aeternitas

Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4: Ups State Of World's Most Complex Watch

Another year and another "world's most complicated watch." Also the 4th in the coveted Franck Muller Aeternitas watch series of high complex watches that are either amazing looking or ludicrous looking - depending on how you see it. The financially troubled brand is putting the finishing touches on this limited series (of no specific disclosed amount) watch (even though the first of them was already finished and presented to an American watch collector recently at a dinner). Inside are a whopping 36 complications! I am not going to list them all here, but you can consult with the image in the gallery below for a spec sheet of the various functions that it has. 25 of the 36 complications are visible on the dial. Franck Muller is surprisingly brief on the details. We don't know materials or size of the watch yet. I would imagine that it is on the larger side though. The movement has 1,483 parts to it! Wow, talk about complex and fragile. The watch took 5 years to design.

Some functions include, but are not limited to, a monopusher split-second chronograph (no idea how that is done with one button), a 1000 year calendar, very accurate equation of time (between solar and clock time), complex sonnerie chiming functions, multiple timezones, moon phase indicator, and of course, more. The obvious competitor to the Aeternitas Mega 4 watch is the recently released Jaeger-LeCoultre Hybris Mechanica Grande Sonnerie watch. While the Hybris Mechanica only has 25 complications, it is arguably more pleasing to the eyes. Plus, for a bit less price you get three watches and a fancy safe.

The Franck Muller Aeternitas 4 watch is the high horology equivalent of a fancy Texas Instruments graphing calculator. Sure it does a lot and it gets us mechanical nerds excited, but it isn't going to get you any action from the ladies (but sharing with them the price tag of $2.7 million might).

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com

Gallery: Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4

Tags: 4, Aeternitas, complex, complications, Franck Muller, FranckMuller, mega, most, watch

Franck Muller Aeternitas Watch

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

There's a commercial on television with Jessica Simpson in her full Daisy Dukes attire going on about some HDTV. At the end she says, "I don't what that means but I want it." I feel a bit like that about the Franck Muller Aeternitas watch. Do you really need a watch that can go for 1,000 years without a correction? Probably not but still it's an amazing accomplishment.

One look at the Franck Muller Aeternitas and you can tell it has a lot going on. This watch is for those who really get into complex mechanical complications. Instead of a regular perpetual calendar this watch is designed to follow a 1,000 year cycle without correction and takes into account the rule governing the Gregorian calendar. An article in Europastar breaks down the details. The watch comes in four version and uses a Cintrée Curvex curved automatic movement. The traditional perpetual calendar has the day, date, month and moon phases taking in to account the variations in each month. It also takes into account leap years but hast to be adjusted three times in a row every 100 years because in the Gregorian calendar every 400 years, the leap year is canceled for three centuries in a row and is re-established on the fourth century. The Aeternitas eternal calendar is a module on the watch which takes this into account. It has two sets of wheels, the first is a set of a wheel of 10 years, a wheel of 100 years and a wheel of 1,000 years; the second set is designed for the setting. The watch also has the retrograde date at 12 o'clock, days, months, 24h day and night, normal leap year cycle and indicates the time equation. The equation of time is coupled with the calendar, which means that even when the watch is not wound for many years, at the moment of its correction, the equation of time follows the calendar.

With so many complications to keep track of and that big tourbillon obliterating the six o clock spot, the dial is a bit cluttered. It's a bit of a case of Dance Ten, Looks Three. The watch sells for around one million euros. Pricey yes, but consider it a bet that the world as it is will continue another thousand years (and looking at it that way it works out to only 1,000 euros per year).

Source

Tags: aeternitas, franck muller, FranckMuller, timepiece, watch