Patek Leads From The Front At Watches And Wonders 2023 With 17 New Models
The Grande Dame of fine watchmaking shows that tradition is just a starting point.
The interesting thing about Patek Philippe is that of all the watch brands in Switzerland (and elsewhere, for that matter) it is arguably the one that you might expect, more than any other, to rest on its laurels at least once in a while. A leader in quality across the board since the company was founded in 1839, Patek has been in business, independently, ever since and unlike most of its competitors, it has never offered a down-market product to make ends meet, even during the chill dark days of the Quartz Crisis.
Patek Philippe is, despite its longevity and despite the fact that you might reasonably expect it to consistently stick to predictably conservative watchmaking at this point, a company which every year surprises by, well, surprising – every year the firm introduces an impressively wide range of new watches (now at Watches And Wonders Geneva, since the demise of BaselWorld) and it often shows new technical innovations and advances that fly in the face of any idea that Patek is just in the business of purely traditional watchmaking.
This year, Patek offers 17 new references at Watches And Wonders, including chiming complications, new versions of classics and a range of new daily wear timepieces along with what it calls “useful complications.”
Two New Versions Of The Ultra-Complicated Grandmaster Chime
If you are a fan of Patek Philippe, of complicated watchmaking and of just sheer unabashed one-upmanship, you’ve probably heard of the Grandmaster Chime. The Grandmaster Chime is the most complicated wristwatch that Patek Philippe has ever produced and it is, in one watch, more or less a complete summary of every possible striking and chiming complication ever produced in watchmaking. The Grandmaster Chime was launched as a limited edition in 2014, to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the company and it became part of the regular collection – albeit produced in extremely small numbers – in 2016.
The Grandmaster Chime has a total of 20 complications, including five striking complications, some of which have unique features not found in any other watch. It is of course a grande et petite sonnerie, which means that like a longcase or mantel clock, it can strike the time “en passant” or in passing, without any action needed on the part of the owner. In grand strike mode, it will chime the hour, and, at each quarter, the hour and the quarter; in petite sonnerie mode it will strike only the quarter hours at each quarter. The Grandmaster Chime also features an alarm function but unlike conventional alarm watches, it will chime a full strike for the time when the alarm is activated. The watch can also chime the date, which no other wrist or pocket watch has done before, and the strike for the date is a decimal strike – two rings in succession for the tens digit, and individual strikes for the ones digit. There are also a host of safety and isolator features designed to make the watch as easy to use and reliable as possible, and the Grandmaster Chime (which has two faces) is an instantaneous perpetual calendar as well. It is, as you might expect, a large watch (47.7mm x 16.07mm) with an impressively large number of components (1366 in the movement alone, not counting all the components in the complex case) but it stands alone in modern watchmaking, and for that matter in watchmaking history, as a peerless example of the art of chiming complications taken to a new extreme.
For Watches And Wonders, there are two new versions of the Grandmaster Chime. The first is the Grandmaster Chime Haute Joaillerie Reference 6300/403G-001, in white gold, which is set with 118 baguette-cut emeralds, and 291 baguette-cut diamonds, with an ebony black opaline dial on the perpetual calendar side of the dial, and the same but with a Clous de Paris pattern on the time side.
The second version is the Grandmaster Chime Reference 6300GR-001, in white and rose gold, with brown opaline dials, again with a Clous de Paris pattern on the time side dial.
Both new versions are price on request.
The Grand Complication Reference 5316/50P-001
Patek Philippe has a whole category of watches which it calls “Grand Complications” which is its term for those watches which incorporate one or more of the classic “high complications” (the repeater, rattrapante chronograph, and perpetual calendar) as well as other complicated mechanisms, including the tourbillon. (Enthusiasts who are fastidious about terminology will point out that the tourbillon is technically not a complication but rather a regulating device, like the remontoire, but for all intents and purposes the tourbillon serves the same function as other high complications, which is to demonstrate mastery of craft and to create a continuity of craft with the larger history of watchmaking).
Patek’s reference 5316P was introduced for the first time in 2017 and it is a Grand Complication by anyone’s definition. The 5136 incorporates a tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendar with retrograde date, and moonphase. The version just introduced in Geneva is cased in a 40.2mm x 13.23mm platinum case which, considering the complexity of the caliber R TO 27 PS QR, is pretty modest in size, and, according to Patek, has a “new contemporary look,” with a blue-metallized sapphire dial and a black gradient rim.
Price is on request.
The Rare Handcrafts World Time Minute Repeater Reference 5531G-001 And Rare Handcrafts Minute Repeater Reference 5178G-012
For fans of horological esoterica in general, and of unusual chiming complications in particular, Patek Philippe is a great place to look. The Grandmaster Chime is of course the poster child for a nothing-succeeds-like-excess approach to chiming complications but Patek continues to make both very classic versions of chiming complications, as well as chiming watches that bring something very new to the table.
A case in point is the 5531R World Time Minute Repeater. This watch was first introduced by Patek as a special edition in 2017 at the Art Of Watches Grand Exhibition in New York, and there were ten pieces in all – five with grand feu enamel dials showing the Manhattan skyline by day, and five more, also in grand feu enamel, showing the skyline at night (Patek of course frequently uses the dials of its world time watches to display enamel miniatures). A year later, in 2018, the 5531 became a part of the regular collection, launching with a grand feu enamel dial showing the famous terraced vineyards along the shores of Lac Leman.
As is so often the case with Patek Philippe, the 5531 is more than just a (very pretty) face. It is a minute repeater, but with a twist; it’s the world’s only world time minute repeater which chimes the time in whatever local time zone is set. There had been world time watches with repeaters in the past, but these would only strike home time, not local time.
The latest version of the 5531, the 5531G-001, has the same complicated local-time repeating mechanism, but with a new enamel miniature on the dial, showing one of the fleet of paddle-wheel launches which can still be seen today on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and which will be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s ever taken a walk along the city’s waterfront garden.
While complexity has an undeniable fascination, there is something equally compelling about a simple, unadorned minute repeater – without any other competition, this most intricate and charming of complications really has a chance to shine. The Rare Handcrafts 5178G-012 is a 40mm white gold minute repeater in the classic mode, but with a dial executed in the grand feu enameling technique known as flinqué, in which a layer of translucent enamel is applied over a guilloché pattern.
Both of the new Rare Handcrafts chiming complications are price on request.
Complications For Travelers: The 5224R-001 Calatrava Travel Time, And Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronographs, 5942G-001/010
The new 5224R-001 Calatrava Travel Time is an unusual take on another useful complication – the dual time-zone watch. Patek Philippe’s Travel Time watches are like its world time watches, intended to make it easier to keep track of both home time and local time but while the World Time watches give you a god’s eye view of time around the world, the Travel Time watches offer a focused snapshot of time at home, and local time. Patek’s particular version of the Travel Time is a bit neater looking than most dual time-zone watches; the home time hand is hidden under the local time hand until the local time hand is reset to a new time zone.
The 5224R-001 Calatrava Travel Time, in a rose gold, 42mm x 9.85mm case, offers something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before in a Travel Time Patek: A 24-hour dial. Though such a dial can take a little getting used to, it has the benefit of immediately showing AM or PM time in both home and local time zones and is thus a perfectly logical choice for a travel time watch. The local time hour hand is set from the crown and the Arabic numerals and syringe-style hands, along with the handsome blue dial and small seconds sundial at 6:00, give the watch a contemporary profile as well as a ton of mid-century charm. Price at launch, $57,370.
Also new for the globe-trotting Patek Philippe fan, are two new Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronographs, References 5942G-001 and 5942G-010 respectively. The new references keep most of the characteristic design cues of the Calatrava pilot watches, including the cathedral style hands and Deco-style Arabic numerals (as well as the use of copious amounts of luminous material) and combine Patek’s signature travel time complication with a flyback chronograph and date (shown in a subdial at 12:00). Both watches are being offered in white gold, with either a khaki green or blue-gray sunburst dial and the price for these 42mm x 13.05mm traveler’s companions is $75,700.
Modern Makeovers For The Calatrava References 6007G-001/010/011
Under Thierry Stern, Patek Philippe has gone in some new directions with its designs and offered some surprising refreshes on classic models. The first Patek Calatrava, the ref. 96, was launched in 1932 as a 31mm, time-only dress watch in a gold case with an almost totally unadorned dial and small seconds at 6:00, and that watch set the expectations for decades to come for what a Calatrava should be. However, in recent years the term has become a bit more elastic and now encompasses both time-only and time-and-date watches, as well as complicated watches like the various Calatrava Travel Time models.
The time-only and time-and-date watches still make up the majority of watches with the name Calatrava and this year, Patek has introduced three new references, all of which make judicious use of color and dial patterns to create a more contemporary version of this venerable family. The new 6007G models are all in white gold, with 40mm x 9.17mm cases, 30 meter water resistant. Each of the new watches has a black dial embossed with what Patek’s calling a “carbon” pattern and while the cross-hatched squares are somewhat reminiscent of carbon fiber, I think they also work just as pure decorative elements, without needing to appeal to modern materials science to be attractive. Color comes in the form of primary colored center seconds hands in red, yellow, or blue, with matching triangular markers on the inner “railroad track” for the hours.
All watches are powered by the full rotor automatic Caliber 26‐330 S C, and all three are offered at launch at $31,940.
Three New Aquanauts: The Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar 5261R-001 and Chronograph 5968R-001, And Aquanut Luce 5268/200R-01, All In Rose Gold
Rounding out the main new releases from Patek this year are three new Aquanaut models, all in rose gold. The Aquanaut has been around since 1997, when the first reference, the 5060A, was introduced and at the time it was intended to be a more approachable version of the Nautilus. The latter had never been billed as an entry level watch per se – right from the beginning, the advertisements for the Nautilus boasted that “one of the world’s costliest watches is made of steel” – but it was at variance with Patek’s long history of making round, often complicated watches, and almost invariably in precious metals. By the time the late 1990s rolled around the Nautilus was no longer a more affordable, less stuffy and traditional point of entry into Patek Philippe (if it ever really had been) and the Aquanaut – on a rubber strap, with its deeply embossed geometric dial, bold markers and hands, and simpler case construction, was waiting in the wings to become Patek’s friendly steel starter watch.
Well, it’s been 26 years, and the Aquanaut itself has become a mature member, in due course, of Patek Philippe’s lineup, although it’s still arguably the most more or less down-to-earth of Patek’s collections. This year there are three new Aquanauts, all in rose gold, two of them with complications. The first two are both Aquanaut Luce models – the Luce line was introduced in 2004 as the ladies’ version of the Aquanaut. The first of the two new Luce models is the Annual Calendar 5261R-001, which has a full annual calendar display including moonphase, and two subdials for the month and day of the week.
Luce is still nominally a ladies’ watch line but at 39.9mm x 10.9mm I can’t see any reason why this couldn’t be a perfectly nice complicated watch straddling the dress-sports divide for anyone who found the size and design appealing. Perhaps more squarely in the tradition of the Luce line as a ladies’ watch lineup is the 5268/200R, which is a 38.8mm x 8.5mm time-and-date model, with a taupe dial and strap.
The Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar 5261R-001 is offered at $61,510 on a blue composite strap, and the Luce 5268/200R-010 on a brown composite strap is $53,820.
The third new Aquanaut is the Chronograph Reference 5968R-001, in a 42.2mm x 11.9mm rose gold case. The movement is a flyback chronograph with sixty minute subdial, caliber CH-28-520C, and it joins the existing Aquanaut chronograph models in steel and white gold. Price at launch is $75,700.