The 18K white gold case of the 57260 shows the dial, three positions, and a window on the side that represents the position during winding or setting.
Among the new complications, this new pocket watch features multiple calendars and a double retrograde chronograph, with two hands for the seconds and to tell partial times—functions that didn’t exist before. To further complicate the task, the mechanisms of the most common complications were changed, which meant extra research and time.
Another great innovation— and possibly the most significant— is the Hebrew calendar. Until now it had been impossible to incorporate one in a pocket watch, given the long duration of this calendar’s cycles and the difference with the Gregorian.
The Hebrew perpetual calendar works on the principle of the Metonic cycle of 19 years (which is almost exactly a multiple of the solar year and the lunar month). In this watch, the Metonic cycle also called golden number is shown in concentric spheres at 3 o’clock.
The Yom Kippur holiday specified each year in the Gregorian calendar is, however, represented by a retrograde hand on the dial at 6 o’clock, which returns to the starting point every 19 years, a time when another Metonic cycle begins. To keep the 12-month lunar year in sync with the solar year, a thirteenth month is added seven times during 19 years.
The result has been spectacular, as is the Westminster carillon chiming with five gongs and five hammers, and the night mode, which keeps the mechanism silent from ten at night until eight o’clock the next day. Refined luxury that could only belong to a privileged owner. ■
