Back in time

Better than a smartwatch? This fully mechanical pocket watch does everything you need it to. But it does come at a price.

Smartwatches constantly keep a close eye on things. Has the wearer slept well? Do they need to get moving to meet their daily target? Whilst this monitoring has its advantages, it also has its drawbacks. For instance, it can lead to obsession, and information about sleep quality – whether accurate or not – can cause stress and, in turn, lead to even more sleep problems.

In that respect, the pocket watch from Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet, marking its 150th anniversary, is a breath of fresh air. The 150 Heritage Pocket Watch is a technical masterpiece featuring the mechanics of yesteryear, based on rotating cogs. ‘With this, we are celebrating the history of humanity and building bridges between centuries of astronomical observations and technical ingenuity and craftsmanship,’ the company states, somewhat theatrically.

It is certainly a beautiful watch, both the cobalt-blue dial on the front and the visible movement on the back. It has 47 functions, including a perpetual calendar, a ‘flying tourbillon’ (which compensates for subtle changes in gravity caused by movement), and a minute repeater, which can indicate the time using different chimes for hours, quarters and minutes. The split-seconds chronograph – a stopwatch with two hands, the second of which continues to run whilst the first is stopped – is, for example, useful for recording split times.

Another unique feature is that this handcrafted watch houses a mini-planetarium. This calculates the cycles of the sun and moon and links them to cultural celebrations. This masterpiece costs between 2.5 and 2.7 million euros, for the gold or platinum versions respectively. But is it a ‘product of tomorrow’, which is what this column is all about? Given the problems with smartwatches, that might just be a good idea...

Photo: Audemars Piguet