Three More $1 Million-Plus Watches Unveiled at SIHH 2017
Yesterday, we brought you a look at two incredible million-dollar watches unveiled during SIHH 2017. Today, we bring you a look at three more million-dollar wonders – two of them from the world’s oldest continually operating watch brand: Vacheron Constantin and two renditions of the same outrageous watch by Audemars Piguet.
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Symphonia Grande Sonnerie 1860, Est. $1 Million
This year also marks the first time the venerable brand Vacheron Constantin unveils a Grande Sonnerie wristwatch. While the company has produced a host of chiming watches throughout its history, this is the first that is a wristwatch. The Symphonia Grande Sonnerie 1860 was 10 years in the research, development and design stages A single watchmaker – whom I got to meet and talk with during SIHH –spent more than 500 hours building the masterpiece.
The Les Cabinotiers Symphonia automatically chimes the hour, and quarter hours, and offers a petite sonneries (hours) and an on-demand minute repeater mode. Silence mode is also available – but why anyone would want to silence such beauty if beyond me.
The watch, despite its amazing complexity, is housed in a 45mm white gold case with a very clean and simple dial that shows hours, minutes, seconds and power reserve of the watch and the sonnerie. The watch is equipped with two mainspring barrels – one for the striking system (20 hours) and one for the watch (72 hours).
Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Celestia, Astronomical,[/caption] Est. $1 Million
Also from Vacheron Constantin, which continues to push the watchmaking innovation envelope, is the Les Cabinotiers Celestia Astronomical – also valued at $1 million. The one-of-a-kind two-sided wrist watch houses the 3600 movement and was five years in the making. It boasts 23 different functions and multiple timing systems, each with its own gear train. A single master watchmaker in the brand’s bespoke department built the 514-part movement. The watch offers 15 indications on the front dial and another 8 indications on the back dial, including a patented sky chart.
In brief, the watch’s 23 functions include: calendar and moonphase indication that shows day, date, month, leap year, perpetual calendar, day/night indication, precise moon phase and age of moon. Solar functions, including equation of time and running equation of time, sunrise, sunset, length of day, length of night, seasons, solstices, equinoxes and zodiac signs, tide level indicator and a Sun-Earth-Moon conjunction, opposition and quadrature, Celestial chart with northern hemisphere indication of the Milky Way, tourbillon and three weeks of power reserve.
Audemars Piguet Diamond Outrage Sapphire, Est. $1 Million +
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Audemars Piguet Diamond Outrage Sapphire
The master watchmakers and gem setters at Audemars Piguet have done it again == unveiling the third and final in its audacious Diamond series that started a few years ago. The new Diamond Outrage – being offered in a blue sapphire and white diamond version – rounds out the trilogy that started with the Diamond Punk, then moved on to the Diamond Fury.
The incredible watches are one-of-a-kind pieces that feature 46 spikes of 18-karat gold set with thousands of gemstones and hiding a secret watch within. The master gem setters have spent about 2,500 hours setting each timepiece – whose long spikes are meant to resemble the icicles in the Vallee de Joux. The sapphire version is snow set with 11,043 brilliant-cut sapphires in six shades of blue. In total, the stones weight 65.47 carats. While the sapphire version retails for $1.050 million, the Diamond Outrage retails for $1.24 million. Oh, did we forget to tell you: there is a secret watch – whose gemstone adorned doors open to reveal a quartz-powered mirror-polished-dial watch.
