Vacheron Constantin’s headline fake watches at SIHH this year was a grand complication that concentrated on astronomical functions: the Celestia Astronomical Grand Complication 3600, “Celestia” for short; “3600” refers to the calibre number.

History

The Celestia was developed in Vacheron Constantin’s Les Cabinotiers’ workshop that was set up in 2006 with a mandate to design and manufacture client commissions, essentially one-off, custom timepieces. But it is also tasked with the manufacture a small number of complicated watches and movements for the company, like the Celestia and the Symphonia Grande Sonnerie introduced at the same time. When Vacheron Constantin started work on the watch, there was no buyer for it, although shortly after the announcing the watch, the client duly appreared.

What was learned from the process of manufacturing the Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 replica watches, the world’s most complicated watch that made its debut two years ago, was put to good use in developing the Celestia and its cal. 3600. Part of the attraction for the Celestia, and therefore part of the inspiration for its conception, is the history and nature of why such watches and clocks were needed in the first place.

Return to original

Essentially the Celestia is the latest in a long history of clocks and watches that use the Earth’s position in the heavens to explain and predict other temporal phenomena that affects us all, seasons, tides, and the length of the day. The Celestia is arguably a return to the original reason precision watches, or more precisely chronometers, were created in the first place – to solve the “Longitude Problem”.