News: Vacheron Constantin Maître Cabinotier Retrograde Armillary Tourbillon Watch
When Vacheron Constantin released the Reference 57260 in 2015—the most complicated timepiece ever created—it left the watch world agog. The pocket watch featured a breathtaking 57 complications, and was the result of three master watchmakers from the brand’s Atelier Cabinotiers workshop, who spent eight years pooling their combined genius to create it.
The Maître Cabinotier Retrograde Armillary Tourbillon is a ‘spin off’ from the development of the ground-breaking pocket watch. Re-envisioning two of the complications from the Reference 57260 within the more limited size constraints of a wristwatch—the double retrograde indication system and the armillary tourbillon—this piece is a modern take on a marvel of traditional watchmaking.
The upper cage of the armillary tourbillon is encased in a sapphire crystal dome at 9 o’clock, through which you can admire the perpetually rotating tourbillon to your heart’s content. Just like the Reference 57260 before it, every 15 seconds, the carriage of the tourbillon is positioned to reveal Vacheron Constantin's Maltese Cross emblem—this, too, is viewable through an opening at the side of the case.
As you might expect, it’s a sizeable piece of engineering, coming in at 45.7mm in diameter and 20mm wide. It’s not a watch that will easily disappear under a shirt cuff, but that said—something this special is worth showing off.
