Midnight Planétarium Poetic Complication by Van Cleef & Arpels is a, quite frankly, obscenely expensive watch [HT Celestial Ladies]. But, it’s also a planetarium. Strangely, I didn’t find anything about this particular watch on their website, but I did find information about it elsewhere, which may be of interest.

“For the SIHH 2014, Van Cleef & Arpels once again celebrates celestial orbits by drawing inspiration from the historic tradition of planetariums with the Midnight Planétarium timepiece. This new Poetic Complication™ timepiece provides a miniature representation of the movement of six planets around the sun and their position at any given time. Painstaking attention has been given to selecting the stones, then sculpting the discs and spheres in order to give form to this animated tableau, with its combination of jewelry and watchmaking savoir-faire.” [via]

“Its piece de resistance was the Midnight Planetarium Poetic Complication that one can set in accordance to the solar system. It will document the tracks of the six planets while a gold shooting star on the face of the watch communicates the hour of the day.

More specifically, the Poetic Complication gives the movements of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the dial of the watch according to their actual rotation around the earth (Jupiter will take 12 years to make it around the watch; Mercury 88 days; Earth 365 days, etc.) while the rotating bezel allows the wearer to select special days under which to align the earth and that special star as a sign of good luck.” — Hannah Elliot, Forbes [via]

“A highlight of the annual Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), held every January in Geneva, is seeing the various brands compete against each other in the very technical and artistic ends of the market with creations that have never been seen before—often with prices that are equally out of this world. One of our favorites from this category from 2014’s SIHH is the 44mm Midnight Planétarium from Van Cleef & Arpel’s Poetic Astronomy series. In addition to telling time by way of a shooting star that rotates along the outmost area of the face, the watch more prominently features an accurate rotation and representation of the Earth and the five other planets visible from here around the sun—Mercury in 88 days, Venus in 224, Earth in a year, Mars in 687 days, Jupiter in 12 years and Saturn in 29. It’s a very complex watch and a true display of supreme watchmaking. But as complicated as the piece is—with 396 parts to the movement—it’s also beautiful.”

“On top of the already extravagant design, one of the more standout features is the ability to set any of the 365 days in the year as a “lucky star,” an additional element in this magical cosmos. When your day arrives the lucky star is located just above the Earth on the dial.” — Evan Oresten, Cool Hunting [via]

Also, check out a video by the makers showing the watch and its features at “3D video of the Midnight Planétarium Poetic Complication™”