Van Cleef & Arpels Unveils Poetic Complication Midnight Planétarium at SIHH 2014

Earlier today we saw the Monsieur Arpels Heure Ici & Heure Ailleurs, but the luxury watchmaker has another piece we just had to take a look at! The Midnight Planétarium timepiece is the latest addition to Van Cleef & Arpels’ Poetic Complication collection, and it’s out of this world!

Unlike a traditional watch, the Poetic Complication Midnight Planétarium does not have any hands on its dial. Instead, the starry blue dial puts our solar system in perspective, depicting the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the Sun, which is featured at the center of the dial.

Their positions on the dial are relative to each planet’s true distance from the sun, and each planet’s movement around the dial is calibrated to reflect the true amount of time it really takes it to orbit the Sun. Mercury will orbit the sun at the center of the dial every 88 days, Venus every 224.7 days, Earth every 365.2564 days, Mars every 687 days, Jupiter every 4,331 days (approximately 12 years) and Saturn every 10,759 Earth days (approximately 29 years). The dial also features a chapter ring for the months of the year, and another ring for the date, which is indicated by a red triangle marker.

Photos by Van Cleef & Arpels.