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This is a specific designed Dubois Depraz full calendar erpetual quantiem moon phase along with the added complication of a retro-grade fly back date hand. Perpetual functions are :Day, date, month, moon phase, retro grade returning day, hours, minutes, seconds, leap year and correct for a couple hundred
years at least in execution.
As far as I know there is usually only one master watchmaker in the Swiss factory trained to touch these due to there complexity and training time necessary for instruction. When micro mechanics this complex get this small it can
take a master watchmaker up to one full year just to learn the idiosyncrasies and workings of ONE of these complex machines. They are simply formula one race car engines for the wrist at this price point of $200,000 to $400,000.
I call the gentlemen who so graciously let me in to the secrets of three of these different perpetual calendars the Jimi Hendrix of watchmaking. If a watchmaker ever gets to this point of complexity in his career he is regarded and held in his place of employment usually until death. There are NO manuals for these complexities at all. If there is ever anything written down it is only available in hand written French. These mechanical abilities can only be learned from one generation to another of passion and love for watchmaking, patience, and an extreme knowledge base of mathematical calculus and beyond.
As you can see by these rare pictures of the inner workings, the hairspring in the middle is for the retro grade fly back function. One of the upper snails are operated through a series of complex pushers and small tension advancing fingers. There are more wheels under this snail at around one o'clock in the picture as well. The big wheel at three o'clock is your perpetual wheel, and the slots cut in it corresponds to the leap years when necessary to jump. I can't go into the mechanics more than that, as it would just sound like
gibberish. Let's just say it could take a week to simply repair a common problem in these movements of complexity in the $200,000-$400,000 range.
Take a look on my desk at the thickness of all the parts. I find this just fascinating that Dubois Depraz makes an overbuilt tank once again. Special tools are hand made by the watchmaker to facilitate the adjusting and fixing of
common problems at this level of complexity specific to its functions. You can not purchase them. They don't exist in more than one piece ever, and are kept in the safe at the factories at night. You can only see them, visualize
them in your mind, and make a set for yourself on a micro lathe by hand.
I feel extremely blessed, honored and thankful to have been the only American ever allowed inside these complex movements.
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