Blancpain Le Brassus 1735 Grande Complication watch

The Blancpain Le Brassus 1735 Grande Complication watch represents the supreme culmination of the traditional watchmaking arts, and is the ultimate complicated watch produced by Blancpain.  It combines nearly all of the important complications coveted by collectors of haute horlogerie--the perpetual calendar, the split seconds chronograph, the minute repeater, and the tourbillon--in one stupendous technical tour de force that requires many months of dedicated labor to build, decorate, and assemble. 

 

The heart of this masterpiece is the remarkable 1735 caliber; selfwinding, with a power reserve of approximately 80 hours, the 1735 Calibre comprises more than 700 parts and 44 jewels.  Each component in the movement of the Blancpain Le Brassus 1735 Grande Complication watch has been painstakingly angled, polished, and decorated.  The bridges and plates, crafted from 18K gold, have been applied with perlage decoration, and the solid gold winding rotor has been skeletonized and decorated with hand engraved motifs. 

 

The perpetual calendar mechanism displays day of the week, date, month, and leap year.  The split seconds chronograph complication, controlled by column wheels, enables the timing of two separate interval and is operated with the elegant button that is co-axial with the winding crown.  Visible through the exhibition sapphire caseback is the intricate tourbillon regulator, which completes one rotation per minute.  

 

The minute repeater mechanism of the Blancpain Le Brassus 1735 Grande Complication watch, a masterpiece of complexity in and of itself, sounds out the hours, quarter hours, and minutes upon finely tuned gongs, whenever the owner chooses to activate the lever on the side of the case.  Offered exclusively in a stately 42mm platinum case, only 30 Blancpain Le Brassus 1735 Grande Complication watches will ever be produced, and the complexity of this work of mechanical art limits its production to only a single piece per year until the series is completed.