In addition to the wristwatches Patek Philippe is currently debuting during its the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023, the Geneva watchmaker is alsodisplaying a spectacular new collection of ‘rare handcrafts’ models, including dome clocks, table clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches, each decorated with artisanal dial and case work inspired by Japanese culture.
In all, Patek Philippe is unveiling a collection of forty creations (eight dome clocks, five table clocks, nine pocket watches and eighteen wristwatches), all one-of-a-kind or limited-edition pieces. Each pays tribute to hand engraving, hand-executed guilloché work, gemsetting and various forms of enameling. The exhibition also presents a selection of some 190 pieces belonging to the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
Below we’ve assembled a selection of the rare handcrafts items on display at the exhibition in Tokyo until June 25.
Kyudo pocket watch with miniature painting on enamel, flinqué enamel and hand engraving.The Japanese garden decor on the case back was hand-engraved and hand-guilloched, and then coated with translucent and opalescent enamels, a technique known as flinqué enamel.
The Katagami pocket watch with hand-engraving.The case back was first hand engraved with a pattern of vertical grooves using line engraving and chased to obtain alternating matte and shining finishes suggesting textile fibers.
The Portrait of a Samouri is a pocket watch with case back in wood marquetry and dial in enamel.
Shizuoka and Mount Fuji pocket watch with cloisonné enamel, flinqué enamel and hand-engraving.
Opposite side of the Shizuoka and Mount Fuji pocket watch.
The Eagle pocket watch in cloisonné enamel, paillonné enamel and miniature painting on enamel.
Close-up on the dial of the Eagle pocket watch..
The Snow-Covered Landscape Golden Ellipse wristwatch with dial in cloisonné enamel enriched with miniature painting on enamel.
Bird on a Red Maple is a ladies’ minute repeater wristwatch with dial in cloisonné enamel enriched with miniature painting on enamel.
Hanami dome table clock in cloisonné and paillonné enamel enriched with miniature painting on enamel.The Japanese Stamps Dome table clock in cloisonné enamel with hand-engraving.The stamp motifs were rendered by hand with line engraving and coated with translucent brown enamels to create the effect of shadows and patina.
For its grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023, which is open through June 25, Patek Philippe launches six limited editions, including a new Quadruple Complication (Reference 5308P-010) and the first World Time watch equipped with a date display synchronized with local time (Reference 5330G-010).
The new Patek Philippe self-winding Reference 5308P-010 combines a minute repeater, a split-seconds chronograph and an instantaneous perpetual calendar.
Patek Philippe also debuted a new edition of its World Time Minute Repeater (Reference 5531R-014) and ladies’ Moon Phase model (Reference 7121/200G-010). The watchmaker also added two new Calatrava models (References 6127G-010 and 7127G-010) especially made for the Japanese market. All other Special Editions will also be offered primarily in Japan, with prices on request.
In addition to these wristwatches, Patek Philippe also created a new collection of ‘rare handcrafts’ models, including dome clocks, table clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches, each decorated with artisanal dial and case work inspired by Japanese culture. We’ll show you these spectacular works of horological art in a second post tomorrow.
The Minute Repeater
This Quadruple Complication (Reference 5308P-010) is a limited edition of fifteen watches and as noted above unites a minute repeater, a split-seconds chronograph and an instantaneous perpetual calendar in apertures.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5308P
Patek Philippe explains that its watchmakers were inspired by the existing Triple Complication Reference 5208 from 2011, with minute repeater, chronograph and instantaneous perpetual calendar. To add the split-seconds mechanism, which requires more energy to operate, watchmakers devised a new platinum mini-rotor in order to increase winding power.
The resulting new caliber (R CHR 27 PS QI, with 799 parts),offers two patented inventions that reduce energy consumption with regard to the clutch and the split seconds.
The instantaneous perpetual calendar ensures instant advance of the day, date and month disks. Patek Philippe delivers the watch with two interchangeable case backs: one in sapphire crystal adorned with the transfer-printed inscription “Patek Philippe Tokyo” and the other in solid platinum engraved with the same wording.
The World Time Minute Repeater
This limited edition Reference 5531R-014 will be made a a limited edition of fifteen watches.
The Ref. 5531R features a self-winding R 27 HU caliber combining a minute repeater with the World Time display.
At its center you’ll see a Grand Feu cloisonné enamel decoration representing the historic Chuo district in the center of Tokyo. The name “Tokyo” appears in red on the city disk.
Patek Philippe originally launched the watch in 2017 as the first minute repeater that always chimes the local time, which is displayed by a pierced hour hand in rose gold. Echoing the other minute repeater, this model is delivered with two interchangeable case backs.
World Timer Tokyo
Patek Philippe has endowed this new World Time model with a patented world first: a date display synchronized with local time (the time zone selected at the 12 o’clock position and displayed by the center hands.)
This new World Time model Reference 5330G is endowed with a patented world first date display synchronized with local time.
The watch’s plum-colored dial is embellished with a hand guilloched center while its date display is located on the beveled dial flange and indicated via a center hand in glass with a red tip. To further customize the watch, Patek Philippe has placed the name “Tokyo” in red on the city disk. Furthermore, Japan’s national emblem replaces the classic sun symbol on the 24-hour disk.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5330G, details.
The watch is a 40mm polished white-gold model with curved two-tier fluted lugs and is worn on a strap in shiny black alligator leather with plum-colored hand stitching, secured by a fold-over clasp in white gold.
The sapphire-crystal back is adorned with the transfer-printed inscription “Patek Philippe Tokyo”.
Ladies’ Moon-Phase
A year after Patek Philippe launched a new edition of this model, the watchmaker adds a special edition version (Reference 7121/200G-010) as a limited edition of 200 watches.
This model with pearly gray dial and strap is a variation on a ladies’ moon phase watch launched in 2022.
The watch’s classic round Calatrava case in white gold (diameter 33 mm) with an Officer’s style design in pearl grey with rounded flanks, straight lugs with screwed strap bars. Around the dial we see two rows of diamonds in a lace setting.
Inside Patek Philippe fits its excellent manual-wind caliber 215 PS LU, the smallest complicated movement made by Patek Philippe.
The transparent sapphire-crystal back bears the transfer-printed inscription “Patek Philippe Tokyo”.
Two Calatrava References
Patek Philippe created a new Calatrava case that emphasizes two-tier fluted and bezeled lugs for these two models (Ref. 6127G-010 and Ref. 7127G-010).
The men’s Reference 6127G-010, measuring 36mm in diameter, is distinguished by its light blue lacquered dial.
Launched as a pair, the watches display white gold baton-style applied hour markers and cheveu-style hands.
The men’s Reference 6127G-010 (diameter 36 mm) features a light-blue lacquer dial and a matching shiny alligator-leather strap.
This 31mm Calatrava 7127G features lugs inspired by Reference 5270.
The smaller model, measuring 31mm in diameter, offers a lilac colored dial. Both feature white-gold cases engraved with“Patek Philippe – Tokyo”. Inside each is a caliber 215 PS manually wound movement.
Patek Philippe offers them in Japan as two editions limited to 400 watches each, of which 300 are sold as a set in a double presentation box for the two watches, while 100 may be acquired separately.
Roger Smith’s Pocket Watch Number Two sold for $4.9 million during the Phillips New York Watch Auction Eight held June 10 and June 11, setting a new record for any British timepiece while marking the fourth highest price ever achieved for a pocket watch at auction.
The Roger Smith, Pocket Watch Number Two.
The English watchmaker worked for five years to create the watch by hand in order to win the approval of the late George Daniels and secure an apprenticeship in Daniels’ legendary workshop on the Isle of Man.
Case back open view of the Roger Smith, Pocket Watch Number Two.
As Phillips explains “With Pocket Watch Number One rejected by Daniels, it was the perfection of this timepiece – Pocket Watch Number Two – that led Daniels to proclaim to Smith, “You are now a watchmaker.”
The Patek Philippe Ref. 2481 Pristine Forest.
In addition to the Roger Smith sale, two Patek Philippe watches sold for more than $1 million, including the Ref. 2481 Pristine Forest (which sold for $1.1 million) as well as the Philippe Dufour Simplicity 37, which sold for $863,600.
The Audemars Piguet Grand Complication platinum pocket watch, which sold for $635,000, more than ten times its low estimate.
An Audemars Piguet Grande Complication pocket watch in platinum, completed in 2011, sold for $635,000, more than ten times its low estimate.
The Philippe Dufour Simplicity 37 “No. 70”
Watches from Zenith also did well, including a tropical A384 El Primero which sold well past its $6,000-$12,000 estimate to $50,800, setting a new record for a vintage El Primero model. Zenith’s Chronomaster Original Pink “Unique Piece” for Susan G. Komen” sold for $30,480, of which 100% of proceeds, including Buyer’s Premium, will be donated to the breast cancer organization.
The Zenith Chronomaster Original Pink “Unique Piece for Susan G. Komen”
The auction realized total sales of $26.4 million, selling 100% by lot and 100% by value. See the Phillips website for full results and details.
New Ref. 5224R is a Calatrava model equipped with the Travel Time dual time zone function and a 24-hour display.
Arriving amid a strong set of debuts, including a highly jeweled Grandmaster Chime and the first annual calendar within the Aquanaut Luce collection (to be covered in upcoming posts), this newest adaptation of Patek Philippe’s Travel Time dual-time display is paired with an original display of local time and home time via two center hands turning on a 24-hour circle.
Patek Philippe has used similar 24-hour displays, but most have been seen on watches from the distant past. In the early twentieth century Patek Philippe made a series of Chronometro Gondolo watches for the Brazilian retailer Gondolo & Labouriau.
But for the new watch, Patek Philippe flipped the original design. Instead of placing the noontime indication at the more traditional 6 o’clock position, Patek Philippe opts to update (and, to many, simplify) the display by placing noon at the top of the dial where, it seems, more wearers look when checking the time.
In another nod to simplicity and aesthetics, Patek Philippe has also replaced the traditional in-case correction pushers for local time with a new patented correction system that allows the user to pull out the crown.
When pulled out to the intermediate position, the local time can be adjusted backwards and forwards in one-hour increments.
To accomplish these new features, Patek Philippe built new caliber 31-260 PS FUS 24H. The movement is an update to Patek Philippe’s 31-260 ultra-thin self-winding base caliber from 2011, which here includes a 24-hour mechanism and a Travel Time mechanism.
In 2021, Patek Philippe further enhanced the initial caliber (then placed into the In-Line Perpetual Calendar Reference 5236P-001) with a new operating frequency of 4 Hz, a twenty per cent increase in barrel-spring torque, a mini-rotor in platinum and a reduction wheel that uncouples the self-winding mechanism when the watch is being manually wound.
The watch’s 42mm rose-gold case nicely complements a sharp-looking blue dial that Patek Philippe has set with contemporary, high-relief rose gold numerals, hour markers and five-minute cabochons.
The watch is also notable for its generous use of luminous material within the rose-gold, syringe-type hands, the hour markers and the numerals.
Price: $57,366.
More New in 2023
As noted above, Patek Philippe for 2023 adds an annual calendar to the Aquanaut Luce to create Annual Calendar Reference 5261R-001 ($61,506), the first annual calendar in the Aquanaut collection.
Aquanaut Luce Annual Calendar Reference 5261R-001.
Finished with a very nice blue-gray dial and attached to a matching strap, the 39.9mm rose gold watch enriches Patek Philippe’s range of complicated ladies’ watches.
Also for 2023, Patek Philippe adds a blue-gray sunburst dial and a navy-blue grained calfskin strap to its distinctive Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronograph Reference 5924G-001 ($75,699) and adds a khaki green lacquered dial to the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronograph Reference 5924G-010 ($79,699).
Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronograph Reference 5924G-001.Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronograph, Reference 5924G-010.
Patek Philippe also updates its Calatrava references 6007G-001, 6007G-010 and 6007G-011 with a new modern dial style featuring black dials and three types of finish with an embossed carbon pattern.
Calatrava reference 6007G-001, one of three colorful updates to the series.
Each also receives new color accents in on their respective dials and straps: yellow (6007G-001), red (6007G-010) or sky blue (6007G-011). Each is priced at $37,850.
Patek Philippe also expanded its range of watches for women with the new Calatrava self-winding Reference 4997/200R-001, a rose gold, diamond-set watch ($38,441) now sporting a rich purple wave dial pattern created by fifty layers of translucent lacquer.
Pictures don’t do this dial justice as the lacquer finish here is extraordinary.
Starting April 1, Patek Philippe will display its new Rare Handcrafts 2023 collection during a public exhibition at the Patek Philippe historic headquarters on 41 Rue du Rhône in Geneva.
On display at the exhibition is this Leopard Pocket watch with wood marquetry, hand engraving and champlevé enamel.
On display until April 15, the collection will show nearly seventy one-of-a-kind or limited-edition watches and clocks made by Patek Philippe artisans showing their wide-ranging skills and creativity.
The annual exhibit this year will display timepieces that demonstrate skill in Grand Feu cloisonné enameling, miniature painting on enamel, grisaille or flinqué or paillonné or champlevé enameling, manual engraving, micro-marquetry, manual guilloching and gemsetting.
Patek Philippe’s Rare Handcrafts 2023 collection includes sixty-seven creations in total consisting of twenty-two dome clocks and miniature dome clocks, three table clocks, twelve pocket watches and thirty wristwatches. This exhibition is the public’s only opportunity to see unique pieces and limited editions before they are delivered to private collections.
The exhibits are divided into two main areas: natural beauty and human adventure.
To make the cat, the marquetry maker cut out and assembled 363 tiny veneer parts and 50 inlays, together spanning 21 species of wood of different colors, textures and veining.
Within the nature area, you’ll see, for example, the Leopard pocket watch (reference 995/137J-001) which combines wood marquetry, manual engraving and champlevé enamel.
The dial on The Leopard, in black-tinted tulipwood, presents applied Breguet numerals and leaf-shaped hands, all in yellow gold. A faceted yellow sapphire decorates the crown.
In the second area Patek Philippe gathers timepieces that pay tribute to arts, traditions and culture, with a particular set of timepieces dedicated to motor racing.
The 1948 Nations Grand Prix Calatrava wristwatch features a dial in cloisonné and paillonné enamel enriched with miniature painting on enamel.
One of these, the 1948 Nations Grand Prix Calatrava wristwatch (reference 5189G-001) features a dial in cloisonné and paillonné enamel and miniature painting on enamel.
This limited edition of ten watches shines a spotlight on the famous Nations Grand Prix, held in Geneva from 1946 to 1950.
This complete showcase also includes a selection of historical rare handcraft timepieces on loan from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
The Rare Handcrafts 2023 exhibition requires no entry fee and will be open to the public from April 1 to April 15, 2023, every day except Sundays, from 11 am to 6 pm (last entry at 5 pm), at the Patek Philippe Salons on Rue du Rhône 41 in Geneva. Visitors are requested to pre-register online.
