Part of the magic of mechanical watches is the way they can be made to do all kinds of things other than tell the time. As if a complicated series of gears and springs giving you the time within a few seconds wasn?t impressive enough, many watches can also give you the date, time events, and even remind you of appointments and meetings, all with technology that made its most significant advancements in the 19th century. 
Today, watch complications are inherently fascinating largely because they?re so unnecessary. In fact, there?s often an inverse relationship between a complication?s actual utility and how cool we think it is. A simple date display often doesn?t get a second glance, but for those moments when you?re making out a check and have a momentary lapse in memory, that often maligned date window sure does come in handy. But a realistic portrayal of the planets as they orbit the sun" Not exactly useful, but it may evoke an actual emotional response. Not something you get with even the most well implemented calendar complications.  Today, we look at some of the most unusual watch complications. From highly specific chronographs, to tools for adventurers, and some head spinning astronomical complications, this is your guide to the strangest complications we?ve come across. 
Alarm
We?ll start off with something relatively simple: the mechanical alarm complication. Alarm watches are less common now, but for a period of time in the middle of the 20th century th...