Unsure what to buy the man in your life for Christmas? Well look no further. With just a few days to go until Christmas, a high-end jeweller is selling the ultimate watch for men – if you have £500 000 (R7 million) to spare.
The staggeringly expensive luxury timepiece, produced in Edinburgh, boasts an 18 carat pink-gold case, 37 precious gems and a dark brown alligator strap.
It is described as a true feat of haute horologie– watchmaking in its highest form.
A rare Girard-Perregaux Opera Two, the watch is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, displaying its intricate mechanics on the ivory dial.
It features a tourbillon – an escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage – to negate the effects of gravity and a perpetual calendar, which needs no adjustment for leap years and New Year.
Minute repeater watches, like the quad-gong Westminster version, were invented before electric lighting existed. They enabled people not only to read the time, but also to hear it.
Among the most complex watchmaking mechanisms, each piece is unique, with every component meticulously assembled and decorated by hand, requiring around 500 hours of work.
A minute repeater can be controlled to sound every hour, quarter-hour and minute by means of hammer strikes on bells which have been tuned by the watchmaker just like a musical instrument. – Daily Mail