Tycoon Commissions $6.5 Million Vacheron Constantin

A European mogul has commissioned luxury Swiss watchmaker Vacheron Constantin to create a one-of-a-kind $6.5 million timepiece which will automatically become one of the most expensive watches in the world. The horological feat incorporating several astronomical and astrological complications could take years to complete. The finished product will surpass Vacheron’s most expensive and complicated watch to date, the limited edition double-faced Tour de l’Ile (above) created for the company’s 250th anniversary in 2005. Only seven pieces were produced at $1.5 million each.

The complications are expected to include a perpetual calendar and leap year, star chart, celestial annual calendar, tourbillon regulator, sunrise and sunset indication, perpetual time equation, phases and age of the moon, substantial power reserve, multiple time zones and day-night indication, among others. The anonymous collector who commissioned the $6.5 million watch is following in the footsteps of New York banker Henry Graves, Jr., who commissioned Patek-Philippe to create the world’s most complicated pocket watch in 1932. Dubbed the Supercomplication, the yellow gold timepiece sold at Sotheby’s in 1999 for a record-breaking $11 million and remains something of a holy grail for watch collectors.