So-called luxury watches are a bit naff when you think about it. $50,000 for an ostentatious timepiece that you wear to show how rich you are, rather than tell the time can make you look a bit thick, but I would pay just about anything for the new Planetarium watch from Van Cleef & Arpels.
Its full name is the Van Cleef & Arpels Complication Poétique Midnight Planétarium, which is a pretty wordy response to the question, “what’s that on your wrist, then?”.
The simple pitch of this watch? Not only does it never lose time on Earth, it also tracks the time of the other planets orbiting our nearest star, all set inside a 18ct rose gold face with sapphire crystals for stars.
It only tracks the six planets closest to the Sun, which is probably a good thing considering that some planets take over two centuries to complete a full orbit around the Sun.