1899 Minute repeater with day and date via aperture at 12
Mankind’s first experience with time is the change of night
from daylight, and night changes into Sun rises, sun starts to give heat and
light and shines across the sky, and after while, it starts to repeats and darkness falling onto our place where we live.
The seasons passes one and after the others, gradually mankind starts to
realize that the rhythm of the changes of time has a consistence, it changes periodically.
And men started to record it as day, hour, minutes and seconds, and how the
moon phase changed by itself with regulation under the equation.The Moon's
phase (synodic) cycle repeats on average every 29.53 days. Therefore, the
timing of the Moon's phases shifts by an average of almost one day for each
successive month. (Lunar year=354 days.)
The modern man, however thinks of how to use p their time
wisely, or sparingly, and Men struggle that which he really a part of. If harmony
is anything, it is the world in steps with itself, Man seeks ways to impose
order, not realizing there is an order to things already. He seeks to capture time,
not really knowing that time cannot be captured at all.
Instead of steal one second from time, or to stop the time
to go away, we had at least well maintain the record of it.
It may be most obvious in something like a moon phase display,
particularly for Chinese with Buddha religions who has habit of a vegetarian day
on the lunar first and 15th of the month…
A perpetual calendar is an interesting complication because
you don’t receive instant gratification. With a minute repeater all you need to
do is activate the trigger to hear if it works perfectly, with the tourbillon
you see it immediately. With the perpetual calendar you need to be patient and
project yourself into time...into a 4 year cycle.” Says Chrystian Lefrancois,
one of Vacheron Constantin’s master watchmakers.
Back into 1790, Vacheron Constantin’s had its 1st calendar
clock with a stunning engraved dial and indication of day and date.
In Ancient days, we need also to have a standard for event
to be recorded, time, which is not less important than it is Today, if we were men at that time, we could plant
our crops whereby we need to know when the seeds should be scattered, when the
time we should irrigate and when we should gathering for an happy harvest,
moving forwards to the sways of seasons. When our aircrafts is so sophisticated
with unmanned landing and take off, while our mankind also produces so many precise
timepiece used to record time. With the celestial mechanical of Vacheron
Constantin, we can see what such machine can be.
Vacheron Constantin is my favourite watch maker amongst all.
I love its Maltese cross logo.
I have a few pieces in my collection, an Onyx white gold men’s
dress watch, an Overseas chronograph, lady solid gold manual winding, a VC
ultra thin men’s dress watch, and the VC 222.
HK Snob
