With Watches and Wonders Geneva well underway, we go to Patek Philippe – briefly – to understand what is going on with the Nautilus, as we teased yesterday. More importantly, we also have to see one of our personal highlights, a brand new astronomical complication. Patek Philippe refers to the new Ref. 6105-001G as a grand complication and it represents several firsts for the brand. Least obviously, this is Patek Philippe’s first wristwatch with the indication of sunset and sunrise times. Even less obvious is the watch’s ability to handle the bugbear that is daylight savings time, which while not relevant to us near the equator is nevertheless a significant challenge and deeply consequential to this watch.
On the other hand, the watch makes its presence felt because it is an unrestrained 47mm large lad, with a solid caseback featuring a very large Calatrava motif and nods to unspecified spacecraft. The contrast between this and the celestial complication might seem stark, but the rotating display of the night sky needs space to show us space as seen from Geneva. Of course, the sunrise and sunset times are meant for Geneva, or anywhere else on Central European Time.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5840P-001
In a break from our usual style here, we will address two more Patek Philippe references, one that will make a lot of noise and one that was unfairly buried in the press materials. Starting with the latter, it is an interpretation of a heritage pocket watch that may not have ever been made, with hours and minutes on demand, via an automaton. The original was a Louis Cottier mechanism and you can find it in the Patek Philippe Museum. This one requires a bit of an explanation and a history lesson so for now, we will simply say that it is that rarest thing in fine watchmaking: seriously technical but also fun and beautiful to look at. If Patek Philippe supremo Thierry Stern really aims to surprise collectors, he has hit the mark here because we cannot imagine anyone saw this coming.
Now, there is a watch that makes a bit of a squeak; if chiming action can be addressed in this way, but by far the loudest new model must be Ref. 5840P-001, otherwise known as the Cubitus Perpetual Calendar. If you have been waiting for a sign that the Cubitus will get a shaped movement befitting of its pedigree, Ref. 5840 is the watch you want to pay close attention to. The skeletonized automatic calibre with micro-rotor is a paragon of industrial beauty, although it does exhibit those Patek Philippe hand-finishing touches. We will be returning to this watch and the other references in this story for a more in-depth look later.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5840P-001
Overall, the mood at Patek Philippe seems jubilant and it has not much to do with the Nautilus, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. A surface-level scan shows that things are far less sporty than some might like, and there is a lot of depth in complexity. This is all surprising (see above) but also refreshing because the Geneva watchmaker is clearly looking forward. Speaking of surface-level development, we must turn our attention now to Grand Seiko. The watchmaker-of-the-enthusiasts revealed a fully engraved SBGZ011; this the most highly textured watch of the fair so far for us, with hand-engraved touches covering every micrometer of it.
Unusually though, Grand Seiko actually showed its watches in multiple batches, a fact that tripped us up a bit on the first day. Happily, there is more than one of us covering the fair this year so we will have a shot at all of them. Returning to SBGZ011, it is affectionately named “Mystic Waterfall,” and is powered by the manually wound spring drive calibre 9R02. Being that this is a manual-winder from the Micro Artist Studio, there is a surfeit of hand-finishing here, including all the interior angles you could ask for…there is more to delight the eye here than that so book some time with SBGZ011 if you can. The watch is limited to just 50 pieces and, for those who care about such things, the name is a reference to Tateshina Otaki waterfall and continues a long tradition of Grand Seiko nature-themed watches.
Grand Seiko Ref. SBGZ011
Finally, we must return to one of our first day highlights, namely the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master II. No corrections to issue here but it occurred to us later that this is perhaps the exact right chronograph for people who engage in high-pressure cooking. Such are the thoughts of journalists who may or may not be starving themselves to feast upon novelties…
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