Vacheron Constantin breaks the world record for most complicated wristwatch

Price, extravagance, and Veblen goods

• No official price was given; commenters relay rumors around multi‑million dollars, with some suggesting ~$4M.
• Many frame it as a pure Veblen good: primarily about signaling wealth, taste, and insider status rather than utility.
• Others argue that for this tier, target buyers are obsessive “watch nerds,” with status and nerdery often overlapping.

“Most complicated” and watch jargon

• Long subthread on “complication”: in watchmaking it means “additional function beyond basic timekeeping,” not chaos.
• Debate over whether headlines using “most complicated” are innocent technical language or deliberate fancy marketing.
• Broader criticism of terms like “movement,” “calibre,” “bespoke” as elitist branding vs. defense that they’re historical, domain‑specific jargon.

Utility vs. accuracy: mechanical vs. quartz/smart

• Several note that cheap quartz or smartwatches beat this watch in accuracy and practical features by huge margins.
• Others stress the engineering feat: achieving good mechanical chronometry from springs and gears is still impressive, even if quartz does better.
• Detailed side-discussion on marine chronometers, environmental effects, and quartz accuracy in real‑world vs lab conditions.

Art, craftsmanship, and longevity

• Pro‑mechanical voices emphasize longevity (200‑year horizons), reparability, and the object as future museum‑grade art.
• Skeptics counter that high service costs, fashion cycles, and ordinary mechanical limits undermine the “timeless” narrative.
• Comparison to other luxury artifacts (grandfather clocks, Geochron wall maps, cars, paintings) used both to praise and dismiss.

Smartwatches changing behavior

• Multiple anecdotes: people with expensive mechanical/jewelry watches switched to Apple/Garmin for reminders, payments, fitness, and never looked back.
• Others had the opposite arc: abandoned smartwatches as stressful notification machines and returned to simple mechanical or Casio pieces.

Economics of Swiss luxury brands

• Discussion of huge margins, consolidation into groups (e.g., Richemont, Swatch), and use of scarcity + targeted marketing.
• Comparisons across tiers: Chinese homages, Japanese midrange, Swiss independents, and ultra‑high‑end brands (including Richard Mille) illustrate how reputation drives price.

Complexity as an art form

• Many are awed by fitting 41 mechanical complications in a wearable case; others liken it to concept cars: technical showcases, not practical tools.
• Commenters draw parallels to software “features,” sizecoding, origami limits, and even dreams of mechanical Bluetooth or wrist‑scale Turing machines.

Resources and spin‑offs

• The thread surfaces multiple educational links on how mechanical watches work, independent watchmakers, and a site that simulates complications in SVG, reflecting broad technical curiosity beyond luxury marketing.