As the resident gentleman of Quill & Pad, Martin Green feels that the time is soon approaching to write an obituary announcing the death of the dress watch. He thinks that its passing is coming and it’s not an isolated event, but it still hurts.
Jonah Hill was on “The Ellen Show” recently to promote ‘Mid90s,’ the first film Jonah Hill has directed and written. Nick Gould spotted what looked like a gold Patek Philippe on his wrist. He confirmed a few days later that it was a Nautilus Reference 3800/1J in yellow gold.
Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern personally introduced the latest version of the brand’s successful Twenty-4 collection in Milan: the Twenty-4 Automatic. This is the first mechanical movement in a collection that has until now been powered by quartz and the first to feature a round case. Stern explained that the Twenty-4 Automatic has been five years and 40 prototypes in the making. Nancy Olson learns if it’s all been worthwhile.
The balance wheel is the regulatory organ of a mechanical watch, which is expected to deliver a consistent frequency with a tolerance of as little as 0.001 percent. With so much at stake, why complicate things by altering a pure and simple geometric shape? Why reinvent the wheel? Here Ryan Schmidt presents five balances that reinvented the wheel.
Given GaryG’s musings on these pages about the relative roles of rarity and complication in driving the value of a watch, he thinks it appropriate to dedicate this “Behind the Lens” entry to a piece that is both complicated and limited in production: Patek Philippe’s Reference 5950A. What’s so special about this watch? Well, first of all it’s a split-seconds chronograph. What else?
Sylvester Stallone was in London in early July 2018 for his Experience with Sylvester Stallone event held at the London Palladium. The special watch he wore to the event was a Patek Philippe Nautilus chronograph Reference 5980/1R-001 in pink gold.
Frank Lampard, who enjoyed an illustrious career at Chelsea FC in the English Premier League, loves his watches and has been regularly spotted wearing timepieces by Rolex, Richard Mille, and Patek Philippe. He is now the manager of Derby County. What watch has he been wearing there since the 2018 season got underway?
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?
Tom Holland, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, attended the Wimbledon men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Kevin Anderson on July 15 wearing a Patek Philippe Aquanaut with his posh Ralph Lauren suit.
When perpetual calendars are too complicated but a simple calendar just doesn’t cut it anymore because nearly half the months have less than 31 days, it’s five adjusts a year too many for some: don’t fret, there is a middle ground between the most basic calendar watches and complex perpetual calendars. The annual calendar automatically adjusts for each month with 30 or 31 days, meaning just one adjust in February. Here’s a brief history of the complication.