Just be patient to join an elite club

It's not just about the €2 million (HK$20.48 million) price tag. Ownership of an A. Lange & Söhne Grand Complication provides entry into an elite club of six, the number of models that will be made. Even then, buyers face a one-year wait before delivery of a watch that was unveiled at this year's SIHH.

Tino Bobe, director of research and development, believes it will be well worth the wait. Bobe worked on it for seven years - the longest he has spent working on a single watch since he joined the brand in 1999.

"Normally, I'd feel like [I was] looking back into the past at product launches as I would be working on models that wouldn't be released [for another] two or three years," he says. "This time it's different. I feel it's the biggest thing that we can achieve."

The Grand Complication, which Bobe describes as the most complicated wristwatch the brand has created, drives calibre L1902 - the four digits indicate the birth year of the pocket watch that inspired the timepiece.

Within its 50mm pink gold case beats the movement of complications, including a chiming mechanism, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph with minute counter and jumping seconds, and a perpetual calendar with a moon-phase display.

Among all the complications, Bobe reckons its acoustic time indication is the most challenging. "This complication opened a door for us to acoustic time indication," he says. The model features an impressive chiming mechanism that automatically indicates the time in grand-strike or small-strike mode.