To celebrate the 260th anniversary of the Vacheron Constantin manufacture, the most complex pocket watch "Reference 57260" with 57 different functions was created in 2015.
Three watchmakers, supported by task forces, were responsible for the project and devoted 8 years to its implementation. The result was a watch equipped with the largest number of functions in a portable casing so far. The mechanism itself was made up of 6 mainboards, 2,826 elements containing 242 bearing stones and 31 hands. The watch is equipped with a three-axis tourbillon, seven alarms, several calendars and many different functions for measuring elapsed time.
In addition to the astronomical calendar, the watch has an eternal Gregorian calendar as well as a Hebrew calendar according to the nineteen-year cycle of the Jewish calendar. It is on this basis that you can find out exactly when the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur is celebrated.
This holiday, like Easter Day, is also movable.
It is repeated cyclically every 536 years and falls on the 10th day of the first month of the civil Jewish calendar, i.e. at the turn of September and October. The complete cycle of the calendar is 76 years, which significantly simplifies the construction of the mechanism compared to the indication of Easter Day. The indication is placed at 6 a.m. and is realized by means of a retrograde pointer, which changes its position once a year.
After the full 19-year cycle (the so-called Meton), the disc sector (tightened with three visible screws) containing the dates for the current cycle is replaced by the new.
Notifier: Tomasz Jakubas
Other records: Timeline of Watchmaking Innovations