DRESS CODE: BLACK TIE!

Evolution doesn’t mean revolution at Patek Philippe. Subtlety goes with style. Just take the new model in the Calatrava collection.

The super-slim 240 calibre has been fuelling models by Patek Philippe with an off-centre small seconds (between 4 and 5) for the last 40 years. To celebrate the anniversary, the brand has unveiled an evolution with the 240 PS C movement this year. The latter is housed in the brand new white gold Calatrava 6006G-001 which is replacing the 6000 model that launched in 2005. The difference between the two is that the case is 2mm bigger so there’s more space for the time and date display with a central hand. By expanding from 37 to 39mm, the timepiece attracts attention to your wrist making it even more appealing. Although the style on the ebony black dial is the same as the previous model, there are a few new design features to uncover. A silver minute track lies between the white hour rim and sunburst centre with openwork baton-shape hour and minute hands in white gold.

By Dan Diaconu

AT THE SERVICE OF PRECISION

Although it has a classic look, the new 5170P-001 model contains a brand-new in-house chronograph movement. We take a closer look.

It took five years for the Patek Philippe watchmakers to develop the new calibre CH 29-535 PS. While this manual winding mechanism equipping the 5170P-001 model provides the watch with a comfortable power reserve of 65 hours, it also stands out through additional performances resulting from six patented technical innovations. The result? Although it has a traditional construction, the movement guarantees greater precision, more reliability and, for its owner, improved comfort in use. Like all the brand’s mechanisms, the finishes on the components perfectly respect the firm’s traditions. The individual pieces are angled with care, and are polished and decorated with Côtes de Genève stripes. The mechanism has been given the Patek Seal.

This classic arrangement is highlighted by Patek Philippe through the presence of a sublime blue sunburst, black gradated dial. And to go with this magnificent composition, the 5170P-001 is worn with a refined, shiny black alligator strap with square scales, and a fold-over clasp.

Price: €87,450 patek.com

By Dan Diaconu

A BLUE FEAST FOR THE EYES

With the 5372P-001, Patek Philippe blends its magnificent split-second chronograph calibre and perpetual calendar with one of its most beautiful platinum cases.

This is the story of an encounter. Between a prestigious movement and a platinum watch case of a rare elegance, designed in 2015. Although its width is far from imposing (38.5mm), its curves, concave bezel and hollowed, satin sides attracted watchmakers who decided to place inside it a manual-wind calibre and its 476 components, along with split-seconds monopusher chronograph complications and a perpetual calendar. A challenge? Perhaps, but this is Patek Philippe!

And so this association has taken shape this year with the 5372P-001 model. The link between the famous calibre CHR 27-525 PS Q and the watch case is given material form with a sublime, light-filled, sun-blue dial made on an 18-carat gold plate. Days, months, leap years and a day/night indication are displayed in discreet counters. A hand points to the date in a disc at 6 o’clock, while the chronograph counters are at 3 and 9 o’clock. Above the crown, a single monopusher shows how measuring short time intervals using the chronograph can be carried out in perfect simplicity with a single press of the button.

Despite the watch’s small size and the large amount of information on the dial, readability is close to perfection. Certain marvellous developments illustrate Mark Twain’s famous saying, “They did not know it was impossible, so they did it“. For the watchmakers at Patek Philippe, their expertise most certainly guided this association and resulted in a marriage of convenience, because the in-house spirit truly presides over this model!

Price: 473 250 EUR patek.com

By Dan Diaconu

AN OCEAN WAVE CALLED NAUTILUS

1976 marked a turning point in Patek Philippe’s history when it unveiled a now iconic watch. 40 years later and the Genevan brand is launching a new limited edition in keeping with the original Nautilus style to celebrate four decades of success.

Philippe Stern, the son of owner Patek Philippe Henri Stern (1911-2002) and member of the management department at the time, designed a piece inspired by his passion for sailing in collaboration with the famous watch designer Gérald Genta in 1976 (1931-2011). The name Nautilus comes from the sea mollusc living in a shimmering coffee striped shell and the avant-garde submarine dreamt up by Jules Verne (1828-1905) in 1869 in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. The steel watch makes quite a statement (lateral structures left and right of the case reminiscent of a porthole’s casing and a dial striped like a sailor’s top) enabling Patek Philippe to dive into the sports watch sector. The Nautilus has come in a wide array of versions since launching and was redesigned in 2006 for its 30^th anniversary.

Wide embossed horizontal stripes in a sumptuous sea blue wash over the PVD-coated yellow gold dial. Twelve white gold markers paved with baguette-cut diamonds form the hour rim with two white gold baton-shape hands highlighted by a luminescent dash. A rhodium-plated bronze central seconds hand tracks the seconds whilst a black-on-white date lies in a silver bevelled display at 3.

The limited edition Nautilus reference 5711/1P (700 available) bears the figures “40” and “1976-2016” (at 6) on the dial.

Price on request patek.com

By Sharmila Bertin

Introducing the Patek Philippe Annual Calendar reference 5396

2016 sees Patek Philippe celebrate the 20^th anniversary of its iconic Annual Calendar with its 22^nd timepiece with a full calendar that only needs correcting once a year as February runs into March. There are two versions of the Quantième Annuel référence 5396: a classic rose gold one and a wildly contemporary white gold one.

The 38.5mm case houses the self-winding 324 S QA LU 24H calibre whose power reserve lasts up to 35 hours and displays the following functions on the dial: hours, minutes and seconds (centre); 24 hour indicator with hand, moon phase and date display (at 6); double day and month display (at 12).

The dial’s design depends on the choice of gold case: glittering silver or sunburst galvanic grey. Breguet Arabic hour numerals appear alongside a shimmering minute track beneath a set of dauphine-shape hands.

Price on request patek.com

By Sharmila Bertin

Introducing the Patek Philippe Universal Time Chronograph Reference 5930

Specialising in the two great complications that are the chronograph and Universal Time, Patek Philippe is reuniting the pair for the second time in 76 years in the Universal Time Chronograph Reference 5930. The first piece from 1940 is now part of the incredible collection of watches by the Genevan brand at the Patek Philippe Museum.

The 39.5mm white gold case houses the self-winding CH 28-520 HU calibre which fuels the watch’s functions and provides a 50-55 hour power reserve.

The dial is split in three from the top to the centre: blue disc engraved with 24 cities that you can select using the pusher at 10, 24-hour disc with day/night indicator (silver and blue areas) and guilloche engraved centre with hour, minute and chronograph seconds hands (minute counter at 6).

Price on request

By Sharmila Bertin

Introducing the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime ref. 6300

The Grandmaster Chime ref. 5175 launched in 2014 for the 175^th anniversary of Patek Philippe. There were just 7 of the fully engraved exceptional watch available with its 20 complications. The brand presented a new version of the piece at Baselworld 2016. The entirely redesigned Grandmaster Chime ref. 6300 has joined the brand’s current collections to become the most complicated ever wristwatch to be made by Patek Philippe.

The Sky Moon Tourbillon ref. 6200 spent 15 years reigning as the Genevan brand’s most complex model. The reference 6300 has taken its crown. 5 of its 20 complications are audible: a large and small alarm, a minute repeater, an alarm that rings on the hour and a date repeater that chimes the date on demand.

The reversible white gold watch has a rotation mechanism inside the lugs and is made up of 1580 parts.

Price: 2,500,000 CHF

By Fabrice Eschmann

patek.com

There were only 24 years between the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903 and Charles Lindbergh’s first plane journey across the Atlantic in 1927! Watchmaking is no stranger to this sort of fast growth. Like the navy in the 18^th century, aviation used watches as a navigation tool. Based on an idea by US Naval Officer Philip van Horn Weems and suggestions from Charles Lindbergh, “the hour angle watch” was invented. Used alongside a sextant and radio signal, this instrument enabled them to calculate their position quickly, easily and accurately. Patek Philippe designed two types of this watch, also known as siderometers. The new 5524 model is a tribute to the time when man conquered the skies. The now redundant hour angle has been replaced by a second time zone which is easy to control using two pushers at 8 o’ clock (+1 hour) and 10 o’ clock (-1 hour). The two hands come together beautifully when local and home time are the same. White gold 42mm case. Price: 42,000 CHF

Patek Philippe’s first chronograph wristwatch launched in 1923. Even back then it had a split-second mechanism. 17 years later, in 1940, the Geneva brand designed a chronograph with world time, pulse and respiration scales. A year later, the famous 1518 chronograph with perpetual calendar was launched. Adding complications to a chronograph is clearly one of the brand’s specialities so it’s no surprise that they’ve now added an annual calendar! This function was invented in the 1980s and only became popular in 1996 when Patek Philippe produced a simplified version of it. Halfway between the time-consuming simple calendar (which has to be reset five times a year) and the pricey perpetual calendar (which has to be reset in 2100), the annual calendar is among the brand’s bestsellers alongside the chronograph. The 42mm titanium timepiece is available with a navy or black dial. Price: 69’000 CHF

To celebrate its 175^th anniversary, on 13 October, Patek Philippe pulled out all the stops and presented the most complicated wristwatch of its collections to date. Among the 20 functions proposed, two are unprecedented world firsts: firstly, an acoustic striking alarm, reproducing the full tone sequences of the minute repeater, and including programmed alarm time; secondly, an on-request date repeater, which sounds a double high-low strike at ten-day intervals and a high strike for the other days. The 18 other complications, including a grande and petite sonnerie, a minute repeater, an instantaneous perpetual calendar with 4-digit year display and a 2^nd time zone, are interspersed over the two faces of the reversible 47.4 mm diameter case, which is 16.1 mm thick. Over 100,000 hours of work were required to develop, manufacture and assemble the 1,580 components – including 214 for the case alone – of this model, limited to 7 pieces. Price not disclosed