There’s nothing practical about a $76,000 watch – at least not in the big frame. But in the context of expensive man jewelry, some options are more useful than others. That’s where the Patek Philippe Pilot Travel Time Chronograph enters the small frame. Tim Mosso takes a closer look.
November 2018 marked a personal horological high point for GaryG as he took delivery of an “unobtainable” watch, the Patek Philippe Reference 3940P-027. Gary shares his reasons for buying this rare timepiece with us here.
The rise of the internet, and the consequent evolution of the watch-watching community, has inevitably amplified the phenomenon whereby certain objects have come to exert an extraordinary hold over the collective imagination. Here, Colin Alexander Smith debunks three watch myths circulating widely and freely online and in print concerning former French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s Rolex and Patek Philippe, the Khanjar Rolex Sea-Dwellers, and what in fact Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were wearing on their wrists as they summited Mount Everest.
The Patek Philippe 5002 Sky Moon Tourbillon launched in platinum for the 2001 model year, the 12-complication featured two dials. Dial one was devoted to a moonphase indicator and a perpetual calendar with retrograde date display. On the sub-dial display for months, simple text promised a tourbillon regulator within the case.
The Patek Philippe 5101 ten-day tourbillon isn’t perfect: it’s not notably shock tolerant, there’s no lume, and one could fault its 25-meter water resistance. But most important of all for Tim Mosso is that he can’t afford it! However, since its supernova 2003 debut, the 5101 has established a towering reputation that is, if anything, insufficient to convey the eye-watering beauty and milestone status of this sinuously shaped machine.
From the time GaryG revealed that he’d added a Patek Philippe Reference 5170P chronograph to his collection, he has frequently been asked two questions: how does it compare to his Patek Philippe Reference 5370P split-seconds chronograph and how does it compare to Patek Philippe’s prior flagship chronograph, the platinum-encased Reference 5070P? Find out here!
It was not until 2015 that Patek Philippe publicly issued a number of small editions of previously discontinued references, each in previously unmade metal/dial combinations. This Patek Philippe Reference 5070J-013 is one of those ultra-rare birds. And GaryG wonders if it might bring yellow gold back into fashion single-handedly, as for him the combination of the yellow gold case and sunburst-brushed brown dial is as gorgeous as it is unexpected.
Patek Philippe has no meaningful history of pilot’s watches, so the 2015 advent of the Calatrava Pilot collection was both an exercise in grasping at straws and a flight of fancy. The Pilot Annual Calendar Travel Time 5326G breaks new ground in design while offering enough features to justify itself
“The Holy Trinity,” as any watch nerd knows, refers to the triumvirate of Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin. Colin Smith takes a look at what we mean – or think we mean – when we describe PP, AP, and VC as the “Holy Trinity” of watchmaking and when we describe a timepiece as our “grail watch.”
If there were a watch enthusiasts’ encyclopedia, under “embarrassment of riches” the image might just be a side-by-side shot two of contemporary watchmaking’s great complicated pieces: the “mighty” A. Lange & Söhne Double Split and Patek Philippe’s Reference 5370P split-second chronograph. In this article, GaryG compares and contrasts them to come out with a winner.