograde chronograph function is equivalent in use to the split-seconds function in all other rattrapante watches but completely unique to Vacheron Constantin in both its construction and operation. This hand runs up the scale on the right-hand side in unison symmetrically with the primary chronograph hand. It is stopped and activated by depressing a button at 11 o’clock on the side of the case. If this button is depressed whilst the chronograph is in operation, the secondary chronograph hand is stopped and the timing can then be read. The secondary hand can be stopped independently of the primary chronograph at any required point to read an intermediate timing. Upon its release, the hand then instantaneously jumps in a “catch-up” action to position itself again symmetrical to the primary chronograph hand at the relevant position in its operation.
This action can be repeated as often as necessary throughout the period of timing. As with the primary chronograph hand, the secondary hand “flies” back to zero upon reaching the 60-second mark. 60-minute and 12-hour register dials record each elapsed minute and hour when the chronograph is in constant operation so that any event of up to 12 hours in duration can be accurately timed to 1/5th of a second. When the button in the crown is depressed a second time, both hands stop. To then reset both hands to zero the button in the crown is depressed a third time.
The co-axial button in the winding crown therefore has three actions:

First press – both hands are activated

Second press – the primary chronograph hand is stopped

Third press – both hands are returned to zero

The button on the side of the case at 11 o’clock has two actions:

First press – the secondary hand is stopped

Second press – the secondary hand is restarted and instantly finds its equal and opposite position on the right hand scale to mirror the position of the primary hand on the left.

[serg70]

Алекс продолжает выкладывать информацию о часах...

Here is the latest hint on one of the complications it shall feature: The Armillary Sphere Tourbillon



The newly created and mesmerising Armillary sphere tourbillon is a visual and technical wonder that has been entirely constructed in-house at Vacheron Constantin.



This tourbillon has been named “Armillary” because of its visual similarity to the interlocking circles and rings of the scientific instrument known as the “armillary sphere”. The company’s watchmakers have been inspired too by the masterpiece of the legendary 18th century French maker Antide Janvier – a four-sided clock supporting a mechanical astronomic armillary sphere that was ordered by King Louis XVI in 1789.

With such inspiration, they have created the most supremely elegant mechanism displayed as a three-dimensional constantly rotating sphere gliding with the utmost delicacy simultaneously in three directions. The frame of the cage itself, made of ultra-light aluminium and housing the escapement is ingeniously constructed to incorporate the Vacheron Constantin company logo of the Maltese cross. Once every 15-seconds during the tourbillon’s rotation, the Maltese cross becomes fully visible to the viewer.To further enhance this exceptional mechanism the watchmaker has also chosen to use a spherical balance spring which not only adds to the elegance of the mechanism, but its special properties contribute to the accuracy of the watch.

Experimentation with the tourbillon mechanism in attempts to improve its function was pioneered by the exceptional German watchmaker Alfred Helwig (1886-1974) technical director of the Deutsche Uhrmacherschule, who invented in 1920 what is now commonly known as the flying tourbillon – a free-standing cage supported from only one side without any kind of bridge, this made it possible to make the movement as flat as possible. However it was Helwig’s pupil Walter Prendel, one of only four students to ever graduate the Deutches Uhrmacherschule in Glashutte with honors, who first constructed a tourbillon with the cage slightly tilted out of the vertical in 1928. This meant it was never in a completely vertical or horizontal position which eliminated the two most extreme variations. Prendel’s invention led to significant improvements in rate.

The concept of a tourbillon rotating on more than one axis was in fact first expressed in 1921 by Sir David Salomons, the legendary collector and authority on A.L. Breguet, who wrote “Breguet invented the tourbillon, which gets rid of certain position errors, but if the balance again turned a complete revolution out of its plane at the same time the tourbillon was working, then all position errors disappear…”. Not being a watchmaker, Salomons could never put his idea into practice himself but it was this idea that more than 50 years later must have inspired the British watchmaker Anthony Randall to construct his first dual-axis tourbillon in 1978 for which he obtained the patent in 1982. Based on Randall’s work, another British watchmaker, Richard Good made the first triple-axis tourbillon, a mechanism that captivated all who saw it. Both Anthony Randall’s and Richard Good’s dual and triple-axis tourbillons were fitted into carriage clocks and therefore did not have to endure sudden changes in position as did classic watches. They are however the foundation for all today’s multiple-axis tourbillons and without a doubt, the most remarkable horological creations both technically and visually. The expiry of the patents for those first multiple-axis tourbillions has allowed modern-day watchmakers to further develop the triple-axis tourbillon, work which has culminated in this extraordinarily sophisticated armillary three-axis tourbillon now incorporated in this Vacheron Constantin masterwork.

Two further exceptional and historic watchmaking inventions have been included in the making of the escapement; a spherical hairspring and the use of diamonds for the jewels of the pallets in the escapement.

The spherical hairspring (balance spring) used in the context of the armillary tourbillon has great visual appeal in echoing and enhancing the overall spherical design of the tourbillon, it also has a practical purpose. Devised in 1814, by the famous Swiss watchmaker Jacques-Frederic Houriet who demonstrated that a hairspring of spherical form gave the most perfect isochronism. In watchmaking, the aim of the watchmaker is to make a watch “Isochronous” meaning that the timekeeping of the watch is unaffected by fluctuations in the amplitude or swing of the oscillating balance caused when the watch is going from a fully wound state to a state of unwind. When the mainspring is fully wound the balance swings at its widest, as the mainspring’s power subsides, the amplitude naturally decreases. Isochronism adjustment involves making the hairspring in such a way so that its frequency is independent of its amplitude. As Houriet demonstrated, the spherical-form hairspring is the most effective spring to make a watch isochronous, however, they are very difficult to create and subsequently are only ever found in the most sophisticated watches.

The pallet fork of the escapement in this watch is made with the exceptional feature of diamond pallets which are at the same time both very hardwearing and low friction. Such pallets are extremely challenging to make and very few watches have ever been made with diamond pallets. They have a historical context both in the wider history of watchmaking and in the history of Vacheron Constantin itself.

[serg70]

Продолжаем про этот уникальный экземпляр (полный отчет будет дан во время официальной презентации часов 17 сентября)...

What will be the world's most complicated watch features a surprising and unique complication: the indication of the Metonic cycle

Named after Meton, a 5th-century BC Athenian astronomer, the period of the Metonic cycle is 19 years and is notable because it is an almost perfect multiple between a solar year and a lunar month.

19 years is almost exactly equal to 235 lunar months and totals 6,940 full days. The difference between the two periods of 19 years and 235 synodic months is only a few hours. The Metonic cycle can be also be used to predict eclipses and is used for the calculation of the date of Easter every year.

Considering a year to be 1⁄19 of this 6,940-day cycle gives a year length of 365 + 1⁄4 + 1⁄76 days which is slightly more than 12 lunar months. To keep a 12-month lunar year in pace with the solar year, an extra 13th month is added on seven occasions during the nineteen-year period.

The in-house watchmaking team at Vacheron Constantin have developed the Metonic cycle indication as an integral part of a new and special calendar, one of three interrelated but entirely different calendar systems incorporated within this watch.

[serg70]

И еще добавка )))

You may recall that Vacheron Constantin was the 1st to create a true world time watch usine Louis Cottier's system back in 1932. You can read about Vacheron Constantin's World Time watches here.

This new tiempeiece will also feature an original world time indication The idea was to find a way to indicate the time zones in an easy to read and uncluttered manner.

Here the 12-hour second time zone dial is a smaller dial separate from the main timekeeping dial with a separate indicator window showing the user whether it is daytime or night-time in the chosen city. Another aperture window neatly replaces the usual ring-type city display of the Cottier system.

Displayed in the aperture is a choice of 24 cities with their appropriate three-letter abbreviations along with their respective time deviations plus or minus from Greenwich Mean Time.

[serg70]

Наконец, последний пост Алекса - перед тем, как часы будут официально анонсированы...


A Most Precice Moonphase

The Vacheron Constantin moon phase system is so precisely calculated that it requires correction only once every 1027 years and 108 days. The four indications shown here display the new moon and full moon, the first quarter and third quarter of the moon cycle. The moon goes through a complete moon phases cycle in about one month. More accurately, the synodic period or lunation and is exactly 29.5305882 days. The outer ring on this dial registers the number of each elapsed day of the 29.5305882 day cycle. In a period of 1027 years and 108 days the Vacheron Constantin moon phase will deviate by just one day.

[Rubar]

Сергей, спасибо, что держите в курсе Очень познавательно, так много новых имен, фактов! Спасибо!