Patek Philippe: new products for 2022, including technical innovations and reissues of great classics
The first edition of the Watches & Wonders fair in Geneva brought us two important confirmations: the first was that the pandemic had not wiped out the desire to share the passion for watchmaking in presence and therefore to be able once again to visit the stands and touch the watches, to try them on the wrist; the second was that the Maisons continue to amaze the public with aesthetic and mechanical avant-garde novelties, placing themselves in the furrow of tradition but raising the bar ever further.
Patek Philippe and the novelties at Watches & Wonders
Patek Philippe did not betray expectations, presenting important technical innovations but also reissues of models already in the collection. A real surprise was the absence of the new edition of the Nautilus time only that, after the end of production of Ref. 5711/1A last year, everyone thought was a given. Many collectors were left empty-handed, but there is still plenty of meat in the fire.
However, the Geneva-based company has surprised with Ref. 5326G-001 Annual Calendar Travel Time, which combines two complications that have never appeared together in a collection. The case features a new white gold design, while the dial, in pure military spirit, is a textured black reminiscent of the grainy grips of old cameras. All these elements combine to give a vintage feel to a watch that still manages to retain a very contemporary character.
At the heart of this new reference is a self-winding movement with an annual calendar, whose regulation is controlled by the Travel Time mechanism, enabling bidirectional date correction, a technical marvel that took years of study and design. In any case, linking the calendar adjustment to the home time hand would have been an all too obvious solution, and haute horlogerie is also made up of these technical virtuosities.
With the same case design and textured anthracite-coloured dial, Ref. 5226G-001 adds a retro military flavour to the Calatrava collection. Offered with a beige nubuck calfskin strap as standard and an extra black calfskin strap with an embossed textile pattern, the calibre inside is a self-winding movement with hours, minutes and centre seconds with a “window” date.
Another aesthetic feature that distinguishes both references is the particular shape of the case that allows the Clous de Paris guilloché motif to “run” along the entire caseband thanks to the lugs attached directly to the back. A design trick that gives the whole a balance of robustness and elegance.
Reissues of existing models
The other references presented at the fair are more like re-editions of existing models but with special combinations of different metals and dial colours that brought a much needed breath of fresh air. The ladies’ watches Ref. 7130R-014 and 7121/200G-001 have changed dramatically in terms of colour, and the traditional hand-wound chronographs (Ref. 5270P-014 and 5172G-010) have been brightened up with green and pink, warm shades that make them particularly pleasing to the eye.
And let’s not forget the watches with Universal Time, presented in white gold with cloisonné enamel dial decoration, a tribute to South East Asia, and the new edition of the World Time with its platinum case and blue guilloché dial, a workmanship that, needless to say, is handcrafted as tradition dictates.
An extraordinary technical innovation for the Monopusher Chronograph
And what about the Ref. Monopusher Chronograph with its tenth-of-a-second hand? This is another extraordinary technical innovation presented in digital form the day after the fair closed. The high-frequency hand-wound movement guarantees maximum precision for the chronograph. The calibre is composed of two independent chronograph mechanisms which, thanks to perfect synchronisation, allow the measurement of tenths of a second hand, governed smoothly, without jerking or oscillating. Conceived in the ateliers of the Grand Complications, Ref. 5470P-001 is adorned with a platinum case and an elegant blue dial with red details which, combined with the embossed blue calfskin strap, gives a “racing” look to this technical marvel.
Patek Philippe never ceases to amaze: we have received confirmation that more novelties will be presented online in the coming months. We will discover them together, as always.
