Introduced in 2020, this extra-ordinary astronomical watch by Christiaan van der Klaauw pays tribute to Royal Eise Eisinga Planetarium, the oldest working Planetarium in the world.
Suspended from the ceiling of the living room of a beautiful canal house in Franeker, is the oldest still working planetarium in the world. This accurately moving model of the solar system was built between 1774 and 1781 by the Frisian wool comber, Eise Eisinga.
Eise Eisinga was born in Dronrijp on February 21, 1744. He attended primary school there. Like many children, at that time, he had to work at home, which his case was in his father’s wool combing establishment. In addition to combing wool, he inherited his father’s interest in matters such as astronomy and mathematics.
He was so curious that he went to Franeker every week, where he studied Euclides’s maths books with Willem Wijtses, a wool dyer. At the age of 24, Eisinga married Pietje Jacobs, after which he settled in Franeker in 1768, working as a wool comber.
On May 8, 1774, a special constellation of planets formed. In the early morning, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the moon were positioned closely in the sky. It was claimed that the mutual forces of these celestial bodies would knock the earth off its path and cause it to be burned up by the sun. A preacher from Bozum, Eelco Alta, made this prediction. In April 1774, the Leeuwarder Courant published a piece about this.
His piece of writing carried the title: ‘Philosophical concerns about the conjunction of the planets’. Alta’s ideas caused a lot of unrest among the population. The authorities attempted to intervene by banning the piece of writing, but the damage had already been done.
Eisinga’s vast knowledge of mathematics and astronomy came in handy when, in May 1774, turmoil broke out in response to Eelco Alta’s prediction. In order to give the people a correct picture of the solar system, he built a model of the solar system in his living room. Only seven years passed between his very first idea and the final realisation of this project. Since 1781, Eisinga’s model has closely followed the paths of the 6 planets in our solar system. This makes it the oldest still-functioning planetarium in the world.
Christiaan van der Klaauw’s Planetarium timepiece incorporates the smallest mechanical planetarium mechanism in the world, showing real time the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the sun. The watch also indicates the minutes, hours, date and month.
Equipped with the in-house developed module, Planetarium is one of the most complicated watches created by Christiaan van der Klaauw. This extremely complex mechanical watch is a fitting tribute to the grand masters of planetarium design such as Nicolaas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Christiaan Huygens and Eise Eisinga.
The PLANETARIUM Eise Eisinga watch was made in a very limited edition of only 6 steel and 6 rose gold models, with each of the 6 watches boasting its own unique planet name.
Measuring 40mm diameter case made of stainless steel or 18K rose gold, this watch is fitted with a sapphire crystal glass on the front. It houses an automatic mechanical movements equipped with 35 jewels and twin barrels, which provide an impressive power reserve of up to 96 hours.
The oil-painted dial of the watch was created by Gaël Colon. It features applied rose-gold Roman numerals for 1, 2, 3,9,10 and 11 hour-markers. The 12-h marker is replaced with the Christiaan van der Klaauw logo. The watch does not feature any hour-markers on the lower dial part for ensuring more focus on the planetarium complication.
The CVDK PLANETARIUM Eise Eisinga watch features two centre hands in rose gold to indicate the hour and minutes respectively. A sub-dial at 12 o’ clock with two gold hands displays the date and month. The planetarium is placed at 6 o’ clock.
The sapphire crystal case back affords the spectacular view of the self-winding movement and its artistically engraved oscillating weight, which highlights planets, stars and the ‘Sun with 12 Claws’ as well as the logo of Christiaan van der Klaauw.
Technical details
Model: Christiaan van der Klaauw CVDK Planetarium Eise Eisinga Limited Edition watch
Movement
CVDK7386, automatic winding, 35 jewels, twin barrel
Power-reserve: 96 hour maximum
Complication: CVDK Planetarium module
The rotor is engraved with planets, stars and the ‘Sun with 12 Claws’, the logo of Christiaan van der Klaauw
Functions
Hours, minutes, date and month
Planetarium: the watch is equipped with the smallest mechanical Planetarium in the world, showing the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the Sun.
Case
High quality steel or Rose gold
Diameter: 40 mm
Sapphire crystal front glass
Sapphire crystal case-back
Each case is uniquely engraved with the name of one of the 6 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn.
Dial
Oil painted dial made by the artist Gaël Colon, rose gold plated indexes.
Planetarium with customized colored hand painted planets.
Strap
Black leather
Buckle: Logo engraved steel folding clasp/ rose gold buckle
Limited Edition
6 unique watches in steel, each uniquely engraved with the name of one of the 6 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn.
Retail price
Stainless steel version: € 43,950
Rose gold version: € 58,450
