Six planets are orbiting a miniature rose gold sun in one “astronomical” clock created by Van Cleef & Arpels and Christiaan van der Klaauw and revealed this month in Geneva.
‘Midnight Planetarium’ is a complex wristwatch, the 396 components trigger a fragment of our Solar System. The golden dial displays representations of the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, while rotating individually at the same pace with the natural satellites of the Sun.
To perform a full rotation of the dial, Mercury needs 88 days, Venus 224, Earth 365, Mars 687, Jupiter 12 years, and Saturn 29 years. Uranus and Neptune would have needed 84 respectively 164 years, which is why they were omitted.
Each planet is created from one precious or semiprecious gemstone and hours and minutes are indicated by a “shooting star”. A second star – printed on glass – can be turned over to a “lucky day”, chosen by the owner and indicated by a red triangle side.
The ‘Midnight Planetarium’ Watch was released in January 2014 at the annual event ”Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie” (SIHH) in Geneva and can be purchased at a price fitting its mastery of 245,000 dollars.
