Vacheron Constantin L'Esprit des Cabinotiers (Auction price: 2.2M Swiss francs/$13M)
This is the pinnacle of the collection unveiled earlier this year to mark Vacheron Constantin's 250th anniversary. It utilises all the professions and crafts involved in watchmaking, and pays homage to the grand tradition built by Vacheron Constantin. L'Esprit des Cabinotiers is a mysterious clock with many hidden secrets. It consists of a golden sphere engraved by hand with a sky chart based on one drawn by Robert de Vaugondy (1823-1786), geographer to Louis XV and creator of two large globes. The sphere consists of eight petals symbolising the lotus flower. They are opened by an extremely sophisticated and silent mechanism. When the opening mechanism is activated, a central pillar of crystal rises up with the timepiece on top of it. The large clock has 16 functions, including temperature and an astronomical calendar of the sun.
Vacheron Constantin Tour de l'Ile ($10m)
The Tour de L'ile claims to be the world's most complex watch, with 16 complications that provide information on dials on both sides of the case. To call this a grand complication watch would be an understatement. No less than 834 parts are housed within the 47mm case. A patent has been applied to protect the double-dial display module, and the watch has been granted the prestigious Poincon de Geneve hallmark. Its functions include hours and minutes, seconds at 6 o'clock, repetition of the minute and quarter chimes on request, a tourbillon, a power reserve indicator, a second time zone, moon phases, age of the moon, torque of the striking mechanism, a perpetual calendar with day, date, month and leap years, perpetual equation of time, sunrise, sunset and a sky chart. Only seven pieces are being made.
IWC Grande Complication ($1.8m for platinum and strap model)
Comprising 659 mechanical parts, 71 of which are jewels, this watch holds 12 patents and has 21 functions and displays, including a perpetual calendar for the next 500 years, a perpetual moon phase display made of polished goldstone representing a star-studded night sky, a chronograph, and a highly complex minute repeater with an all-or-nothing piece slide. It chimes out the time in crystal-clear tones and is activated by the slide of the left-hand side of the case. The Grande Complication has an automatic and self-winding movement. Production is limited to 50 watches a year.