The CVDK Planetarium | family history
The CVDK Planetarium is the smallest mechanical planetarium wristwatch in the world. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn orbit a central sun at their correct relative speeds. The Eise Eisinga edition (2020) honors the Frisian amateur astronomer who built a working planetary model in his living-room ceiling in 1781, a structure still standing in Franeker.
CVDK’s flagship planetarium line: the smallest mechanical planetarium in the world, displaying the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on concentric discs around a 12-clawed Sun. The Eise Eisinga edition (2020) is named for the 18th-century Frisian amateur astronomer whose ceiling-mounted planetarium in Franeker still operates today.
2009 · Planetarium launch
The CVDK Planetarium launched in 2009 and immediately became the brand's most-recognized complication: six planets displayed on a dial in correct relative orbital scale. The movement is a proprietary CVDK caliber developed over years of internal research. Each piece is produced in small numbers in the Joure atelier.
No references from this era in the catalog yet.
2020 · Eise Eisinga edition
The Eise Eisinga edition (2020) added a dial treatment referencing the painted ceiling of Eisinga's 18th-century home planetarium in Franeker, Netherlands. The orbital display mechanics remain identical to the standard Planetarium; the edition is a tribute to the tradition of amateur astronomical instrument-building that predates professional observatories.
How to read this family
One honest question for any CVDK Planetarium buyer:
- How do you read a planetarium display daily? You don't read it for time; the time display is a secondary function. The Planetarium is bought for the philosophical pleasure of wearing a working model of the solar system. If that sounds like a rationalization rather than a genuine motivation, it is the wrong watch.
Related families: Real Moon Joure · Grand Planetarium Eccentric
References in this family
Which ref to buy
The Planetarium Eise Eisinga is named for the oldest working planetary system model in the world, built 1774-1781 in Franeker, Netherlands, by wool comber Eise Eisinga — and still accurate today. The CVDK Planetarium miniaturizes this concept onto a dial, showing the solar system orbits of the inner planets in real time.
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Planetarium Eise Eisinga: solar system orbital display in real time on the dial, Dutch heritage tied to the 250-year-old Franeker planetarium.
- The case for it:
- A working planetarium on your wrist — Earth, Mars, Venus, Mercury moving at astronomically correct rates relative to each other — is a complication that most watchmakers have not attempted and few have executed correctly. The CVDK is astronomically honest, not merely decorative.
- Consider instead if:
- Planetarium complications at this level of accuracy are extremely expensive. The Ochs und Junior Planeten display and the Van Cleef & Arpels Midnight Planetarium also offer this complication; compare all three before committing.
Rankings last reviewed 2026-06-18. Editorial perspective only. Not financial advice.