TRADITION AND INNOVATION
Legendary Swiss watch manufacturer Patek Philippe celebrates its 175 years of haute horlogerie with exceptional timepieces
Patek Philippe, one of the world’s oldest manufactures and the last independent family-owned watchmaking company, reached another milestone last year when the brand celebrated its 175th anniversary. With 175 years of continuous activity, Patek Philippe is an impressive example of longevity and the company owes this achievement to its respect for its founders’ spirit — Antoine Norbert de Patek and Jean-Adrien Philippe’s single goal “to create the finest and most technically accomplished timepieces in the world”. Today, the brand continues its legacy by cleverly uniting tradition and innovation pushing the boundaries of the art of watchmaking to new levels.
At BaselWorld 2015 earlier this year, Patek Philippe celebrated this grand milestone with the unveiling of its 175th commemorative watches destined to delight collectors and devotees of rare mechanisms. Four outstanding timepieces were introduced — the extraordinary Grandmaster Chime wristwatch, the Multi-Scale Chronograph, the Chiming Jump Hour and the World Time Moon.
The company has put these striking “intelligent” timepieces on a world tour, travelling as part of the “Patek Philippe 175th Anniversary Celebration Exhibition” visiting six of the brand’s major markets. The tour made its final stop in Asia last month with a grand haute horlogerie showcase at Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris in the historic Fort Canning Arts Centre.
At the exhibition, guests were transported back in time through the “immersive experience”, a guided walk to each dedicated themed room to learn about the history as well as craftsmanship and artisanship that has made this brand one of the most prominent in the watch industry. New models launched at BaselWorld 2015 were also on show as well as the current collections.
Attracting huge attention was the show highlight — the 175th commemorative timepieces.
“From the extraordinary Grandmaster Chime wristwatch to the Multi-Scale Chronograph, the Chiming Jump Hour and the World Time Moon, the commemorative pieces, produced as limited editions, embody the workshops’ vast story of know-how and unique heritage,” said Thierry Stern, president of Patek Philippe. “They perfectly combine innovative movements and aesthetic refinement to mark the history of Patek Philippe and the watchmaking in general — for this generation and those to come.”
The masterpiece Grandmaster Chime is the brand’s most complicated wristwatch to date — the first double-face wristwatch that can be worn with either dial facing up. It blends classic chiming complications like the grande and petite sonnerie with brand new ones like the date repeater, while also building in a state-of-the-art perpetual calendar. In its double-face case with a diameter of 47mm, it accommodates four spring barrels and no fewer than 20 complications. The 18k rose gold case is 47.4mm across and 16.1mm thick and hand-engraved on nearly every surface. The watch is available in a limited edition of seven pieces. Six of them will be sold to the brand’s long-standing collectors. The seventh one will be kept at the Patek Philippe Museum. The timepiece is presented in a special box with commemorative medallion.
The Multi-Scale Chronograph is endowed with three different scales — a tachymeter for calculating speed; a telemeter for measuring distance; and a pulsimeter for quickly taking the pulse. Both male and female models are powered by the new calibre version of self-winding column-wheel vertical clutch chronograph. The men’s models have the telemeter, pulsimeter and tachymeter scales arranged from the outside to the inside. The order is reversed for the ladies’ models. This multi-scale dial watch is available in a limited edition of 400 pieces for men, each in 18k yellow, white, and rose gold as well as 100 versions in platinum. The ladies’ versions with baguette diamond hour markers are limited to 150 watches each in white and rose gold.
The Chiming Jump Hour, presented in a classic tonneau-shaped, polished platinum case, combines three jumping indications with an acoustic indication at the top of every hour. The periphery and the minute circle of the dial, as well as the case flanks are engraved with an intricate floral motif. The dial shows an aperture for the digital hour display at 12 o’clock, a minute hand in the upper dial, and small seconds at 6 o’clock. These three jump as one, instantaneously — something achieved with the new calibre 32-650 HGS PS. The watch is being crafted in a limited anniversary edition of 175 pieces. The World Time watch was first launched in the 1930s and patented in 1959. With two rotating disks, it shows the time simultaneously in all 24 time zones; a subsequent patented mechanism enables the owner of the watch, when changing time zones, to correct all the displays with the single push of a button. For its 175th anniversary, Patek Philippe has reinterpreted this legendary model by replacing the traditional dial centre with a moon-phase display. A single large Moon turns clockwise against a star-studded nocturnal sky. The effect is achieved with two very thin disks of mineral glass. The lower disk, depicting the Moon, completes a rotation in a lunar month. The fixed upper disk is a heart-shaped mask; its outline reveals the changing visible portion of the Moon night after night with accuracy. The watch is produced in two limited editions of 1,300 pieces for men and 450 pieces for ladies.