Twenty-twenty-four marks the golden jubilee of Christiaan van der Klaauw Astronomical Watches (CVDK), 50 years adorned with dedication, innovation, and horological brilliance. To commemorate this occasion, the watchmakers have unveiled the CVDK Grand Planetarium Eccentric Manufacture, the only mechanical Planetarium watch in the world that displays all eight planets, showing real time the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune around the Sun.

CVDK’s latest release is what can best be described as a masterpiece. In an age where aside from colours and materials, one newly launched timepiece is rarely vastly different from the next, it’s refreshing to see that CVDK has created an exceptional Haute Horlogerie CVDK masterpiece, that redefines what a timepiece can be.

Created by three Generations of CVDK
The newly unveiled ‘CVDK Grand Planetarium Eccentric Manufacture’ is a showstopping way to celebrate half a century of excellence. The timepiece is a masterpiece and was created by the three generations of CVDK: Christiaan van der Klaauw, Daniël Reintjes, Maria Reintjes and Pim Koeslag.

[LR] Pim Koeslag, Maria Reintjes and Daniël Reintjes.
The concept and complication are rooted in the ‘CVDK Kepler’s Planetarium Clock’, which Christiaan developed in 1995. Daniël Reintjes and

Maria Reintjes was responsible for the watch design, which incorporates many innovations born from their 15 years of creative development. This has been reflected in the stunning Aventurine Glass ‘signature’ dial and beautiful new case with ‘Klaauw’-shaped lugs.

Pim Koeslag meticulously transformed the original compass and pencil drawings into a fully developed 3D CAD design using his technical expertise and experience. The entire piece was crafted in the CVDK atelier, from prototype to final production.

Eccentric Planetarium
The CVDK Grand Planetarium Eccentric Manufacture is the only mechanical Planetarium watch in the world that shows all eight planets orbits in real time. Each planet follows eccentric paths, which closely mirrors reality, with the Sun being positioned exactly in the middle of the Eccentric Planetarium.

The eight hand-painted planets orbiting the Sun are as follows:

1 Mercury 87.97 days
2 Venus 224.70 days
3 Earth 365.24 days
4 Mars 686.98 days
5 Jupiter 11.86 years
6 Saturn 29.46 years
7 Uranus 84.02 years
8 Neptune 164.80 years

Another aspect of this timepiece that almost defies belief is its vast number of gears, with a total of 3338 teeth. At its heart lies the in-house developed Manufacture Movement. It is the most complicated watch ever created in the atelier of Christiaan van der Klaauw Astronomical Watches.

Two models are available, comprising:

CVDK Grand Planetarium Eccentric Manufacture CKGP1104

Manufacture movement: Uni-directional automatic winding, power reserve of 60 hours, free-sprung hairspring, variable-inertia balance wheel, 32 Jewels, frequency 21.600 vibrations/hour (3Hz), jewelled swiss lever escapement, star-shaped bridges with hand circular finishing, frosted star decoration with rhodium plating, perlage decoration and rhodium plating on the main plate, skeletonized rose gold-plated brass rotor formed in the shape of the CVDK logo, rhodium plated tungsten weight on outside diameter of rotor.

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds – by rotating the sun logo in the centre, date indicator, and zodiac sign indicator.

Complication: Eccentric Planetarium. It is the only mechanical Planetarium watch in the world that displays all eight planets, showing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune around the Sun.

Case: 18K rose gold, ø 44 mm, domed sapphire crystal engraved with signature index, sapphire crystal case-back.

Dial: Aventurine glass (goldfluss) creating a star-filled sky with zodiac signs, Eccentric Planetarium with hand-painted planets.

Strap: Dark blue leather.

Buckle: 18K rose gold folding clasp with CVDK logo.

CVDK Grand Planetarium Eccentric Manufacture CKGP2204

Manufacture movement: Uni-directional automatic winding, power reserve of 60 hours, free-sprung hairspring, variable-inertia balance wheel, 32 Jewels, frequency 21.600 vibrations/hour (3Hz), jewelled Swiss lever escapement, star-shaped bridges with hand circular finishing, frosted star decoration with rhodium plating, perlage decoration and rhodium plating on main plate, skeletonized rose gold-plated brass rotor formed in the shape of the CVDK logo, rhodium plated tungsten weight on outside diameter of rotor.

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds—by rotating the sun logo in the centre; date indicator; zodiac sign indicator. Complication: Eccentric Planetarium is the only mechanical Planetarium watch in the world that displays all eight planets, showing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune around the Sun.

Case: Platinum, ø 44 mm, domed sapphire crystal engraved with signature index, sapphire crystal case-back.

Dial: Aventurine glass (goldfluss) creating a star-filled sky with zodiac signs, Eccentric Planetarium with hand-painted planets.

Strap: Dark blue leather.

Buckle: Platinum folding clasp with CVDK logo.

For more information on CVDK, visit www.klaauw.com.