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The Art of F.P. Journe — Christie’s Geneva Watch Auction May 12, 2023

Wei Koh — Tue, 09 May 2023 22:05:21 +0000

The significance of Christie’s watch auction on May 12, titled The Art of F.P. Journe, might be lost on people who are new to watch collecting. But such is the historic importance of the event to me that I wanted to take the time to put my thoughts together leading up to it. Historic it is, because it is the first thematic auction focused on the work of a single living watchmaker. François-Paul Journe is today at the very height of his creative powers, as evinced by the extraordinary FFC (“Francis Ford Coppola”), a mind-blowing wristwatch featuring an anatomically accurate mechanical hand that tells the time powered by a constant force mechanism. Journe’s canon of work is, without a doubt, the single greatest contribution to the story of watchmaking by any one individual in more than 200 years.

How does this auction beautifully illustrate the story of Journe’s journey as a watchmaker? I’ll put it like this. The world has been waiting for two centuries for another watchmaking giant to walk the earth, an individual that would continue the story of the legends of the 18th century, like Breguet, Berthoud, Janvier, Harrison and Lépine; a man that would reconnect the values of the golden age and its ceaseless pursuit of advancing timekeeping accuracy with the modern era. And through doing so, he would define an all-new horological language that could be considered the most significant independent voice of our time, making the once almost lost art of mechanical timekeeping more relevant than ever. That man is François-Paul Journe.

François-Paul Journe

To be alive during Journe’s era can be likened to being given the opportunity to bear witness to the greatness of Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali in their prime, or to watch the incandescent performative ritual of Jackson Pollock engaged in action painting, or to listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan transform his 1963 Fender Stratocaster into the omnipotent voice of the cosmos. The Art of F.P. Journe by Christie’s proudly declares his place as the single greatest watchmaker of our time. Says Remi Guillemin, head of Christie’s watch department in Europe, “We were motivated and inspired to undertake this auction, the first of its kind for a living watchmaker, because we feel that Journe’s contribution to the story of watchmaking has a significance that is utterly unique. Furthermore, at Christie’s, we wish to help build the culture of watch appreciation and enrich the understanding of independent watchmaking. This auction is our first major initiative in this focus, but there will be more!”

A 20-year-old Journe at the Parisian workshop of his uncle Michel, where he was exposed to the works of the great watchmakers of the 18th century

François-Paul Journe stood beside his uncle Michel in his workshop in 1979, where they worked together on restoring antique clocks

Unrivaled Contribution to Horology: Auction Lots of the Greatest Significance

Journe’s palmary achievements are the stuff of legend: the first wristwatch tourbillon with remontoir d’egalité; the first wristwatch tourbillon with a dead seconds mechanism driven by a constant force device; the first wristwatch successfully implementing the phenomenon of resonance; an extraordinary chronometric automatic caliber able to integrate a vast variety of complications, including a chronograph in a mere one millimeter height of spare space; the world’s first grande et petite sonnerie incorporating safety systems making it immune to bad owners and using an all-new pair of flat gongs mounted beneath the dial; the world’s thinnest minute repeater wristwatch (at the time) using the same pair banana shaped gong; a chronograph with a 1/100th of a second hand capable of decoupling from the pinion driving it the moment the chronograph brake is activated; a chronometer featuring a constant force mechanism and the EBHP escapement inspired by Breguet’s natural escapement; the Astronomic, a watch displaying sidereal hours and minutes next to civil time, indicating sunrise and sunset, equation of time and driven by an annual calendar and a hidden tourbillon.

The very first Tourbillon Souverain prototype numbered 11/91 (1991) which still remains in Journe’s personal collection today

These are but a few examples. The list is seemingly endless and each act alone should by right engrave Journe’s name forever into the canon of watchmaking’s greatest achievements. Taken together, they form a tapestry of horological riches the likes of which the world had not seen for over 200 years. Perhaps most important is that every one of François-Paul Journe’s achievements, including his game-changing quartz watch, the Élégante, or even his wildly expressionistic outlier, the Vagabondage, has advanced the story of watchmaking in a real way. Meaning that it has enhanced the performance, accuracy, reliability, beauty and emotional resonance of contemporary watchmaking, following in the tradition of the 18th century’s greatest masters such as Harrison, Lépine, Janvier and Breguet.

Amongst the many extraordinary timepieces offered for sale at The Art of F.P. Journe, there are certain watches that can rightly be considered true horological treasures. Here are three of my favorite lots from the auction.

Lot 39 (2039): F.P. Journe Tourbillon Souverain “Souscription,” No. 2/20, Circa 1999

Lot 2039 is a Tourbillon Souverain “Souscription,” No. 2/20, otherwise known as the first series with this example being the second Tourbillon Souverain produced. The Souscription series represents the only Tourbillon Souverain watches that were numbered both on their dials and the case back. The dial has been hand-finished and is further distinguished by having a rounded, black polished remontoir cock which would later be replaced by a flat one in the third series.

This has to be the most hotly anticipated lot in an auction replete with incredible timepieces. Why? Because this was one of the 20 watches Journe used to launch his brand. One of Journe’s earliest breakthroughs, and to this day one of his most important achievements, was to become the first watchmaker to place a remontoir d’egalité in a tourbillon wristwatch.

What is the significance of this? It finally enabled the tourbillon to have a raison d’être in a wristwatch. The tourbillon mechanism, which adds an entire cage assembly to the oscillator, is incredibly heavy. As such, when power reserve diminishes, the weight of the cage actually accentuates the reduction in torque, creating subpar accuracy, which is anathema to a device created to enhance chronometric performance. As Journe describes it, “Putting a tourbillon in a wristwatch is like placing a backpack of rocks on a boy’s back before climbing the stairs.” But by using a remontoir d’egalité, Journe brilliantly removed the torque powering the tourbillon from the direct influence of the mainspring. Instead, it is rearmed by its own power source once every second. The remontoir, which would become synonymous with Journe and his work, is an incredible device. In fact, it allowed John Harrison to create his fabled H4, the world’s first marine chronometer, a watch so accurate it could enable sailors to tell their longitude at sea.

The engravings on the case back are applied by hand on the present Souscription watch as opposed to the deeper engravings applied by laser on later examples

Lot 39 (2039) is an incredible Tourbillon Souverain that tells the story of Journe’s first act of horological brilliance by integrating a constant force device with a tourbillon. Amusingly, the inspiration for this came from a famous watch collector named Dr. Eugen Gschwind, who was engaged in a duel of watchmaking one-upmanship with the legendary Dr. George Daniels. Says Journe, “He asked me to integrate a remontoir into a tourbillon pocket watch. Honestly, I was totally blank, then one day, I saw a clock in the French National Museum which gave me the idea of how to do this.” Famously, this pocket watch would have a plate covering Journe’s name, so that for many years, Daniels didn’t know it was Journe who had created it.

To learn more about this story, please watch my interview with François-Paul Journe here.

François-Paul Journe honouring his mentor George Daniels with a special Chronomètre Souverain during an intimate dinner organized by John and William Asprey in 2010

A few years later, after successfully creating a “Sympathique” clock for the London luxury retailer John Asprey, based on a historical Breguet timepiece, Journe pitched the idea of a tourbillon wristwatch with remontoir d’egalité to the brand, but it didn’t bite. Undeterred, Journe made three prototypes in platinum with gold movements including his very first numbered 11/91 (1991) still in his personal collection today, and showed them at the 1991 Basel fair. Yet the response to the watch was demoralizing and lukewarm. Gunter Blumlein, CEO of IWC at the time was the only one who expressed interest in purchasing 125 pieces for the company’s 125th anniversary but the plan fell through due to economical reasons.

The Pendule Sympathique made by Journe for Asprey. It is crafted in rock crystal and pink coral with a minute repeating pocket watch inserted into its recess at the top

Says passionate Journe collector Osama Sendi, aka “The Journe Guy” on Instagram, “The world was not ready yet to fully understand the incredible achievement represented by the watch.” Legendary retailer Mike Tay of The Hour Glass explains, “In 1991, we were just two years after Patek Philippe had announced the return of high watchmaking with the Caliber 89. Independent watchmaking was still considered something very niche and quirky. It was not surprising that the public couldn’t yet grasp the grandeur of Journe’s watchmaking. That, of course, would change in the years to come.”

A few years later, Journe would be at lunch with his friend Camille Berthet. He had plenty of work for other brands, but he still dreamed of launching his own. He explained that he lacked the initial capital to fund the creation of an atelier, and she came up with the solution in a flash of inspiration. She suggested that he followed his hero Abraham-Louis Breguet’s Souscription model where he would ask clients to pay upfront for a watch in exchange for a more attractive price. While asking 27,500 Swiss francs for his first 20 tourbillons would mean he would not make money on these watches, the amount he raised in advance would allow him to establish his brand. Immediately, Journe reached out to friends and collectors. A fifty percent deposit was paid for each watch in 1998, with the watches due to be delivered in 1999. These first 20 watches were responsible for the creation of the F.P. Journe brand.

The Tourbillon Souverain “Souscription” No. 2/20, like the other 19 Souscription watches, forged the geometric blueprint of Journe’s design philosophy. Says Remi Guillemin of Christie’s, “What is fascinating about François-Paul is that he always starts with the design of his dial first, and then creates the movement to fit the aesthetic. The Tourbillon Souverain is a masterpiece of symmetry, a code established here that we would see echo throughout so many of his other watches, such as the Chronomètre à Résonance. The dial and tourbillon each occupy a full half of the dial.”

At nine o’clock on the dial is a one-minute tourbillon which is distinguishable from later generations by the larger second markers surrounding the aperture and a small hole on the edge of the cage

Adds Osama Sendi, “I’ve always thought this [Journe’s dial design] is brilliant because you can discreetly just check the time under your shirt and only reveal the tourbillon when you want to.” He continues, “In 1999, when people first laid eyes upon the design aesthetic of F.P.Journe, with exposed screws on the dial, it was a departure and a risk. It looked unusual, but over the years it has become a concrete part of their DNA. A collector can spot an F.P.Journe from across the room because of this iconic DNA.”

Says Guillemin, “These 20 Souscription tourbillons are to me amongst some of the most historically significant timepieces of all time, in that they truly represent the birth of Journe as an independent watchmaker. In addition, it appears that these first 20 watches are largely crafted by his hand with wonderful handmade details.”

George Mayer is director of sales and watch buying at WatchBox, the company that has played a significant role in educating the world about F.P. Journe. He says, “These watches are similar to the first-generation Tourbillon Souverains made from 1999 to 2003. But at the same time, they are totally different in that they are all essentially handmade by the master. Buying this watch, No. 2/20, is like buying one of the first Stradivarius violins fully made by Antonio Stradivari himself.” As with the first series of Tourbillon Souverains that followed it, this extraordinary timepiece features a brass, rhodium treated movement.

Lot 38 (2038): F.P. Journe Chronomètre à Résonance, “Pre-Souscription,” Circa 2000

While the souscription series were numbered 1 to 20, they do not represent the first Chronomètre à Résonance watches made as Journe had set aside these initial numbers for future orders. There were in fact some pieces made prior to the souscription watches colloquially referred to by collectors as “pre-souscription” such as the present example, Lot 2038

Of F.P. Journe’s now numerous contributions to watchmaking history, his successful creation of the world’s first wristwatch integrating the phenomenon of resonance is perhaps his most enthralling — firstly, because of the sheer imagination needed to fully understand this principle and see its potential in a watch worn on the wrist. Secondly, unlike many of Journe’s other inventions, success first eluded him and, as such, his Chronomètre à Résonance is also a demonstration of his extraordinary persistence. Resonance was first identified by the legendary Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, who noticed that clocks with two pendulums would always swing in precisely the opposite manner within 30 minutes no matter their starting point. But it was Journe’s spiritual predecessor Abraham-Louis Breguet that first made resonance a feature in his timepieces to improve their accuracy. These pendulums moved in opposite directions or were “out of phase.” And it was Journe’s hero Antide Janvier who created the first resonance clocks with pendulums swinging “in phase” or together. One of these clocks is prominently featured in the F.P. Journe manufacture today. Said Journe in an interview with horological website A Collected Man, “In a watch, never mind which, there is energy which dissipates. When you listen to a watch, the tic-tac of the balance is dissipating energy. In a resonance chronometer, there are two balance wheels which are placed sufficiently close to one another, and the dissipated energy of each is caught by the other, leading to a unique type of frequency regulation.”

Journe, in his younger years, gestured towards a resonance double pendulum wall regulator made by Antide Janvier.

Journe’s first attempt to successfully integrate resonance into a pocket watch happened in 1983 for a commission by collector Raymond Vogel. That project ultimately fell through, but Journe never stopped working on it. Perhaps one of the key innovations was the fact that one of the balance bridges of the Chronomètre à Résonance’s movement could be pivoted to bring it into perfect proximity with the second balance wheel. But at the same time, the phenomenon is also related to the transmission of energy of the balances with the tic-tac through the shared mainplate. Indeed, the Chronomètre à Résonance is one of the most fascinating modern innovations ever created because of the complex physics underlying its successful implementation. If you want to learn more about how this functions, please watch my interview with François-Paul Journe here. In 2000, Journe introduced his extraordinary Chronomètre à Résonance, first as a Souscription watch, then with a first edition watch from 1999 to 2003.

The case back bears the serial number 040/00R, with the suffix 00R indicating that it was produced in 2000 and its serial number 40 would make it only the 20th Chronomètre à Résonance watch made. The inscriptions on the case back are noticeably shallower as they were engraved by hand, as opposed to the deeper engravings applied by laser found on the Souscription series

There are five different series of Chronomètre à Résonance watches to date — the first series with brass movements, the second series with rose gold movements, and the third series, introduced at the model’s 10th anniversary, that replaced the traditional dial on the left of the watch with a digital orbital indicator. The fourth series, which only lasted for one year, reintroduced the traditional dial on the left but now in 24-hour format rather than 12-hour. The fifth series, created for the 20th anniversary of the model, features two remontoir d’egalités for each of the two balance wheels.

What is extraordinary about the present timepiece, Lot 38 (2038) of The Art of F.P. Journe auction, is that it is a “Pre-Souscription” model. While Journe officially launched the Chronomètre à Résonance in 2000 with the souscription series, it does not represent the first pieces produced even though they were numbered 1 to 20 as Journe had set aside these initial numbers for future orders. There were indeed a number of watches created prior to the souscription series and are colloquially referred to by collectors as “pre-production” and “pre-souscription”. The “pre-production” watches are suffixed 99R, as their cases were ordered in 1999 prior to watch’s presentation in 2000 and are numbered in the 20’s while the “pre-souscription” bears the suffix 00R with a serial number that continues from where the pre-production pieces left off.

This early piece features a variety of hand-made details that give it a sense of craftsmanship and character

Osama further explains, “While the first twenty serials of the Chronomètre à Résonance, dubbed souscription numbers were reserved as a right of first refusal to existing owners of the souscription Tourbillon Souverain, production of the model began with #21. This first and earlier production of watches are today referred to as “Pre-Souscription” among the collector community, as they were produced before the 20 souscription serials. They have a significant praise from collectors for their distinguishably early features seen on the case and dials such as the shallow hand-engraved case markings and shiny hand-polished dials.

This example bears the case number 040/00R, with the suffix 00R indicating that it was produced in 2000 and its serial number 40 would make it the 20th Chronomètre à Résonance watch made.

Lot 8 (2008): F.P. Journe Triptyque Vagabondage, No. 47/69, Circa 2006, 2010 and 2017

F.P. Journe Triptyque Vagabondage, three superb examples that were assembled as a set, each with a matching serial number 47/69

While much of François-Paul Journe’s focus has been the advancement of chronometric performance represented by watches such as the Tourbillon Souverain, the Chronomètre à Résonance and the Chronomètre Optimum, there is also a wonderfully artistic side to Journe. This is perfectly encapsulated by a series of three tonneau shaped watches with kinetically dynamic and emotionally evocative methods of representing time. The case of the Vagabondage series is actually tortoise or tortue shaped. Says Journe, “That’s because the first watch was meant to be a Cartier Tortue for their CPCP [Collection Privée Cartier Paris] project in 1995. However, when the time came, they rejected the watch. Almost a decade afterwards, my friend Osvaldo Patrizzi asked me to create a special watch to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his auction house, Antiquorum, in 2004. The problem was I had only six months to create this timepiece. So I opened my drawer and took out the prototype of what would become the Vagabondage.” The timepieces in question were a remarkable integration between movement and time indication, which preceded even seminal works of horological avant-gardism like Ulysse Nardin’s Freak. In the center of the dial was the balance wheel, the beating heart of the watch. Around it was a wandering hour display that the model took its name from. Says Remi Guillemin, “Time travels almost at its own will, like a vagabond.” Three pieces of the watch — one each in red, white and yellow gold — were made for the auction. But the response was so overwhelming that, in 2005, Journe took the decision to create an additional 69 pieces in platinum, and another 10 more pieces in platinum set with baguette diamonds.

The first of the tortue-shaped, jumping-hour Vagabondage series, the Vagabondage I with a central balance wheel features an hour disk with an hour numeral encircled by a white aperture, printed on a transparent disk above. Both disks rotate in synch but at the turn of the hour, the aperture disk jumps to encircle the next hour.

Vagabondage II was released in 2010 and featured a stunning luminous display for jumping hours and minutes. At the time of its launch, it was one of only three wristwatches ever created with a jumping minutes display, and one of only two besides the Lange Zeitwerk to be put into production. (The Harry Winston Opus 3 would not see the light of day for some time yet.) But perhaps the most technically brilliant of the Vagabondage series was the Vagabondage III, which was introduced in 2017 and featured jumping hours, minutes and, yes, incredibly enough, seconds. In 2022, just to drive collectors even crazier, Journe released a 68-piece limited edition of an updated rose gold Vagabondage I. To drive his fans into an even greater frenzy, Journe announced that preference for this new watch would be given to collectors with the rose gold Vagabondage II and III watches, so as to complete their matching set.

The Vagabondage II was one of the only watches to incorporate not just a jumping hours indication, but also jumping minutes. It has a vertically aligned time display, with the power reserve indicator positioned at the top, followed by the digital hours, the minutes displayed in two apertures, and a small seconds sub dial at the bottom. To ration out energy in the mainspring to power the jump, Journe incorporated a remontoire d’egalité.

Even after six years since its introduction, the Vagabondage III remains the only watch on the market with a digital jumping seconds. The jumping seconds is driven by a gear train separate from the jumping hours and sweeping minutes. Along this gear train is a one-second remontoir that stores and releases a consistent amount of energy every second to power the jump.

The present Triptych offered at Christie’s The Art of F.P. Journe are the limited editions in platinum. Says Remi Guillemin, “This Triptyque represents the incredible opportunity to own a matching set of these incredible timepieces, which represent the relentless inventiveness of Journe in terms of time-telling expression. He is often considered to be a technical genius which, of course, he is. But watches like the Vagabondage and, recently, the FCC demonstrate an extraordinary artistic dimension to him.”

Watches, the Ultimate Collectible Assets

This auction comes at a time of immense significance to me. At a moment when collector culture is at a crossroads and perhaps suffering a kind of cognitive existential crisis, I’ve seen the rise and fall of digital art forms like NFTs. While I am not a cynic by nature, the crypto crash, the implosion of crypto exchanges like FTX, the rise and fall of NFTS such as those offered by Bored Ape Yacht Club, and the tangled web of hype that surrounded them before their values came crashing down from the stratosphere and plummeted to almost nothing, smacks of nothing less than the digital era’s version of the Emperor’s New Clothes.

To me, for something to be truly collectible, it has to represent the expenditure or investment of human capital, the knowledge that an incredibly skilled human being has put part of his or her finite energy on earth into the creation of something so extraordinary as to make us believe in the divine.

Cifonelli bespoke suits are not willed into being; they are handstitched by tailors so deft with needle and thread as to make the angels weep. The body of an Aston Martin DB4 Zagato is hand beaten from aluminum and molded into existence by craftsmen of incomparable skill. A Cohiba Behike uses only the precious medio tiempo leaves found at the very top of the tobacco plant, then is rolled with such care as to always possess a draw that is as effortless as breathing. A Dario Pegoretti bicycle frame is built by one person. Yes, I am a champion of the realm of the tangible and all the beauty it possesses, its capacity to make men weep — as many do at the sight of Titian’s Assumption of the Virgin, still ensconced in Venice’s Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari — or revel in wonder as we do at the cupola of Hagia Sophia. No asinine eight-bit depiction of a punk with spiked hair has ever evoked such emotions. I hope the painful lessons of blockchain-backed idiocy, of the attempt to decouple the generation of wealth from the creation of real value, has given way to a renewed era of rationalism. And I believe this rationalism will give rise to the recognition of watches as the ultimate collectible art form.

If the metric by which I judge art is a combination of ethereal skill coupled by extraordinary human investiture, then there is no category of art more stirring to me than watchmaking.
Horology is the magical realm, the nexus where art and micromechanical engineering meet to create something greater than the sum of these two parts. To me, watches are instilled with anima; as the Greeks would say, a sense of being alive. They are the most transportable art objects in the world and they require very little maintenance. Watches are the most intimate objects we can own as they enter into symbiosis with the wearer, becoming the witnesses to the passing of our lives and the guardians of our destinies. Watches are the most ethical objects as they only take the energy imparted to them by wearing or winding, and unlike the majority of objects, watches endure forever, passed from one generation to the next.

When it comes to the value of F.P. Journe’s watches, they have exhibited an extraordinary growth in popularity and a commensurate rise in secondary value. What is incredible about Journe’s watches, based on the auction results through the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, is that his brand has not been adversely affected by the large market correction. Quite the opposite, at a time when hype watches have tumbled in value, the value of Journe’s watches have continued rising to set records. Why is this so? Says Remi Guillemin, “It’s because they represent real watchmaking in its most authentic form. As such, these watches are generally not bought by speculators as ‘hype watches’ are, but by real collectors with education and taste.”

Also available in the sale is a stunning platinum Octa Calendrier with a black mother-of-pearl dial made for Sincere Fine Watches in a limited edition of 15 pieces in 2006.

When asked why there are suddenly so many more real collectors that want Journe’s watches, George Mayer explains, “Look at it this way. If every serious Patek collector has also now become a Journe collector, there is an insurmountable delta where desire for his watches now massively exceeds the number of timepieces he is able to produce. The natural result to me is that they will only increase in value. Is that wrong or right? I’ll put it this way, to me every Journe watch represents an incredible work of art. In comparison to a Basquiat or a Warhol or any great painter, is the absolute cost of a Journe expensive? To me, there is still a lot of room to go.”

This feeding frenzy for Journe’s watches is not lost on the great watchmaker, though at the same time, he is nonplussed by it. He explains, “I recognize that today when you are allocated one of my watches, I am giving you the equivalent of a car in terms of what the secondary value margin might be. But I will still only allocate my watches to the same type of individual that has always supported me from the beginning, that is someone whose passion is so genuine that in the past he would have been happy losing 30 percent of the watch’s value rather than today where he gains 50 percent or more.” As far as the secondary value for his timepieces is concerned, you can see that Journe is cognizant of the appreciation but is seemingly unconcerned. That’s because as his friend Pierre Jacques, the CEO of De Bethune, points out, “François-Paul is an extraordinary man in that he is not at all motivated by money. He lives in a simple apartment in Geneva. He walks to his office every day to work at a normal desk. He comes home every day at noon to cook lunch for his mother. His love for horology is so inspiring, because it is purely about the pursuit of watchmaking perfection.”

Lest we forget, Journe has also been actively supporting young talent in their journey. Since 2015, he has organized the annual Young Talent Competition in partnership with The Hour Glass to seek out the next generation of watchmakers, where the winner is awarded with a diploma and a CHF 20,000 grant to purchase watchmaking tools.

Parting Thoughts

François-Paul Journe once said to me, “If someone composes music, then he cannot ignore Mozart. He can’t ignore Beethoven. He can’t ignore the history of music. He continues in the tradition defined by those that came before him. But every once in a while, there will be a rare genius like Stravinsky that arrives and changes everything. But this doesn’t happen often. In watchmaking, we haven’t witnessed the birth of a Stravinsky for 200 years. The last one was Abraham-Louis Breguet.”

Yet, despite what Journe has said, what is clear to me, and to the most discerning collectors and journalists the world over, is that our era of contemporary horology has been defined by our own Stravinsky — a genius watchmaker, a man of profound brilliance and, though he often tries to hide it, of immeasurable compassion. And that is François-Paul Journe himself.

When I ask François-Paul to reflect on his achievements, he says with humility, “Watchmaking is like a long wall. What I have done is brought one or two stones to the wall, which is already not bad as there are many others who have never done even that.” But the truth is that it is not two stones that he has added, but an entire parapet, the foundation of which will serve to uplift an entire new generation of watchmakers. Because François-Paul Journe’s greatest achievement has been to ensure the long-term relevance and viability of true watchmaking for the foreseeable future. And so, you will understand that each of the watches offered in this sale initiated by the dynamic Remi Guillemin and Christie’s is not simply a timepiece but, to me, a part of the legacy of the greatest watchmaker of our time.

Christie’s live auction, the Art of F.P. Journe, takes place at 1:00 PM CEST on the 12th of May in Geneva.

The post The Art of F.P. Journe — Christie’s Geneva Watch Auction May 12, 2023 appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Top of Their Game

Bhanu Chopra — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 08:00:15 +0000

Singer, songwriter and guitarist John Mayer has been seen wearing his IWC Big Pilot reference 5002 on tour since he chose it as one of his earliest luxuries watch purchases in 2002. He now has amassed quite a watch collection, and has said often that this incredible watch began his love affair with horology. When he won his first Grammy in 2003, he celebrated by buying another IWC.

The Big Pilot ref. 5002 that has John Mayer enamoured

John Mayer wearing the Big Pilot

His love for the Big Pilot was so deep, that tour managers began to call him “Big Pilot”. These days, his collection includes all his favourites from the modern lines, but he also has a very special centrepiece: one of the original B-Uhren style Big Pilot’s Watches from the 1940s. He was able to secure one of the remaining pieces from the original run of 2,000. In an interview with the New York Times in 2015, he said, “It’s a watch I identify with, that people identify with me. Now, all it does is tell the time and the date, that’s it. But, man, how it does it.”

And that’s the story of a great watch, after all. It may only tell the time, but the weight of a well-made timepiece on the wrist brings a sense of satisfaction like very little else in the world. A finish crafted to perfection by skilled hands and the beauty of a design that ignites the senses create a feeling that sparks a passion.

Lewis Hamilton, seven-time FIA Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion, is also a great fan of IWC watches. He seems to have a particular fondness for the Big Pilot models. He was named as an ambassador for the brand in 2013 and has collaborated on two models with the brand.

Lewis Hamilton wearing the Big Pilot

IWC has much in common with Mayer and Hamilton as icons who have fought long odds for their admired status. Risk taking, incredible resilience, loyalty and dedication to perfection are the key traits that have brought IWC, and especially the highly respected and iconic Big Pilot’s Watch, to the top of their game.

The Beginnings

Florentine Ariosto Jones was an American engineer from Boston, Massachusetts. Little is known about his early life beyond the details of his birth in 1841 in New Hampshire and his service in the 13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. On his enlistment records, the young man listed his occupation as “watchmaker” and, indeed, he began working with one of America’s most prestigious watch companies, E. Howard & Co, immediately after the war ended.

IWC founder, Florentine Ariosto Jones

By 1867, Jones had risen to superintendent of the factory. He decided to take what he’d learnt about what he called the “American System” of watchmaking to Europe to begin his own watchmaking company. He recognised the immense value the American system of manufacturing could bring to the incredible skill of the traditional Swiss watchmakers.

After extensive travel with fellow watchmaker Charles Kidder, Jones decided that the unique topography of Schaffhausen provided the water he’d need to power the manufacturing machinery he’d designed for his hybrid watchmaking process. In 1868, he created the firm, named simply F.A. Jones & Co, that would become the International Watch Company.

IWC was founded in Schaffhausen by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones

This combination of precision machinery to create reliable, repeatable parts and skilled hand-work for exceptional quality in assembling, finishing and regulating, created timepieces that were elegant, polished and exemplary. Jones’ spirit of innovation and integrity laid the foundation for every watch produced by IWC over the next century and a half.

The First Pilot’s Watches

In 1936, IWC made their first Pilot’s Watch under the direction of two sons of then-owner, Ernst Jakob Homberger. They were both experienced pilots and understood the requirements and conditions faced by aviators. Named the “Spezialuhr für Flieger” or “Special Pilot’s Watch”, this watch would be the genesis of a line that would cement the company’s reputation for reliability in a field where precise measurement of time and distance was of paramount importance. In the early days of aviation, pilots depended on their timepiece to be exact and rugged and often staked their very lives on the accuracy of their watch.

The one that started it all — IWC’s Special Pilot’s Watch, first launched in 1936

The watch included an anti-magnetic escapement and was engineered for accurate timekeeping at temperatures from -40 degrees Celsius to +40 degrees Celsius to withstand the conditions of unheated cockpits. It featured a shatterproof front glass, a stainless steel 39mm case with a rotating bezel for recording short periods of time, and high-contrast luminescent hands and numerals. The timeless look of the black dial with minimal white numerals, stainless steel case and brown leather strap can still be seen in current iterations of IWC Pilot’s Watches.

The importance of the watch to the pilot led to stricter and more rigorous regulations and requirements from military clients. In 1940, IWC created the first Big Pilot’s Watch Calibre 52 T.S.C. in response to these tighter specifications. At 55mm in diameter, 16.5mm-thick and weighing in at 183 grammes, the watch remains the largest wristwatch that IWC has created. The oversized crown, which allowed for ease of use even in the quilted flight gloves worn by pilots, continues to influence the design and functionality of more modern models.

Pilot’s Watch Mark 11 Ref. 6B/346

In 1948, IWC was asked, along with a handful of other watchmakers, to develop a new watch to a set of specifications created by the British Royal Air Force (RAF). Rising to the challenge, IWC created their most famous Pilot’s Watch, the Navigator’s Wristwatch Mark 11. It introduced the innovative concept of an inner cage of soft iron inner cage designed to dissipate the radiation produced by the radar equipment in use at the time. It featured a radium dial referred to by collectors as the “White 12” dial.

The success of the Mark 11 prompted IWC to retroactively rename their first and second iterations to Mark 9 and Mark 10, respectively.

Arguably the most famous IWC Pilot’s Watch, the Navigator’s Wristwatch Mark 11

Pilot’s Watch Doppelchronograph Ref. 3711

In 1992, IWC revisited the Pilot’s Watch after a resurgence in interest by collectors in the colourful history of the Mark 11. Building on the Valjoux calibre 7750 — renamed IWC calibre 79030 — the design team led by Richard Habring, under the guidance of Günter Blümlein, developed a double chronograph that could be machine built. This resulted in the first mass-produced split seconds chronograph that proved to be robust, precise and reliable. The reference 3711 reaffirmed IWC’s mastery of Jones’ early inspiration of bringing the science of manufacturing to the art of complex watchmaking.

Pilot’s Watch Doppelchronograph ref. 3711

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Ceramic Ref. 3705

Two years later, in 1994, IWC innovated again by being the first to use ceramic — a black zirconium oxide ceramic, to be precise — for the case material in a Pilot’s Watch. They drew upon lessons learnt from their famous Da Vinci ref. 3755 design of 1986. The novelty of the ceramic case and the fact that only 999 models were produced make the ref. 3705 a highly sought-after collector’s item to this day.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Ceramic ref. 3705

Big Pilot’s Watch Ref. IW5002

IWC took a huge risk in 2002 when they decided to relaunch the concept of a large wristwatch inspired by the B-Uhren style “observation” watches of the 1940s. The watch was massive by modern standards at 46mm and with a 57mm lug-to-lug span in a time when 40mm to 44mm sports watches ruled the marketplace. Understanding the risk, IWC invested an impressive effort and upfront cost to ensure that the world’s largest automatic calibre would be recognised as a unique timepiece and that it would find its niche in the market.

IWC took their leap of faith and introduced a watch with their patented Pellaton winding system, an impressive seven-day power reserve, and a timeless luxury style that quickly won the hearts of the collectors. The Big Pilot ref. 5002 was not only an instant success in 2002, it was also a trailblazer for a trend in larger and bolder statement wristwatches that would continue for nearly two decades across leading watch manufacturers. The first in a growing catalogue of Big Pilot’s Watches to follow, the reference 5002 opened the door to an exciting new chapter for IWC.

The Big Pilot is today a highly recognisable cultural icon of a timepiece not only because of the bold, unexpected new direction it represented, but also because of the underlying history that gave the piece an inimitable authenticity.

Big Pilot’s Watch ref. 5002

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ref. IW5026

The success of the Big Pilot’s Watch led to a few updates and releases in the following years. In 2006, IWC introduced a Big Pilot with a perpetual calendar complication, taking advantage of the dial’s large real estate, in a small release for only two retail partners.

The first edition was a limited run of 25 un-numbered platinum timepieces referred to as the “Sincere” model that were made for the opening of the Sincere Haute Horlogerie Boutique in Singapore. In 2007, there was another limited-edition release of 50 pieces in titanium, the “Cellini”, for New York’s Cellini Jewellers. The Cellini remains the only Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar model ever created in titanium. The IW5026 would grow to include an impressive 22 different perpetual calendar special editions in the years to follow.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ref. 5026

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ref. IW502902

In 2007, IWC became the first and only watch brand to hold the license for the Top Gun name. IWC has a long and prestigious martial legacy, and they brought their “A” game to the task of creating tough, robust, and accurate timepieces for the release. They chose to use ceramic for the watch case, a material that IWC had ushered into the world of luxury watchmaking, and made a Pilot’s Watch with a chronograph.

In 2012, the success of the TOP GUN Pilot’s Chronograph prompted IWC to dedicate an entire, stand-alone line to the collaboration which included a Big Pilot version of the perpetual calendar. The 48mm case was black zirconium oxide ceramic with a titanium crown, and it featured the TOP GUN logo on the solid caseback.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN ref. 502902 released in 2012

Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Ref. IW501901

As part of the 2012 Big Pilot’s Watch “TOP GUN” releases, IWC included another ceramic case with a striking black and white contrast aesthetic. This version was a more minimalistic design than the perpetual calendar with central three-hand timekeeping, a discreet date window and a power reserve indicator. The charming red aircraft motif on the seconds hand brought a pop of character and colour to a sharp, clean dial.

Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN ref. 501901, released in 2012

Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Le Petit Prince” Ref. IW502701

Created in honour of world-famous aviator and author of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the 2016 limited edition release of the Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Le Petit Prince” had a handsome rose gold case and a rich blue sunburst dial.

The watch had the hallmarks of IWC’s fairly conservative style until it was turned over. Under the rear sapphire, the oscillating weight, in a warm 18ct 5N gold, featured a whimsical engraving of the Little Prince as he stands upon his little planet and gazes at the sky.

Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Le Petit Prince” ref. 502701 released in 2016

Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert” Ref. IW506003

This 2021 addition to the “Mojave Desert” special editions introduces a sand-coloured ceramic case and a subdued dark brown dial. The layout of the dial and the functions (central seconds, date and power reserve indicator) are a throwback to the classic 2016 Big Pilot’s Watch ref. IW501001. The colour scheme of brown and tan is a marked difference from the usual black ceramic in IWC watches and gives the watch a classic brown camouflage vibe.

The Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert” ref. 506003 (right) along with its Perpetual Calendar iteration

Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Ref. IW329301

In 2021, IWC released the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 as a more comfortably sized version of the hefty earlier models. At 43mm, it still brings a sense of presence and trades on the nostalgia and respect commanded by the Big Pilot’s Watches of the past. Christian Knoop, the creative director of IWC, said of the model: “With the Big Pilot’s Watch 43, we have returned to the extreme purity of the original B-Uhr designed over 80 years ago and created a simple three-hand watch with no other elements on the dial. Despite its smaller size, the 43mm case combines a bold look with great wearing comfort.”

The Big Pilot 43, in a more contemporary case size of 43mm, is the latest in a long line of stunning pilot’s watches from IWC

A close-up look at the movement powering the Big Pilot 43

The Making of a Big Pilot 43

Each Big Pilot 43 begins in the steel mill where recycled scrap metal is smelted in an electric arc furnace to make the stainless steel that will be crafted into a case and crown. The electricity needed for the process comes from renewable sources, and the resulting high-alloy stainless steel is extremely corrosion resistant and pure for a bio- compatible alloy that is friendly on the skin.

The dozen case components are crafted with state-of- the-art, computer-controlled lathe and milling machines, and measured to ensure quality at every stage of the process. The case is then hand-polished and finished in a process that involves more than 30 steps. The iconic oversized, conical crown is machined to its precise dimensions and then painstakingly hand-finished.

The making of each IWC Big Pilot 43 is a meticulous, carefully monitored process that culminates in the finishing of details by hand and a qualification process of rigorous tests conducted over several months

The calibre 82100 movement is produced by IWC and most components are made of brass. The automatic movement features a Pellaton winding system with a centrally mounted rotor that converts the wearer’s movements into the mainspring tension in either direction for a maximum of 60 hours of power reserve. The movement is assembled on a dedicated line with several stages. At each task, a highly trained and experienced specialist is assigned for assembly and a quality assurance check is performed immediately after each step. Experienced timers perform adjustments at the last stage to ensure the movement’s accuracy.

At final assembly, the dial and hands are placed and the movement is secured in the case. The glass is screwed onto the case after ensuring it is spotless and dust-free. After assembly, there is a qualification process of around 100 rigorous tests over several months.

IWC has long been respected for the integrity of their watchmaking and their attention to detail. From the talented minds that plan and implement each new design, through the innovation of their manufacturing processes, to the excellence of those that work to finish each fine detail by hand, this company takes pride and expresses passion in every aspect of their horology.

It’s clear that the men and women in the design studios and in the manufactory know their integral worth to the finished product and they take their role seriously. This is a company of people first. They make watches because they love the challenge of creating something both technically difficult and culturally significant, and this sense of purpose is evident in every timepiece.

New models of the IWC Pilot’s Watches are equipped with the EasX-CHANGE system, which allows the watch owner to quickly and easily change the strap or bracelet — all it requires is gentle pressure on the button with the IWC logo, and a light tug and push of the strap or bracelet

Timeline 1936 – 2021

1936
Special Watch for Pilots Ref. 436
• First wristwatch developed by IWC specifically for use in an aircraft
• Technical features included an anti-magnetic movement and a shatterproof front glass; it also worked perfectly in any temperature between –40˚C and +40˚C

1940
Big Pilot’s Watch Calibre 52 T.S.C. Ref. IW431
• Biggest watch IWC ever built with a case of 55mm × 16.5mm and a weight of 183g

1948
Mark 11 (RAF Issued)
• Created in response to the invitation from the British Royal Air Force (RAF) to make a Pilot’s Watch to withstand the radar’s electromagnetic fields

1992
Pilot’s Watch Doppelchronograph Ref. IW3711
• Cemented IWC’s reputation for robust, precise chronographs with rattrapante complication

1994
Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Ceramic Ref. IW3705
• First Pilot’s Watch with a ceramic case

2002
Big Pilot’s Watch Ref. IW5002
• Oversized 46.2mm iconic case and clear cockpit-instrument look

2006
Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ref. IW5026
• Released in a limited run for two retail partners: Sincere IWC502605 (limited edition 25 pieces) and Cellini IWC502606 (limited edition 50 pieces)

2012
Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Ref. IW502902
• Complications included perpetual calendar, four-digit year display, moonphase display and seven-day power reserve

2012
Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Ref. IW501901
• Striking black and white contrast design with large power reserve, minimal date display and small red aircraft motif on the seconds hand

2016
Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Le Petit Prince” Ref. IW502701
• Created in honour of the world-famous aviator and author of The Little Prince;
the caseback features an engraving of the Little Prince standing on his planet and gazing at the sky

2021
Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Ref. IW329301
• Faithful interpretation of the iconic Big Pilot’s Watch from more than 80 years ago

2021
Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert” Ref. IW506003
• This addition to the “Mojave Desert” special editions introduces a sand-coloured ceramic case and a subdued dark brown dial

The US Military Connection

IWC is currently the only watch brand officially licensed to work on watches for the entire US Navy and Marine Corps. Each member of the 247 active and 100 inactive squadrons have exclusive access to the line of squadron watches and receives an engraving of their name and call sign.
IWC has collaborated with various squadrons from the Top Gun tactical school to the Blue Angels demonstration squad, and including the VFA-102 Diamondbacks, VFA-27 Royal Maces, VFA-211 Fighting Checkmates, VFA-115 Eagles, VFA-22 Fighting Redcocks and the US Marine Corps VMFA-242 Bats and VMFA-323 Death Rattlers.

Top Gun

Top Gun is the common name for the legendary Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor programme in which elite military pilots are trained in advanced flying and tactical skills in order to return to their units as teachers. In 2007, IWC was invited to collaborate with the programme to develop a timepiece capable of withstanding the extreme conditions of supersonic jets, such as the F/A-18E Super Hornet, for extended mission times. The watches are engineered with the most advanced technical materials, including titanium, ceramics and the ceramic/titanium composition material developed by IWC called Ceratanium.

Flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet during the U.S. Navy Blue Angles 2021 Air Show Season (Photo by U.S. Navy Blue Angels)

The black-on-black style and classic double chronograph design created a sleek, technical looking timepiece with just a touch of red. The complications featured a small hacking seconds and split seconds hand for intermediate timing with the chronograph. A day and date display balanced the double chronograph and small seconds subdials.

In 2012, the TOP GUN collection was elevated to a line of its own with five new models. Today, the TOP GUN collection includes several models featuring complications from chronographs to perpetual calendars in a wide variety of colours and finishes.

Blue Angels

In 2019, IWC announced that they had become an official licensee of the Blue Angels US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. The Blue Angels got their start in 1946 when Admiral Chester W. Nimitz envisioned a group of pilots trained to exhibit the incredible prowess of naval pilots. The squadron is comprised of 141 members of the US Navy and the US Marines. They perform aerobatic manoeuvres, both solo and in formation, with six F/A-18 Super Hornet jets. Every year, about 11 million people are treated to a demonstration from the team.

The Blue Angels collaborated with IWC to create a sporty flyback chronograph with a case of matte black zirconium oxide ceramic and a dial featuring the squadron’s livery of blue and yellow. Inspired by military observation watches, the special edition has a display of minutes on the outer ring in white and the hours on the inner ring in yellow. The back of the case features the engraved crest of the Blue Angels.

The engraved crest of the Blue Angels at the caseback.

The calibre 89361 still features that unique soft iron inner cage to protect the mechanicals from magnetic fields and the pressurisation resistant glass to ensure that even the extreme conditions in the supersonic jets will not affect the precision and accuracy of the timepiece.

The Next Generation

In 2021, IWC has an exciting line-up of new models inspired by their collaborations with the pilots in the US Navy squadrons and Top Gun tactical school.

The TOP GUN models will be growing to include two additional TOP GUN models in Ceratanium cases and a black-on-black aesthetic. The Blue Angels will see a new chronograph in navy ceramic with highlights of yellow.

There are also two new US Navy fighter attack squadron collaborations in 44.5mm ceramic cases with Ceratanium pushers and crown. The first is with the VFA-27 “Royal Maces” based in Iwakuni, Japan. The Royal Maces were commissioned Attack Squadron 27 (VFA-27) in September of 1967 and they originally flew the A-7 Corsair II. They transitioned to their F/A-18A Hornet in 1991, earning the VFA-27 designation.

The VFA-14 Tophatters of the California-based Naval Air Station Lemoore are the US Navy’s oldest active squadron. Formed in 1919, they have flown 23 different types of aircraft and operated from 20 different aircraft carriers.

IWC has worked with various squadrons from the Top Gun tactical school to create unique collaboration pieces such as the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Tophatters” ref. IW389108 (left) and the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Royal Maces” ref. IW389107

The casebacks of these collaboration pieces proudly bear the mark of the Top Gun squadrons

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Royal Maces”

Limited to 500 pieces, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Royal Maces” has a black ceramic 44.5mm case with Ceratanium pushers and crown. The dial is black with a chronograph complication, a day and date window at three o’clock, and a power indicator driven by the calibre 69380 movement. The black-on-black colourway is broken only by the crisp white numerals and indexes and pops of yellow. It is paired with a black calfskin strap with yellow stitching and a yellow reverse. The Royal Maces logo of a gauntleted fist holding a mace is proudly displayed in the power indicator. The caseback is engraved with an image of the F/A 18E and lists the VFA-27 designation and the Royal Maces squadron call sign.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Royal Maces”

Tech Specs: IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Royal Maces”

Movement: Self-winding calibre 69380; 46-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph and day/date indicator
Case: 44.5mm; ceramic with Ceratanium pushers and crown; water resistant to 600m
Dial: Black; luminescent white Arabic numerals
Strap: Black calfskin; stainless steel sandblasted folding clasp
Price and availability: CHF 11,900; Limited edition of 500 pieces per annum

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Tophatters”

The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Tophatters” is based on the same architecture and styling as the “Royal Maces” but with red colouring rather than yellow and features the black top hat logo of the “Tophatters” in the power indicator subdial. The caseback engraving is of the “Tophatters” top hat logo with the words “Oldest and Boldest” as well as the words “100 years” to mark their anniversary as a squadron. It is limited to 500 pieces per annum.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Tophatters”

Tech Specs: IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Tophatters”

Movement: Self-winding calibre 69380; 46-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph and day/date indicator
Case: 44.5mm; ceramic with Ceratanium pushers and crown; water resistant to 600m
Dial: Black; luminescent white Arabic numerals STRAP Black calfskin; stainless steel folding clasp
Price and availability: CHF 11,900; Limited edition of 500 pieces per annum

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Blue Angels”

The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Blue Angels” shakes up the previous colourway a bit by introducing a striking blue ceramic in place of the black from the previous models. The dial is a matching blue with white numerals and indexes. Pops of yellow appear on the seconds hand and in the power indicator with the Blue Angels shield logo. The caseback features an engraving of four F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets flying in formation over the Blue Angels logo. The watch is paired with a matching blue rubber strap with textile inlay for a harmonious colourway and limited to 500 pieces per annum.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Blue Angels”

Tech Specs: Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Blue Angels”

Movement: Self-winding calibre 69380; 46-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph and day/date indicator
Case: 44.5mm; ceramic with Ceratanium pushers and crown; water resistant to 600m
Dial: Blue; luminescent white Arabic numerals STRAP Blue rubber with textile inlay; stainless steel folding clasp
Price and availability: CHF 11,900; Limited edition of 500 pieces per annum

Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium

Limited to 500 pieces per annum, the Pilot’s Watch Timezoner TOP GUN Ceratanium adds a new look for the IWC-patented timezoner function line with a quiet black-on-black colourway and a bezel in the patented Ceratanium material with the names of major world cities circling the dial. The soft grey numerals and minutes track add to the sombre, understated sense of sporty style. Featuring the IWC calibre 82760, the watch’s bezel is coupled to the mechanicals so it can adjust the world time with a simple “press, turn to the desired city and release” manoeuvre. Changing time zones, even across the date line, doesn’t stop the movement so it never loses a second of time during the adjustment. There is a date display as well as the 24-hour display for the world time function.

Pilot’s Watch Timezoner TOP GUN Ceratanium

Tech Specs: IWC Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium

Movement: Self-winding calibre 82760; 60-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, world time and date CASE 46mm; Ceratanium; water resistant to 60m
Dial: Black; luminescent black Arabic numerals
Strap: Black rubber with textile inlay; Ceratanium pin buckle
Price and availability: CHF 18,000; Limited edition of 500 pieces per annum

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ceratanium

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Ceratanium is a substantial 46.2mm in the patented Ceratanium material and has a stealthy black-on-black aesthetic with strategic spots of red, like blips on a radar screen. Even the numerals and indexes are carefully subdued to a soft grey to continue the low-profile colourway. There is a nice balance to the complex set of four subdials including a perpetual calendar with day, date, month and year display, the moonphase display (the mechanicals engineered to within one day every 577.5 years), small seconds and the power reserve. The matching black bracelet is the first ever to be made with links of Ceratanium. This watch is limited to 150 pieces per annum.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Ceratanium

Tech Specs: IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ceratanium

Movement: Self-winding calibre 52615; 168-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, and perpetual calendar with moonphase
Case: 46.2mm; Ceratanium; water resistant to 60m
Dial: Black; luminescent black Arabic numerals
Strap: Ceratanium bracelet
Price and availability: CHF 48,000; Limited edition of 150 pieces per annum

The Pilot's Watch Timezoner TOP GUN Ceratanium marks a stealthy, stylish new black-on-black look for IWC’s patented timezoner function line

IWC Museum Director, David Seyffer

David Seyffer, curator for the IWC Museum, shares the history and inspirations behind the modern IWC Pilot’s Watch.

David Seyffer joined IWC in 2007 and he has not looked back since. His first job with the company was to organise the corporate archives into a professional business archive. After three years, he was promoted to museum curator. But, as he admits, “My heart is with the archiving, the historical records and the certificates of authentication that have become so important in today’s market.” In an interview with Revolution USA editor-in- chief Bhanu Chopra, he offers an insider’s view of the IWC Pilot’s Watch.

David Seyffer, curator of the IWC Museum in Schaffhausen

Is military issued Mark 11 considered the inspiration for the civilian Pilot’s Watches?

Yes, we can discuss Mark 11, but we should really go back a little to 1936 with the Special Watch for Pilots. The owner at the time, Homberger, had a son who had become a pilot during his studies in London. He returned to Schaffhausen to work and continued to fly in Switzerland. That year, sporty watches began showing up in the IWC catalogues.

We conclude this to mean that this son, who liked flying around, had maybe asked his father to make a pilot’s watch. Sports watches were not typical for IWC before 1936.

Then in the 1940s, the B-Uhr watch was produced for navigators in the German Air Force. And, of course, the Mark 11 — which is one of the most interesting milestones in our history — was made for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and made its career and reputation with other Commonwealth air forces and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. I like the watch personally because it’s beautiful from the design, it’s highly reliable and it’s for me kind of an icon of a pilot’s watch.

IWC B-Uhr with Type A dial (1940)

So, what were the features of the original Special Watch for Pilots?

It was marketed as a Special Watch for Pilots. It’s funny to see the marketing text in those days stating it’s shielded against temperature differences from –40 up to +40 degrees Celsius and — very interesting in those days — the protection against the magnetic fields.

It wasn’t yet protected by the soft iron cage — that was really the idea of the British RAF asking IWC to make this happen with the Mark 11. Anti-magnetic watches became very popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and so I think, to meet this expectation for a sporty watch, they said they’ll also add the anti-magnetic movement inside this watch for the private pilot. In the catalogue, it mentions the ability to calculate fuel consumption — it was really addressed to the pilot. After the start of the Second World War, Switzerland was isolated and not many watches were able to be sold to Europe. This is when IWC began to work with Portugal.

From the Mark 11, how did the modern Pilot’s Watches era begin?

There were no IWC Pilot’s Watches available for our customers. There is evidence in the archive that the British government wanted to purchase more watches, and we created them but the sales never came through. Some were sold to civilians, but were never officially published.

In the 1980s, these watches started to become collector’s items. IWC decided to create a new sporty watch after the success of the collaboration with Porsche Design, and we had this interesting Pilot’s Watch story. So — and this is a fact that only a few people know — the first Pilot’s Watch of the new generation, and for the civilian market, was the reference 3740, a small quartz chronograph hybrid with a quartz movement and chronograph mechanical. It was under the radar, never officially published or advertised.

Then, in 1992, the Doppelchronograph based on the automatic chronograph was released as a Pilot’s Watch in the ref. 3711. Two years later came the very famous Mark XII — which was, from a design perspective, a successor to the Mark 11. We also cannot underestimate the Pilot’s Chronograph ref. 3706 in standard steel. Then came the famous 3705 in ceramic, which became kind of an icon. We never expected the success this one would have.

Introduced in 1994, the Mark XII saw the addition of straight hands, an automatic movement and a sapphire crystal, amongst other improvements

How did the Big Pilot project come about?

We have found some drawings from the mid-’90s where Hanno Burtscher, who was responsible for the Da Vinci as a designer, was playing around with the iconic 1940s Big Pilot case and the project came to life when we were developing the calibre 5000 — the first IWC in-house movement after the Quartz Crisis. It was a risk to release such a large watch, but the idea was to trust in the DNA of the IWC Pilot’s Watch with the soft iron cage and the Pellaton system and give it a try. It’s really the ultimate IWC Pilot’s Watch. Then, all the watches became bigger and bigger in the following years.

The IWC Big Pilot line sees a new iteration this year in the Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert”. With a case size of 46.5mm, it is the ultimate Pilot's Watch

The post Top of Their Game appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Patek Philippe Introduces the 5204 Perpetual Calendar in Rose Gold with Slate Gray Dial

Wei Koh — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 07:05:08 +0000

Reference 5204R-011Split-Seconds Chronograph And Perpetual Calendar

So it might be simply a dial color change but the overall effect is one that creates an altogether sportier and more vibrantly youthful version of Patek Philippe’s venerable perpetual calendar with Split Seconds chronograph the Reference 5204.

And it must be said that Patek’s use of color in its dials, expressed by the ref. 5236P In-Line Perpetual Calendar’s stunning graduated blue, the end-of-series ref. 5711 olive green and now this timepiece’s ravishing slate grey sunray. As I have a clear obsession with Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronographs, which compelled me to write this historical retrospective I’ve always considered these watches to be emblematic of the very best in complicated watchmaking.

But when the 5004 was launched in 1994, Patek elevated this complication to realms of horological Valhalla, with the addition of a split seconds chronograph, or rattrapante. The only issue was that the base caliber of this watch, the venerable Lemania 2310 designed by Albert Gustave Pellaton and industrialized in the 40’s, was that it was never intended to be a split seconds chronograph. As explained to me by the amazing Philippe Stern, this necessitated a great deal of innovation to reverse engineer a solution to “rattrapante drag” where the amplitude of the watch would drop each time the split second brake was deployed.

Formerly in the collection of Eric Clapton, CBE, a platinum Patek Philippe ref. 5004 perpetual calendar split seconds chronograph wristwatch with a special blue tachymetre dial and applied Breguet numeral at 12 o'clock (Image: phillips.com)

A caseback view of the Patek Philippe 5004, showcasing the Lemania-based CHR 27-70Q (Image: sothebys.com)

The isolator for the split-seconds lever relies on an isolator wheel that is driven by an octopus wheel (O) (isolator wheel / splitseconds spring wheel) on the split-seconds column wheel and uncouples the split-seconds lever as soon as the split-seconds clamp (C) closes. Because the octopus wheel consistently rotates in the same direction, it always has to be returned to its home position together with the split-seconds lever; this is done by the isolator wheel spring as soon as the split-seconds clamp opens again.

This resulted in an isolator mechanism that is nicknamed the “Octopus” by Patek devotees. But when it came time to replace the Lemania based CH 27-70 Thierry Stern was determined to create a movement, the CH 29-535 that was from the ground up optimized to be the perfect base for a rattrapante.

Launched in 2012, the 5204 perpetual calendar chronograph is replete with some very serious functional improvements to the 5004. The first is as described earlier: to overcome rattrapante drag, Patek had to create their now legendary Octopus isolator mechanism. Now it is important to understand that at the time of the 5004’s launch the Octopus was ground-breaking technology.

The split-second version of the CH 29-535, the CH 29-535 PS Q found in the 5204

The Isolator Mechanism: CH 29-535 PS Q

Parts of the split-seconds mechanism on the 5402's CH 29-535 PS Q

The unique Patek Philippe design is based on an isolator (A) controlled by the split-seconds column wheel (B). As soon as the split-seconds clamp (C) closes, the beak (P) of the isolator falls between two columns and with its teeth advances isolator wheel (D) that uncouples split-seconds lever. When the splitseconds clamp is opened again, the beak (P) of the isolator is lifted onto a column; its teeth turn the isolator wheel in the opposite direction and the split-seconds lever is released again. The swan’s neck cap of the column wheel doubles as a spring (F) that constantly presses the isolator (A) against the split-seconds column wheel.

There are two mainsprings in this isolator system. The first is the spring for the split seconds brake which allows its clamping function. The second is the isolator wheel spring that sits on top of the split seconds wheel and necessitates a good bit of extra height. Now this is the important part. The springs of the isolator wheel and the springs of the split seconds brake act in opposite directions. That’s because the Octopus rotates in just one direction. When the clamp of the split seconds brake opens, the Octopus wheel has to rotate to its home position, which is done by the isolator wheel spring.

Which means that it has to overcome the force of the split seconds brake spring. So when approaching the isolator mechanism of the new 5204, Patek went back to the drawing board. And the first thing they did was get rid of the isolator wheel spring mounted on the split seconds wheel. Instead they ingeniously integrated this spring as part of the split seconds column wheel cap. The second thing they did was design an isolator that can move back and forth in two directions and thus doesn’t have to overcome the force of the brake spring which is much better for long term reliability.

Six Patents for the CH 29-535 PS

Optimized Tooth Profile

The first patent relates to an all-new tooth profile for both the central chronograph wheel and the drive wheel. In previous movements, these wheels meshed in such a way that the teeth might not mate precisely, which caused chronograph backlash or the seconds hand to jump forward or backward in an unsightly way. Patek eliminated that with its all-new profile, which allows the teeth to slip easily into place even if they contact point to point.

Optimized synchronization of the clutch lever and brake lever

The second patent relates to the synchronization of the brake and clutch lever. Basically the brake lever needs to be disengaged precisely at the moment the clutch engages and the drive wheel contacts the chronograph seconds wheel. And it needs to be back on as soon as it disengages from the chronograph wheel. Previously, these two levers were operated by the column wheel and had to be adjusted individually, so getting the timing right was extremely labor-intensive and challenging. In the CH 29, the brake lever is operated by the arm of the clutch lever. An eccentric screw on the clutch lever allows Patek’s watchmakers to adjust the depth of engagement and the timing to perfection.

Precision adjustment of engagement depth at the column wheel

The third patent relates to the eccentric cap on the column wheel. OK, so to meet Geneva Seal requirements, your column wheel needs to wear a decorative cap. But leave it to Patek Philippe’s engineers to transform this into an eccentric element that actually controls the depth to which the drive wheel and the chronograph wheel mesh. This is absolute genius as it takes what was previously a purely decorative element and gives it a vital function. Bravo, Patek!

Slotted minute counter cam for the precise jumping minute counter

The fourth patent relates to the system for the precise jumping minute counter. The first watch to feature this type of chrono counter was the Lange Datograph. However, this watch uses a system with a snail cam on the chronograph wheel and a feeler that drops off the end of the cam each time the seconds hand passes the one-minute mark and drags the minute counter forward. Patek came up with a system with a pierced cam and a much gentler slope. In addition, the pressure on the feeler is provided by an oversized coiled spring, much like a hairspring, that allows the minute counter arm to accomplish all its functions while creating less friction by reducing the level of spring tension needed to achieve them.

Self-setting hammers

The fifth patent has to do with self-adjusting hammers. On the Lemania 2310, the reset hammers for the minute counter and the chronograph seconds wheel are one piece. Getting them to strike their respective heart cams at the same time is challenging. In the CH 29, the minute reset hammer is individually sprung and pivots on the seconds hammer. Again, why no one had thought about this before is incredible, but leave it to Patek to achieve it.

Hammers pivoted between jewel bearings

Patent six is that these reset hammers are pivoted between jewels to eliminate friction and bring an ever-greater aura of horological finery to this amazing movement.

The first model on the 5204’s maiden launch was a platinum case beauty with a silvered solid gold dial and luminous hands and indexes. To me this was a wink to the special order luminous 5004 watches owned by collectors such as John Mayer and Mike Ovitz. The dial of the 5204 is also distinguished by a moonphase indicator that opens across the lower half of the 6 o’clock subdial. In 2017, Patek introduced a rose gold version also with luminous hands and indexes. Patek’s current catalogue shows three versions of the watch: a platinum watch with black dial, the rose gold watch with white dial and an incredible rose gold watch with black dial on a 5-link grains-of-rice/bead bracelet. But this year the extraordinary 5204 gets a rose gold version with a spectacular slate grey sunray dial, which I have to say I feel is one of the prettiest Patek complicated chronographs of all time. What could make it better? The option of have it on a 5 row Beads of Rice bracelet. On the subject of bracelets the grey strap that is supplied is in fact an embossed calfskin strap as opposed to alligator and I applaud Patek’s decision to shift away from exotic skin straps.

Tech Specs

Dial: Slate gray sunburst, gold applied hour markers with luminescent coating; 18K gold dial plate; rose gold faceted dauphine hands with luminescent coating

Case: Rose gold; diameter: 40 mm; height: 14.3 mm; water-resistant to 30 m; interchangeable solid and sapphire crystal case backs

Strap: Calfskin, embossed alligator pattern hand-stitched, shiny gray; fold-over clasp

Movement: Caliber CHR 29-535 PS Q; manual winding; split-seconds chronograph; instantaneous 30-minute counter; perpetual calendar; day, month, leap year and day/night indication displayed in apertures; date indicated by hand; moon phases; small seconds; diameter: 32 mm; height: 8.7 mm; number of parts: 496; frequency: 28,800 semi-oscillations/hour(4 Hz); balance: Gyromax®; balance spring: Breguet; power reserve with the chronograph disengaged: min. 55 hours – max. 65 hours

More information: patek.com

The post Patek Philippe Introduces the 5204 Perpetual Calendar in Rose Gold with Slate Gray Dial appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Revolution and The Rake Special Edition Watches: A Retrospective Over Seven Years

Wei Koh — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 11:00:53 +0000

By the time you read this article, Revolution Group, encompassing both Revolution and The Rake magazines, will have made 23 different special edition watches. And so, I wanted to take a moment to look back at these different timepieces that represent seven years of our history and thank both the amazing people that were involved in their creation as well as our readers who have supported us by purchasing them.

Our history in collaboration watches goes back to 2013, when we created our very first timepiece together with Audemars Piguet. This was followed up in 2015 on the 10th anniversary of our magazine with the creation of two watches, one with IWC and one with Panerai, and in the subsequent years, by watches in partnership with Bvlgari and Blancpain. In each instance, the watches that have emerged from our partnerships are representative of our great friendship with these brands and their leaders. In many ways this article is just as much about the stories and personalities behind the creation of each limited edition as it is about the watches.

2013 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Revolution Limited Edition

The most important thing when approaching a limited edition watch is not to simply impose your taste or sense of design on a brand, but to find some way to activate part of its history or look at its icons in new and meaningful ways. Even as we intend to vigorously intensify our limited edition program in 2021, the point is that we would never create a frivolous watch; a watch that was a pure design exercise without an underlying rationale or, if you will, a raison d’être for its existence. Every single watch that we’ve made is always measured using one all-important metric, which is, would I buy it myself? So far I have, with the exception of one watch — my personal watch ended up being sold to a client who wanted it. Without further ado, here is a look back at the 23 watches over seven years that represent our creative partnership with some of our very favorite brands.

2013 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Revolution Limited Edition

A tribute to the original ROO from 1993, 42mm, limited to 20 pieces in steel

One of my favorite watches is the original Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore designed by Emmanuel Gueit. I think his personal watch was recently auctioned off by Phillips, and if there was a piece that I would have liked to put on permanent display at the Revolution Watch Bar, it would have been this.

Why do I think it’s so cool? Think about it from the context of the time. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, big watches were definitely not a thing. In fact, Patek launched the 3970 in 1985 and made their perpetual calendar chronograph 1.5mm smaller than its predecessor, the 2499. So Gueit’s idea was absolutely nuts. I love that saying, “It’s only the dead fish that swims with the current”, and that perfectly summarizes Gueit who apparently harassed the hell out of everyone at Audemars Piguet until they finally conceded to make his wildly oversized Royal Oak on steroids. But instead of it being a weird anomaly in their line-up, it became a hit adopted in particular by the archetypal ’80s muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger. I’ve always thought that its very first incarnation with the steel case and blue tapisserie dial was the most handsome. But by the 2000s, Audemars Piguet had discontinued this version and was focused on making Offshores in forged carbon, ceramic, etc.

The original Royal Oak from 1972

I proposed to the super cool Oliviero Bottinelli, then the head of Audemars Piguet in Southeast Asia and whose family is on the board of Audemars Piguet, that we revive this icon for its 20th birthday but this time with a sapphire caseback and Audemars Piguet’s in-house 3120 movement instead of the venerable 2121. He liked the idea and pitched it to François Bennahmias who also liked the idea, and it was a done deal. The watch was made in 20 pieces, and the deal was, anyone who bought it had to come to Singapore to pick it up at a dinner. They would also be invited as Audemars Piguet’s guest to the Singapore F1. I am lucky enough to own piece number 1/20. In retrospect, I wish I had ‘“Revolution” on the caseback, but at the time I think I was just so amazed that Audemars Piguet agreed to this that I forgot to ask. As a result, people don’t realize today this limited edition was initiated by us and was based in Singapore. Now you know.

2015 IWC Portugieser Hand-wound Revolution 10th Anniversary Limited Edition

A tribute to the Portugieser Jubilee IW5441 from 1993, 42mm, limited to 10 pieces in rose gold

Georges Kern is one of my favorite leaders in the watch industry. He pretty much single-handedly took a cerebral Germanic creator of tool watches which, admittedly, is one of the most functionally innovative brands around and made it one of the hottest brands in the world. I’m talking about IWC, of course. I love all of its many achievements, including Kurt Klaus’ perpetual calendar, the first of its kind that was totally synchronized and operated through the crown; and Richard Habring’s Doppelchronograph and his Deep One with its bourdon tube driven depth gauge. And who else would build a grand complication using a Valjoux 7750 as its base as they did with Il Destriero Scafusia, “The Warhorse of Schaffhausen”, which features the world’s first titanium-caged tourbillon? But the watch I love best comes from 1993, and it is named the Portugieser Jubilee, or the reference 5441. What exactly is the story of the legendary ref. 5441?

IWC Portuguese Jubilee Reference 5441

In 1993, to celebrate the brand’s anniversary, IWC released a limited run of thin three-handed watches that would become one of the most iconic and collectible timepieces of the 20th century. This watch, known as the Portugieser Jubilee, was an extraordinarily faithful homage to the very first original Portugieser watches created in the 1930s. Portugal in the ’30s was actually one of the world’s hottest horological hotbeds. So it was that two Portuguese businessmen made their way to Schaffhausen and requested a particularly intriguing watch that completely militated against the contemporary trends in wristwatches. In the ’30s, men generally wore small wristwatches, in keeping with the prevailing aesthetic themes of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods. But what these two gentlemen, Rodrigues and Teixeira, wanted was something totally different. They wanted a wristwatch that featured the type of precision normally found in a marine chronometer.

IWC agreed to take on the project but realized that the only way to achieve this goal was by using one of their pocket watch movements. They selected the beautiful caliber 74 — a distinctive full-bridge movement where each key component of the train was mounted on a separate bridge, making it easier to service and adjust. The resulting watch was, in the context of the time, simply massive at 42mm in diameter. All in all, only 675 of these Portugieser watches were ever made, making these vintage timepieces extraordinarily rare.

Legend has it that during a visit to the manufacture, IWC’s watchmakers spotted a client wearing an original ref. 325 watch and were inspired by the sheer originality of the timepiece to create a tribute to it for the brand’s 125th anniversary. Like the original watch, the Jubilee featured the caliber 982 pocket watch movement; it was made in a limited run of 1,000 pieces in steel, 500 in gold and 250 in platinum.

Instead of the caliber 982 that was found in the original watches, we used the caliber 98200.

As we rolled up on Revolution’s 10th anniversary, I got it in my head to ask Georges if he might consider making a tribute to the 5441 in collaboration with us. He looked at me, laughed and said he would look into it. A few days later, I would be lounging at his booth at SIHH when he would come up to me and say, “OK, I have a few new old stock cases for the 5441 in rose gold that they found at the manufacture, so we can use these for your watch. But we can only make about 10 of them.”

I was totally floored by the thoughtfulness of his gesture. This is perhaps something people don’t know about this limited edition — the cases are actually new old stock. Instead of the caliber 982 that was found in the original watches, we ended up using the caliber 98200. But this time I’d learned my lesson from the Audemars Piguet and requested for “Revolution” to be engraved on the barrel of the watch. This is an amazing watch for me and a symbol of the friendship we’ve always had with IWC and Georges Kern.

The IWC Portugieser Revolution 10th Anniversary Limited Edition used the new old stock cases for the 5441 in rose gold

2015 Panerai PAM 599 Revolution 10th Anniversary Limited Edition

With a “four-liner” dial, 44mm, limited to 50 pieces in steel with DLC coating

The very first story I ever wrote about watches was about a — at the time — relatively unknown Italian military tool that had somehow become a luxury brand, thanks to its discovery by Sylvester Stallone. That brand was, of course, Panerai. I soon became awed by the men who had created Panerai — Johann Rupert, of course, but also Franco Cologni, Giampiero Bodino who designed the watches, and the one and only Angelo Bonati. For early Paneristis, Bonati was a near-mythical figure for making watches that seemed like they were ripped from our collective subconsciousness, so adept was he at predicting exactly what we wanted. At the same time, Bonati was a swashbuckler jumping in on threads on the Paneristi forum posting as himself, such as when he broke the news that there would soon be an in-house Panerai movement. So it was that the first time I met him, I was actually quite intimidated until I realized that underneath the stern authoritarian air was actually an extremely affable, humorous and very kind man.

It took me several years to convince him of my journalistic creds, but I eventually won him over in 2007 with the brand’s celebration of its 10th anniversary under Richemont ownership. By then, Panerai had already launched its first caliber, the P.2002, and now unveiled the P.2003, P.2004 and P.2005 30-second tourbillon. At the end of the watch presentation, instead of sticking around for cocktails, I went back to my room, lit a cigar — you could do that back then — and cranked out a 5,000-word online article on the significance of these movements, which represented the transition of Panerai from a luxury brand to a manufacture, echoing its early shift from military tool to luxury brand. The next morning, Bonati invited me to have coffee with him. The first thing he said was, “Do you know why you are here?” He explained that while everyone had been enjoying themselves, I had been the only one to do some actual work. When he looked online, mine was the only full article that got what he is doing with Panerai. After that, we became friends.

The genesis of the special edition PAM 599 to celebrate Revolution’s 10th anniversary occurred in Singapore in 2014, when I finally met the man who is something of a legend in Panerai-collecting circles. His name is Alan Bloore, but he is much better known by his Internet handle, “Hammer”. His story of courage and perseverance in his recovery from a freak accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down has already been chronicled in the pages of our magazine. But what distinguishes Hammer is his incredible charisma and his wonderful enthusiasm. When I first mooted the idea of a Revolution special edition Panerai to Hammer, he replied, “You know, Mr Bonati probably won’t do it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Similarly, when I asked my friend Alexandra Zoller, Panerai’s international retail director at the time, she laughed and told me, “You know, Angelo will probably say no, because he doesn’t like this kind of editions, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Finally, when I asked Jean-Sebastien Gerondeau, also a friend and at the time Panerai’s managing director of Asia Pacific, his answer too was, “It will be unlikely to happen, but it never hurts to ask.”

I finally gathered my courage and asked Angelo Bonati. My face was literally frozen in slack-jawed shock when Mr Bonati thought about it for a moment and replied, “Yes.” When I recovered, I asked Mr Bonati why he had said yes. To which he replied: “Because you are a friend. Basically, I disagree with this kind of things. We receive a lot of requests and I almost always say no. First, to protect the integrity of the brand. Second, I cannot continue to do special editions, because doing too many special editions in the economy of production doesn’t make sense. You lose money with these watches. This is the reality. But frankly speaking, with you, I cannot say no.”

Angelo Bonati, former CEO, Panerai

I immediately contacted Hammer to tell him that, first of all, the “00” prototype of this watch would be jointly auctioned by Panerai and Revolution for his charity, the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association, which uses sports to help reconnect individuals with spinal injuries to a life beyond the wheelchair. Secondly, I explained that we needed to start designing a watch! Amazingly, we both said the exact same two words: “Black Seal”. But let’s place these words in context. One of Hammer’s and my favorite eras in Panerai history relates to the “pre-Vendôme” era, which includes watches made between 1993 and 1997, when the brand started making 44mm Luminor Marina watches and 42mm Mare Nostrum chronographs for civilian consumption upon the cancellation of its contract with the Italian Navy.

Of the pre-Vendôme Luminor Marinas, nine different models were created, including the 5218-201/A Logo (in 677 pieces); the 5218-201/A Submersible Slytech (in 12 prototypes); the 5218-202/A Marina Militare with a black PVD-coated steel case (in 140 pieces); the 5218-203/A Luminor Marina with a black PVD-coated steel case (in 200 pieces); the 5218-205/A Submersible Slytech (in 95 pieces); the 5218-207/A Slytech “Daylight”, in conjunction with Sylvester Stallone’s film Daylight (in 105 pieces); the 5218-209 steel Luminor (in 12 pieces); and the 5218-210 Luminor with a PVD case made in just two pieces.

However, the most famous pre-Vendôme Panerai comes from 1996, and it is the 5218-218/A Luminor Marina with a black PVD-coated steel case and the four lines “Luminor, Black Seal, Slytech, Panerai” on its dial. It is simply stunning, and part of its lore is that it was prototyped in five examples but, due to the sale of Panerai to Richemont Group, was never produced in series. Hammer and I instinctively knew we wanted to pay homage to this incredible watch.

The 5218-218/A Luminor Marina with a black PVD-coated steel case and the four lines “Luminor, Black Seal, Slytech, Panerai” on its dial

Mr Bonati replied, “I am saying no to your first proposal, but I propose to you something different.” Little did we know at the time that Bonati and Panerai had already prepared an incredible homage to the Black Seal, in the form of a set of paired pre-Vendôme inspired watches, dubbed PAM 785.

In the end, I think we created a watch that wonderfully unites two different eras in Panerai’s history. Its design is definitely pre-Vendôme in spirit; in particular, the three lines of text combined with the logo, which, in Panerai-collecting lore, makes it a coveted “four-liner”. Hammer says, “If you look at Panerai’s history, many of the most collectible watches are four-liners.” The DLC (diamond-like carbon) case is a fitting homage to the pre-Vendôme era’s PVD case and also emphasizes Panerai’s pioneer status as the first high luxury brand to use blackened steel cases. For many years, Angelo Bonati would refuse to make more black-cased watches because he felt the technology at the time was not good enough. He reintroduced black watches by using ceramic, the first of these being a Radiomir watch. For small, nostalgic limited productions, he would agree to make black steel cases, but now with DLC coatings which are far more robust than the PVD (physical vapor deposition) coatings of old. We asked for the Super-LumiNova, as well as the dial and hands, to be made in ecru to replicate aged vintage tritium and also to distinguish the PAM 599 from the PAM 195 four-liner Luminor Marina made several years ago for the website Paneristi. But while all of these design codes were backward-looking, inside would be Panerai’s in-house manual winding movement with an eight-day power reserve — an incredible testament to Angelo Bonati’s vision to transform Panerai into a true manufacture. In totality, the watch is an incredible gesture of friendship.

Revolution asked for the Super-LumiNova, as well as the dial and hands, to be made in ecru to replicate aged vintage tritium

2016 Bvlgari-Revolution Octo Finissimo Limited Edition

With petite seconds and a pierced dial, 42mm, limited to 50 pieces in titanium

This Bvlgari-Revolution Octo Finissimo Limited Edition was inspired by the brand’s ultra-thin titanium minute repeater from 2016

This was the first of our collaborations with Bvlgari which, to me, not only makes some of the coolest, most technically innovative and aesthetically daring watches, but is also helmed by some truly great individuals, specifically CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, creative director Fabrizio Buonamassa, and its managing directors — at the time of the first watch Guido Terreni, and throughout the creation of our second watch, Antoine Pin. It also has, heading up communications, the man I consider to the epitome of masculine sexiness, the legend that is Pascal Brandt.

Back in 2014, when I first set eyes on the Octo Finissimo, I was simply blown away. Here was a watch that was a crazy juxtaposition of a big bold case when viewed top down on your wrist, but when you looked at its profile, it seemed like an optical illusion. That’s how slim it was. Two years later in 2016, Bvlgari launched what I still think is one of the all-time greatest watches — their ultra-thin titanium minute repeater. This watch which played a superb repeater tone was almost unbelievable at just 6.85mm in thickness. It also expressed a wonderful stealth-cool aesthetic with a sandblasted finish for its titanium case and featured a solid 0.3mm-thick titanium dial with skeletonized indexes and seconds track for the repeater’s sound to escape through. I was simply in love with this watch.

Funnily, our limited edition Octo Finissimo Petite Seconds was born because it was a watch I wanted to wear. I realized that it wouldn’t make commercial sense for Bvlgari to make me a pièce unique, so I proposed that we do a special run of 50 watches. Basically, I loved the style of the minute repeater but I couldn’t afford it. But what if we used a similar pierced titanium dial on a simpler small seconds manual wind watch? To my delight, Jean-Christophe Babin gave us the green light on this project.

This was a super important watch because it was the first time we were given permission to sell watches directly to the consumer. This seems to be getting more normal now, but I can tell you, in the context of 2016, it was pretty rare. So I really want to thank Bvlgari and Jean-Christophe Babin that we could communicate and retail the watch professionally. I also want to thank them for being the first to understand that our special editions do not conflict with traditional retailers or normal production watches. The objective is to be a loudspeaker for that brand, its capabilities and to grow the awareness of its watches which I think are extraordinary. The moment I saw the Octo Finissimo, I felt it would be one of the most important watches of the modern era and with Bvlgari’s constant drive to innovate, culminating in last year’s awesome automatic tourbillon chronograph, I’m glad that this has now become the consensus. Our collaboration with Bvlgari also gave us the opportunity to meet many of our readers that have now become collectors of our watches, and our new Revolution Watch Bar is precisely that place where we can gather and share our passion.

Bvlgari’s CEO, Jean-Christophe Babin

2016 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe Revolution Limited Edition

38mm, limited to 30 pieces in steel

Back when there was a Basel Fair before their parent company, the MCH Group, screwed itself out of existence with its ineptitude, my favorite place to hang out was Marc Hayek’s Blancpain booth. It was, in a word, epic. He had installed a special extractor fan so that it was the only indoor space where you could smoke cigars, and built a 20-foot long zinc bar where he would serve an endless array of incredible wines, Aperol Spritz and cocktails. He even had a Michelin-starred chef overseeing his food. It was, basically, thanks to Marc’s incredible kindness and generosity, my home away from home for a decade.

Accordingly, you would always find the most intriguing characters and industry leaders at the Blancpain booth, the most awe-inspiring of which would be Marc’s uncle, Nick Hayek. During one of these uber sybaritic sessions, I was seated with Blancpain’s product director Vincent Beccia, his wife Christel Beccia and Eric Singer, the drummer for the seminal rock band KISS, when I put forth an idea. What if Blancpain would use the case of their women’s diving watch to create a smaller sized Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe at 38mm in diameter? Everyone, especially Singer, was enthusiastic about the idea. Encouraged by Beccia and Singer, I made an appointment to speak to Marc Hayek the following day. When I explained the idea and made the request, Hayek smiled to himself. Interestingly, it was an idea that he had been toying with himself and so he gave the project the green light.

The resulting watch designed by Hayek is beautiful with a sunray-patterned grey-brown dial offset by a matte steel case. In retrospect, if there was one detail I could have changed, it would be to omit the date, but the end result was still a very fun and appealing watch. I was particularly honored when the watch was included in a curated collection of bathyscaphes at Blancpain’s presentation at Basel Fair. From what I understand, Hayek, who was in the process of teaching his son how to scuba dive, offered this watch to him as his first diving watch. To be part of that bond between them is a great pleasure.

Marc Hayek, who played an instrumental role in designing this watch, also presented this piece to his son as his first diving watch.

2018 TAG Heuer × Revolution × The Rake Carrera Chronograph “Blue Dreamer”

39mm, limited to 100 pieces in steel

This was the very first of our limited edition watches that was strictly offered as an online purchase. Even though the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Limited Edition was the first watch we retailed, those watches were sold primarily in person to our client network in Southeast Asia, centered in Singapore where we are based. And it goes to show you what early adopters of the Octo Finissimo the Singaporean market was. I’ve been told when brands want to test their new watches in the past, they would use the Italian market. Today, they tend to use Singapore as the test bed because of the very sophisticated customers and collectors here. It’s hard to describe it unless you experience it yourself, but practically every single person in Singapore is on some level actively interested in watches. We’ve also been instrumental in building up new brands. It was Singaporean retailer The Hour Glass that bankrolled Philippe Dufour’s Grande Sonnerie project, and Singapore was really the first place where Richard Mille took off, thanks to the strength of Dave Tan, Richard’s partner here. Brands like F.P. Journe, Lange and even Franck Muller all have Singapore (and Tay Liam Wee, the ex-owner of Sincere Watch) to thank for playing a large part in their development.

Anyway, back to the Carrera. For this watch, I have to thank a number of people. The first is Jean-Claude Biver who at the time in his capacity as CEO of TAG Heuer greenlighted this project. The second is Ben Clymer, the founder of the US juggernaut that is Hodinkee, who allowed me to unveil the watch in my episode of “Talking Watches”. The Blue Dreamer is inspired by both the original Heuer Skipper reference 7754 — a regatta watch with a 15-minute counter that was distinguished by five-minute segments that are each painted a different color to clearly demarcate it — and also by the Hodinkee Skipper which is, to this day, one of the coolest limited edition watches around.

The Heuer Skipper Reference 7754

Of course, the Carrera Blue Dreamer made for my magazine The Rake, which is dedicated to classic elegance and the era of the real playboys like Gianni Agnelli, Porfirio Rubirosa and Aly Khan, had to be about dégagé Riviera élan. So I started with selecting three of my favorite shades of blue: Yves Klein blue for the dial, and ultramarine and cerulean blues for the details of the chronograph minute counter. In retrospect, I wish I had made the counter a 15-minute counter instead of a 30-minute one, but that would have added more complication to the process of creating this watch. The name of the watch “Blue Dreamer” is a homage to Marc Chagall and his love for the color blue, which he used with such vivid expression in paintings like Le Paysage Bleu, Lovers in the Sky and, of course, The Dream from 1939.

The “Blue Dreamer” is a homage to Marc Chagall and his love for the color blue, which he used with such vivid expression in paintings like Le Paysage Bleu, Lovers in the Sky and The Dream

When I wrote the story about this watch, I wanted people to understand that, more than anything, it was about expressing an ineffable style. This was the opening passage to my story:

“‘Ciao come stai? Tutto Bene. Fammi un martini secco per favore! Grazie!’ If you’re bellowing this through a loudspeaker to the staﬀ at the Capri Palace as they watch in awe as you — still resplendent in your silk shantung dinner jacket and soft-collared tropical-weight Marcella evening shirt — enact a perfect 10-point swan dive from the skid of your helicopter hovering above the pool, in homage to Gianni Agnelli’s famous entrance to the legendary Hotel du Cap, then this watch is for you.

“If, this summer, you plan to live to an internal soundtrack of Renato Carosone’s ‘Tu Vuò Fa L’Americano’ and on a steady diet of Aperol Spritzes, Cohiba Talismans and Vitamin B12 injections, then this watch is for you. If you long for the era when the rakes of the Riviera — Agnelli, Porfirio Rubirosa and Aly Khan — did battle for the affections of the most prominent beauties that glittered along the southern coastline of France, then this watch is for you.

“It is crafted to address all your timing needs this summer, whether ensconced upon the Riviera or not, so that you are able to lay command over the kitchen staff at the Pellicano, Marbella Club or the Gritti Palace to execute a perfectly timed three-minute egg enhanced with generous lashings of black truffle. You may choose to use it to time the duration of your Behike 54, reflecting on its creator Norma Fernández’s stroke of inspiration to utilize the sun-kissed medio tiempo leaves to create the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti of cigars. And should you decide to re-enact the famous Slim Aarons photograph titled Keep Your Cool, of a couple playing backgammon in a swimming pool in Acapulco, you will be delighted to hear that your TAG Heuer for The Rake & Revolution Carrera ‘Blue Dreamer’ Chronograph is water resistant to, at the very least, swimming pool depth.”

I think it’s clear from this that I wanted this watch to be a celebration of amazing sunlit times by the Mediterranean Sea. In the context of 2020 when I didn’t get to travel at all, I often put on my Blue Dreamer which I wear on a very cool Forstner “beads of rice” bracelet (you can check out the bracelet here) to relive my adventures at these fabled destinations even if just in my imagination. What is really cool about the watch is, if you search the hashtag #bluedreamer on Instagram, you’ll see there are over 500 posts of people and this watch. The Blue Dreamer was one of our most successful watches; it sold out in about 40 minutes and today, it goes for a pretty substantial premium on the secondary market.

2018 Bell & Ross × The Rake and Revolution Bellytanker Chronograph “Dusty”

41mm, limited to 100 pieces in steel

Two of my favorite people in the watch industry are Carlos Rosillo and Bruno Belamich who created the brand Bell & Ross. I think that one day they should star in a Netflix series on how to approach life in a way that is elegant yet mindful and incredibly genuine. Because they are both always in a great mood, and you genuinely feel that they wake up each and every day filled with passion for their métier and affection for the people around them. Each time I am in their company, along with their lovely head of communications Axelle Rogano, my mood is tremendously uplifted. We’ve shared great meals, bottles of wine, cigars and, most of all, memories together. So what could be better when your friends also create some genuinely great watches as Carlos and Bruno do?

Bruno Belamich, co-founder, Bell & Ross

Carlos-A. Rosillo, co-founder, Bell & Ross

One of the hardest things to do is to design an original sports chronograph without essentially replicating the Daytona or the Speedmaster. When I saw the Bell & Ross Bellytanker for the first time in 2017, I was genuinely impressed that it was an authentically original design. I like the oversized Arabic indexes, the long baton markers, the stepped dial, the thick crown guards and the screw-down pushers; everything just worked well and at 41mm, it was a good size.

Shortly after seeing the Bellytanker, I kept thinking, what if the watch had been launched in the 1950s and was buried in the ground in some unknown desert racing track, or left in the sun for years so that its black dial and bezel became scorched by the UV light and tropicalized to the extreme? Around this time I had witnessed the vintage world’s obsession with all things tropical, and I have to admit many of these watches were absolutely stunning to behold. However, most of these unicorns were also staggeringly expensive, and I thought that if we could get the styling of the watch just right, with the Bellytankers’ relatively accessible price point of around USD 4,000, we could have a really fun yet affordable “tropical” sports chronograph.

I pitched this idea to Bruno and Carlos and they came back with designs that were perfect. They had thought through every detail and found just the right shade of brown. The result is still one of my favorite watches; I always get questions about it when I have it on my wrist. People genuinely think that it’s an oversized vintage tropical dial watch at first, and it’s fun to watch them wrap their head around it. After searching for a name for this watch, our head of online proposed “Dusty”, which brings to mind both the singer Dusty Springfield of “Son of a Preacher Man” fame, and one of my favorite professional wrestlers as a kid, Dusty Rhodes, or “The American Dream”.

2018 Bell & Ross × The Rake and Revolution Bellytanker Chronograph “El Mirage”

41mm, limited to 100 pieces in stabilized bronze

I would be lying if I said this watch wasn’t at least partially inspired by the “John Player Special” Paul Newman Daytonas. But, of course, the idea was to create a watch that you could wear with ease and not worry about it at all, which is certainly not the case in the one-million-dollar-plus vintage watches. To take things to an even greater extreme, I came up with the idea of taking all the elements that should be black and turning them brown to create a kind of tropical feel. At the time, I had been looking at some of the incredible watches with these elements in past auction catalogues and thought it would be amazing to have a watch that channeled these aesthetics but in a far more accessible way. When Bell & Ross got involved, the resulting watch took on a design of its own that ultimately was far more unique and fun.

The first idea was to use bronze to replicate the look of a vintage gold chronograph, like a 6265 or a BA 145-022-69, but at a much more accessible price point. Bell & Ross came back to say that they had found an alloy of bronze that was far more stable than the bronze being used by the majority of the industry, which oxidizes very quickly and aggressively and is far less red in color. Sure enough, the bronze alloy they selected has a more yellow gold than copper color, and when it oxidizes, develops more of a greenish jade color which to me perfectly fits the concept of an aged gold watch.

Bell & Ross got every detail of the watch design right, and the interplay between the gold tones of the case and dial with the chocolate hue of the subdials and bezel creates a genuinely stylish timepiece. We decided to name the watch “El Mirage” in deference to the famous Bellytanker desert racetrack and also because of the way the watch toys with your perception. I have to say, as names of watches go, “El Mirage” is pretty cool!

The interplay between the gold tones of the case and dial with the chocolate hue of the subdials and bezel creates a genuinely stylish timepiece.

2018 Hublot × The Rake Special Edition Aerofusion Chronograph “Molon Labe”

45mm, limited to 25 pieces in bronze and titanium

Join Waiting List

One of the brands that has been a massive success story in the new millennium is Hublot. I remember the first time I met Jean-Claude Biver back in 2005 at The Hour Glass’ Tempus event here in Singapore. This was a cultural and educational initiative undertaken by Michael Tay. Biver proceeded to unfurl a sketch of a watch he intended to launch in 2005. It was named the Big Bang, and it was meant to unite traditional Swiss watchmaking with the materials and design influences of the future — what Biver called his vision for “Fusion”. Hublot would become such a success that a few years later, the brand was sold to LVMH Group and Jean-Claude Biver would hand over the reins of Hublot to his highly capable colleague Ricardo Guadalupe. Hublot has always been incredibly kind to me and, together with The Hour Glass, even invited me to the unforgettable experience of attending the World Cup in Brazil. So once our limited edition watch programme was underway, it was only natural to request a collaboration with Ricardo Guadalupe.

Our Hublot collaboration started with a friend of mine named Augusto Capitanucci. I met Augusto when he was the editor in chief of Gruppo24ore, and we quickly hit it off. He was pretty much the coolest guy on the watch journalism circuit. But then he made a radical transition to the brand side by joining Hublot and becoming its regional director for the Mediterranean countries where, by all accounts, he was smashing it. He was the first person I broached the idea with and soon he got the Hublot team involved and ultimately helped to secure Ricardo Guadalupe’s blessing.

For the watch in question, it began with the concept of ancient and contemporary universes colliding within the fiery crucible of Hublot’s concept of Fusion — the concept of modernity and tradition, the best of material innovation intrinsically, intermarried with the 200-year-old traditions of high Swiss watchmaking.

The first thing to achieve was to quickly arrive at the idea of metals each embodying the past and the future. And so, the materials selected for The Rake’s very first collaboration with Hublot are first an expression of contemporary technical advancement, and second — and perhaps more evocatively — an embodiment of the two most legendary warrior cultures of the ancient world. Their names bristle and resonate with a sense of purpose born out of their extensive use in combat.
Anyone with a penchant for handmade bicycles is going to be familiar with the metal titanium. Even in the age of carbon fiber, titanium is still the material of choice for the most coveted and beautiful frames from the world’s most artisanal builders. It is, simply speaking, the metal that boasts the highest strength-to-weight ratio. It has a near-infinite fatigue life, meaning that it can steadily absorb shock indefinitely with almost no change to its molecular structure and is totally impervious to corrosion. It is hypoallergenic, which makes it the substance of choice for medical implants. It is self-healing in that when scratched, a protective oxide layer instantly and spontaneously re-forms. This extraordinary material was discovered in Great Britain at the turn of the 19th century and was named for the Titans of Greek mythology.

At the height of its renown between the fourth and sixth century BC, the Spartan army was considered so superior to any other in the world that one Spartan soldier was considered more valuable than a multitude of men from any other nation. It was bronze that gave this army its technical advantage — the material was used to furnish the armor and weapons of the most legendary warrior culture of all time. Sparta differed from all other nations in that every male citizen was a full-time soldier first, and a farmer, poet or ruler second. One of my all-time favorite books is Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, which chronicles the 300 Spartans combating Xerxes and the Persian Army at Thermopylae. My favorite scene in the book: when commanded by Xerxes to lay down his weapons and bow to his might, the Spartan King Leonidas retorts, “Molon labe!” or “Come and take them!” And so that became the name of the watch.

The name of this special Hublot chronograph is inspired by one of the scenes in the Gates of Fire written by Steven Pressfield

The watch was launched in 2018 with an event at the Corinthia Hotel in London in collaboration with Hublot and the incredible Arturo Fuente cigar brand. As a cigar lover, I have to say I have never seen more ultra coveted Opus X cigars amassed in one place before. I have to thank Ahmed “Shary” Rahman who purchased our prototype for this watch in an auction benefitting The Prince’s Trust. The second factory prototype was donated by Hublot in a really kind gesture for our COVID-19 Solidarity Auction last year where it achieved an impressive USD 15,000.

The watch was launched in 2018 with an event at the Corinthia Hotel in London. Seen here with Wei is noted watch collector Ahmed “Shary” Rahman

2018 Oris Divers Sixty-Five “Honey” for The Rake and Revolution

40mm, limited to 250 pieces in steel

Oris’ co-CEO Rolf Studer is a really nice man. I really got to know him when we were all gathered in New York for Hodinkee’s 10th anniversary event where Ben Clymer had kindly invited me to be a speaker. After the plenary discussion group sessions, the aforementioned Shary, Studer, Auro Montanari and I went to the Bar and Books on Hudson to smoke cigars and continue our Negroni-fueled afternoon. I shall not go into the details of how Auro went slightly missing after this, sending his friend Aurel Bacs into a bit of a panic. It was during this time I really got to know Studer and realized what a genuine, authentic, no-bullshit cool guy he is. I’m a big fan of Oris also because it is one of those brands that has demonstrated that you can have a great — zero compromise — watch for less than two thousand dollars with an awesome design and made with excellent quality. Among Oris’ watches, of course, I have a penchant for the Divers Sixty-Five. Around the time, I was conceptualizing a vibrant colored Divers Sixty-Five watch to pitch to him, the epic Divers Sixty-Five RedBar with its beautiful red dial came out. This was not only a great watch, but also a symbol of a great community of watch nuts, and I am very pleased that its co-founder Adam Craniotes is Revolution’s US editor at large.

The very cool red dial Divers Sixty-Five caused me to pivot. Oris already had blue and green dial watches. While I loved the idea of a pink dial watch, I am not sure many other people would. In the end, I thought of doing a tribute to the tropical dial diving watches that had become very popular. In particular, I liked the dials that had a halo effect where the center was lighter, and this became progressively darker to the edge of the dial. I proposed the idea to Oris’ Asia-Pacific regional manager Michael Meier and Studer, and they liked the idea. As an example of how seriously they take their product development, they made more sample dials than any other brand I’ve worked with. I remember poring over the myriad of dial options with Meier as we ate cheeseburgers, which seemed to aid in the creative process.

Oris Divers Sixty-Five from 2016

In the end, the one we arrived at had just the perfect evocative hue and actually reminds me of a 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul. To complement the warmth of the dial, we had to select the bronze bezel. We named the watch “Honey” in deference to the color and also because it’s just a cool name. In 2019, Oris came out with a two-tone bronze and steel bracelet for their regular production Divers Sixty-Five watches, and to me this actually elevates “Honey” to a higher level.

2018 Chopard L.U.C 1860 × The Rake & Revolution

36.5mm, limited to 10 pieces in white gold

To me, one of the greatest watches in the modern era is the somewhat overlooked Chopard L.U.C 1860 from 1997. Actually the prelude to the watch started a year earlier. Flashback to 1996, when Tom Cruise was bellowing, “Show me the money!” to his ambassador of Quan in the film Jerry Maguire, to the moment when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele unveiled his first L.U.C movement, a moment as revelatory and forever game-changing as the appearance of Kubrick’s monolith in 2001. That was the introduction of the caliber 1.96, which would usher in one of the most staggering two decades in mechanical movement innovation and bring a new, heretofore unknown level of performance to every complication in Christendom. All that from a brand previously considered primarily a jeweler.

Chopard L.U.C 1860 from 1997.

t is almost impossible to fully express how mind-blowing Chopard’s L.U.C automatic caliber 1.96 was in the context of the mid-1990s. While Swiss mechanical watchmaking had pulled itself back from the brink of disaster post-Quartz Crisis, there was still a prevailing timidity related to movement innovation. That wasn’t good enough for Scheufele, who explained: “I knew that Chopard had long been considered a jewelry brand. But we were never seen as a serious horological maison. We were not a manufacturer of movements. So when I took the decision to start making our own movements, I wanted to create a caliber that reflected all the technical advances of our era and not repeat something that had already been done half a century before.”

How did the fundamental blueprint for the extraordinary caliber 1.96 come about? It is common knowledge that Scheufele consulted Michel Parmigiani on the movement’s design, but the requirements were very much based on his own desire for the perfect movement. He explained: “I wanted an elegant movement, so I liked the idea of a micro-rotor. But I wanted it to wind very efficiently and in both directions. This was the reason we used ball bearings to support the rotor assembly. I wanted the movement to have a long power reserve of 70 hours, both to aid in isochronism, but also because I liked the idea of winding your watch once and it having enough power to last an entire weekend and beyond.”

The solution for the long power reserve was to create a set of two stacked barrels that operated in sequence, one after the other. To aid in the accuracy of the watch, Scheufele wanted a modern 4Hz vibrational speed. “Generally speaking, this is the most effective vibrational speed as it is far more resistant to microshocks that a watch receives moment to moment,” he said. “Incidentally this vibrational speed is also a reason we are one of the only brands to have our tourbillons certified by COSC.”

The Rake and Revolution paid tribute to Chopard’s incredible history by remaking a limited series of 10 L.U.C 1860 watches – the timepiece that started it all – in white gold with salmon dial.

In addition to the white gold case with a salmon dial, we asked Chopard to make the date wheel also in salmon to create a more integrated look and also to easily distinguish our limited edition at a glance.

The caliber 1.96 was jeweled to the barrel and had bridges and plates finished and angled by hand. It featured a swan-neck regulator as well as a Breguet overcoil for its hairspring. As a statement of peerless pedigree, the movement received both the Geneva Seal and the COSC certificate. You need to understand this in the context of the time. While everyone else was essentially relying on ETA, Valjoux or Piguet calibers, the caliber 1.96 was a shot across the bow of the industry, one of the most powerful statements of intent just simply based on its technical parameters. Add to this that Scheufele included with the movement certification by the two most prestigious independent entities in all of Switzerland and witness an act of sheer virtuoso mic-dropping badassitude.

Then there are the aesthetics of the watch which Louis Westphalen, when he was at Hodinkee, described as remarkably similar to Philippe Dufour’s Simplicity in this great article. It is hard to design a totally original round watch that endures the test of time, but that is precisely what the 1860 has achieved. Its slightly stepped bezel is thin and elegant. Its stunning gold dial featuring sunray guilloché was made by Metalem, one of the best dial makers in Switzerland. The dauphine hands, paired perfectly with the arrow-shaped hour markers, are sublime. Interestingly, from the first moment I set eyes on the watch, I’ve always remarked on its spiritual similarity with Philippe Dufour’s Simplicity which, when originally created, was 36mm and featured a very similar Metalem gold dial. The one clear difference has to do with the word “automatic” printed within the seconds subdial and the large aperture for the date. To me, Dufour’s Simplicity has always represented the very best of artisanal independent watchmaking, while the 1860 represents one of the greatest achievements in modern horology. Scheufele, who owns a Dufour Simplicity, said: “That is a complimentary thing to say, but I would have to agree that there is something of a spiritual kinship between the watches.”

“My proposal,” I explained, “is to remake an additional 10 of these watches in my favorite color combination of a white gold case with a salmon dial. If I could ask for one small change, it would be for the date wheel to also be in salmon to create a more integrated look and also to easily distinguish our limited edition at a glance. Let’s create a club of L.U.C aficionados and devotees. We can select who we allocate each of the 10 watches to and we will codename ourselves the Lucky L.U.C Club and meet once a year to share in conviviality, good cheer, amusing anecdotes and perhaps some half-decent wine.”

I looked at Karl-Friedrich to gauge his response. He smiled, nodded his head and said: “I like this idea very much.” That was the beginning of the journey to create the watch you see here. I should also take this opportunity to thank Scheufele’s wife, Christine, because at a certain moment we toyed with the idea of making the watch in steel instead of white gold. But that would necessitate us using a 40mm case. When we broached this idea with her, she replied: “If this is really a homage to the watch from 1997, then do it all the way. Don’t go by half measure. If the original size was 36.5mm, then make the watch 36.5mm. Anyway, it appears as if the world is turning back to these more classical dimensions. Or at least certain men with good taste are.” I thought that was a great statement.

We love our collaboration with Chopard so please look forward to more of our limited edition timepieces with them in 2021.

Karl-Friedrich Scheufele,co-president, Chopard

2018 IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic Special Edition for The Rake and Revolution

A tribute to Mark 11 with Russian reindeer hide NATO-style strap crafted by George Cleverley, 36mm, limited to 150 pieces in bronze

This special edition developed by The Rake and Revolution with the brand evokes the utilitarian purity of the Mark 11 updated with a new colour palette never seen before in the Pilot's collection till now.

Of the new generation of CEOs that have taken the helm of the big luxury brands, I have to say Chris Grainger is definitely one of the most dynamic. When I’m at watch junkets, I often like to go to the gym in the morning and see which CEOs are there working out in full beast mode before their day. Each time I got on the treadmill at the 2019 SIAR (El Salón Internacional Alta Relojería) in Mexico City, Grainger was already there crushing his workout.

Similarly, his approach to leading IWC has been unrelentingly forward-thinking and unafraid. At a time when much of the industry has been taken over by the same cookie-cutter INSEAD graduates generating soulless products rather than innovative passion projects, Grainger feels like the heir to the entrepreneurialism and bold leadership of his predecessor Georges Kern, albeit in his own way. He had just taken over the head of IWC when I pitched him the idea of a small sized no-date tribute to the Mark 11. He was cautious regarding the idea of collaboration, but because he liked the idea of The Rake’s audience being a sartorial crowd and that they would bring an all-new and unique audience to IWC, he eventually acquiesced. This project soon grew to encompass a four-model collection, which included a chronograph, a perpetual calendar and a Big Pilot-based model. Eventually, the decision was made for us to focus on the Mark 11, which had by this point incorporated a bronze case, olive green dial and aged lume.

Launched at the 2019 SIHH, the 150 pieces of this watch were sold out in nine minutes.

Trying to think of a way to create an even more salient connection with The Rake, I approached my friend George Glasgow and his father — a shoemaking legend — about creating a strap in collaboration with George Cleverley, London’s fabled bespoke shoemaker. I pitched them the idea of a strap made from the 200-year-old Russian reindeer hide that had sunk in a Spanish frigate off the coast of Plymouth Sound and that Cleverley was renowned for making shoes from. Amazingly, they said yes, although I have to say that figuring out exactly how to treat the skins and cut them to make NATO watch straps (which have been more pliable as they fold backwards) took a not-inconsiderable amount of work from both Cleverley and IWC. Eventually, we launched the watch at the 2019 SIHH. The 150 pieces sold out in nine minutes. Normally I keep the Number 1 watch of our special editions, but I was really happy to sell George the No. 1 piece for his amazing ng father, who is one of the coolest guys I know in the London sartorial world. After some disastrous and expensive experiments with other brands, George Snr made me a pair of shoes that rescued my faith in bespoke shoes and showed me they could be transcendent. The fact that this was a collaboration with three guys I admire in a big way makes me really happy.

The secondary values for our IWC × Cleverley × The Rake limited edition Mark 11 tribute are strong; resale price is comfortably over the original retail price.

2019 Sinn × The Rake & Revolution 155 Bundeswehr “Dark Star”

A tribute to the original 155 Bundeswehr Chronograph, 43mm, limited to 150 pieces in steel

The pilot’s chronographs made for the Italian, West German and French air forces are some of my favorite timepieces. While the Type XX is still being produced by Breguet and Zenith makes a great version of the Cairelli CP-2, it was surprising to me that no one was making a modern version of the iconic Bundeswehr 1550 watch. The motivation for this project started selfishly enough in that I really wanted a Bundeswehr but couldn’t find one in perfect condition for a price below six thousand dollars. There were, of course, two legit producers of the legendary “Bund” chronograph. The first is Heuer which started off producing this watch for the West German Air Force. And of course, there is Sinn, which took over the production of this model as well as the servicing of all the existing military watches in circulation.

The iconic Bundeswehr 1550 watch.

Three years ago, I had approached TAG Heuer with the idea of creating a Bundeswehr revival model but with a DLC titanium case and a manual wind movement. Some amazing designs were made for this watch — we came up with a stylized version of the old red “3H” symbol denoting radioactive dials, this time as a “TH” for TAG Heuer. We even thought of doing a special series of these regulated to start time to revive the “Sternzeit Reguliert” model. But the project didn’t see the light of day.

Then at the 2018 Baselworld, I met with my friend Volker Wiegmann, the head of communications at Sinn, and I asked if we could do this project with them. I knew that Sinn could be more receptive to this as they had already created a 2005 tribute to the 155 (the Bundeswehr in Sinn civilian nomenclature) for the Japanese market. This used original Bundeswehr cases combined with a manual wind Valjoux 7760. In 2008, Sinn had done another 155 tribute with the department store Manufactum.

For our collaboration, incredibly enough, Sinn managed to find cases, bezels and crystals identical to those in the vintage watches. To make it a more pragmatic watch, we decided on an automatic Sellita SW510 chronograph movement. The dial looks essentially the same as the vintage watches except for the use of syringe-shaped hands and Luminova on these and on the indexes that echoes the look of old tritium. But my favorite design element is the black-on-black star that refers to the star in the Revolution logo, but that is rendered subtly so that you really only see it in direct light. Immediately, the name “Dark Star” stuck in my head and so that’s what we called it. The reception to this piece was very heart-warming and it’s nice to see this watch trading for around double its initial retail price of USD 2,500.

The dial looks essentially the same as the brand’s vintage watches except for the use of syringe-shaped hands and Luminova on these and on the indexes that echoes the look of old tritium.

The prototype of this watch that we donated for our COVID-19 Solidarity Auction achieved £4,130 and a watch that was auctioned at Christie’s recently went for CHF 4,375 all in.

2019 Rado × The Rake & Revolution Captain Cook “Ghost Captain”

37mm, limited to 150 pieces in steel

At the 2018 Baselworld watch fair, after professing my love for the Captain Cook to Rado CEO Matthias Breschan, we began to discuss a possible collaboration on a limited edition of this great watch. Several of the timepieces we have worked on at Revolution have attempted to enhance the already existing vintage codes of their respective watches by endowing them with an extra measure of patina. However, the standard model Captain Cook has already travelled down this vintage path with great results, evinced in its grey-brown dial and yellow-green indexes. We initially made forays into an even more “distressed” watch based on images of vintage 1962 Captain Cooks, but somehow the designs just were not appealing.

Then we started to think about another way in which some very special watches have a tendency to age. A “ghost” bezel is one that, as a result of sun and seawater and general exposure over time, turns from a solid black into a highly appealing translucent grey. In some instances, dials exposed to these conditions turn this appealing shade of grey instead of the more usual brown. The result is a sort of hallucinatory, ethereal appearance for these watches where the bezel and dial are both a ghost-like grey.

The Rado Limited Edition Ghost Captain came with a variety of strap options— a grey leather NATO-style strap, a grey fabric NATO-style strap, a second grey leather strap and, perhaps more importantly, a beautiful “beads of rice” bracelet in stainless steel.

The idea of the Rado × The Rake & Revolution Captain Cook “Ghost Captain” began to come together. What is impressive is that with Rado’s vast in-house manufacturing ability in HyperChrome, the brand was able to render the perfect shade of grey ceramic to counterpoint the grey dial. Instead of the faux-aged luminous indexes, we decided to keep the lume plots a clean white color, which we feel offers a more appealing contrast to the prevailing grey/silver color scheme of the watch.

In addition to that, the Rado Limited Edition Ghost Captain came with a variety of strap options: a grey leather NATO-style strap, a grey fabric NATO-style strap, a second grey leather strap and, perhaps more importantly, a beautiful “beads of rice” bracelet in stainless steel. This quartet of strap options makes the Ghost Captain truly a watch for every occasion. The bracelet can also be purchased separately by customers who’ve previously bought the Ghost Captain without the steel bracelet.

Instead of the faux-aged luminous indexes, we decided to keep the lume plots a clean white color, which offers a more appealing contrast to the grey collar scheme of the watch

Amusingly, we realized we’ve got a few of these watches left. But in the process of shifting our office premises in the beginning of 2020, we actually misplaced a box of these and we are now offering the very last Ghost Captain 37mm watches replete with “beads of rice” bracelet for USD 2,000 as a value proposition.

2020 Zenith × Revolution Chronomaster Revival Ref. A3818 “Cover Girl”

37mm, limited to 100 pieces in steel

Our “Cover Girl” Revival does very well on the secondary market. The prototype of this watch was donated by Zenith to our COVID-19 Solidarity Auction and it achieved USD 20,000 (Image: Revolution©)

There are, of course, some incredibly iconic watches featuring the El Primero, two of which were introduced in 1969 along with the unveiling of the first Swiss integrated automatic movement at the Basel Fair that year — the cushion-shaped A384 and the round-cased A386. In recent years, both of these watches have been the vehicle for great limited editions such as the “Edge of Space” created by my friends George Bamford and Toby Bateman for Mr Porter and the tropical subdialled A386 created by Aurel Bacs for Phillips. However, when it came time for Revolution to get its own Zenith limited edition, there was only one model that immediately came to mind and that was the famous A3818, otherwise known as the “Cover Girl,” launched in 1971.

Zenith El Primero ref. A3818 circa 1971 (Image: © Phillips Watches)

The watch gets its evocative nickname from appearing on the front cover of Manfred Rössler’s seminal book on Zenith. This cushion-shaped timepiece is distinguished by what I feel is the coolest dial in Zenith’s history. It features a Superman blue dial with vertical brushing and what has to be one of the coolest racing tracks ever created with a full 300 tiny hash marks that radiate at the perimeter of the dial in a distinct stepped or peaked uneven pattern. This means that there are five marks between each second with a space in between each of them, providing the perfect scale to read a chronograph hand accurate to 1/10th of a second. In addition, the dial features a very unique combination of pulsation scale calibrated for 15 pulses as well as a tachymeter.

This watch is also representative of a collaboration with two of the most dynamic and coolest guys in the watch industry — Zenith’s CEO Julien Tornare and its head of product Romain Marietta. Together you can see the incredible momentum behind Zenith and what it has achieved in the last couple of years, and that’s all down to them. When we were conceptualizing this watch, I came up with an idea to create one huge difference compared to the original model. This time, the entire dial would be treated with luminous paint, even down to the 300 markers on the integrated pulsation and tachymeter scale. In combination with the full luminous hand set, including those found on the subdials, it means you would even be able to record elapsed time, down to 1/10th of a second, in the dark.

We couldn’t revive this watch without the ladder bracelet, so the timepiece is obviously paired with one, and we are sure that Zenith enthusiasts will love this thoughtful touch. When it came to pricing the watch, thanks to Zenith, we were able to offer it at CHF 7,900 which is totally in alignment with a normal production A384 with the same bracelet. It is even more attractive in a time when vintage A3818s are commanding within the CHF 20,000 ballpark.

The funniest thing about the launch of this watch relates to the event we held for it in Miami. I had flown to Miami from Singapore to host this event together with Julien Tornare and Adam Craniotes, the co-founder of Red Bar. Adam had flown in from New York along with the Zenith US team and Julien had flown in from Le Locle in Switzerland. We had all convened and then one of us asked, “OK, who has the watch?” We had all travelled from different parts of the world only to forget that the prototype was still at the factory. Amazingly, despite this, the launch was not only huge fun, but a success. We sold all our allocation of this piece that night. Zenith would launch their allocation a week later, and by this time, people had called in advance to try to get one. The truth is, we could have had five times as many watches but we always want to do two things with our limited editions. We want to keep them rare enough that our customers feel respected, and we always want to work with the brands to keep the price as low as we can so as to offer value. We have made it a rule to never inflate the prices of our limited editions just because we might be able to, because I think that’s disrespectful to our customer base.

I’m pleased to say that our “Cover Girl” Revival does very well on the secondary market. The prototype of this watch was donated by the great people at Zenith to our COVID-19 Solidarity Auction and it achieved USD 20,000.

2020 Hanhart × The Rake & Revolution 417 Chronograph

42mm, limited to 150 pieces in bronze

Steve McQueen was one of those guys with the most colossal ineffable style and so, of course, the clothes that he wore, the bikes he rode and the watches on his wrist are all the objects of cult devotion. McQueen is usually identified with two other watches: the iconic TAG Heuer Monaco 1133B, which was on his wrist in his 1971 film Le Mans, as well as the Rolex Submariner 5513 he wore in his personal life. There are, of course, also the Cartier Tank Cintrée and the Patek Philippe pocket watch that appear in the amazing The Thomas Crown Affair. And then there is the Hanhart 417 pilot’s chronograph which he wore while engaged in his favorite activity of riding his Triumph motorcycles, and which he conspicuously wore when he represented the USA at the 1964 ISDT motorcycle competition. Hanhart started producing pilot’s chronographs back in 1938 and introduced its first two-button model in 1941 with the basic iconography that we would see in the Type XX watches that would be created following the Second World War. It restarted production of its pilot’s chronographs from 1956 to 1958, and it was during this period that it manufactured the 417 model that would eventually make its way to McQueen’s wrist.

As the owner of a men’s classic elegance magazine, The Rake, a lover of vintage British bikes and a watch guy, I was, of course, more than familiar with the 417, which is why I was puzzled that Hanhart didn’t make this model anymore. During a meeting at the 2018 Basel Fair with Hanhart’s co-CEO Felix Wallner, I pitched him the idea of reviving this iconic model. His response was that he and Simon Hall, the brand’s other CEO, had plans to recreate the 417 based on the demand from their customers. We put our heads together and came up with an idea. What if Revolution was to create a limited edition watch as a prelude to pave the way for the revival of their iconic pilot’s chronograph? Both Wallner and Hall liked the idea and set about designing the bronze limited edition watch with a beautifully aged dial.

So back to the connection between the 417 and Steve McQueen. How McQueen came to own his watch is something of a mystery. What is clear is that he had exemplary taste in everything — motorcycles, particularly Bud-Ekins-tuned Triumphs and Nortons, and cars such as the 1958 Porsche 1600 356 “Super Speedster”, Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and Jaguar XKSS. Not to mention bespoke suits, as evinced by his collaboration with Douglas Hayward in The Thomas Crown Affair, and women the likes of Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen and Ali MacGraw. So it is no surprise that he naturally gravitated to the strikingly masculine and highly reliable Hanhart 417 (his watch is believed to be an ES, for Edelstahl or stainless steel), which he wore most frequently on a Bund or “fat strap” style bracelet.

Steve McQueen resting after his run out on the 1964 ISDT track. On his wrist visible is the Hanhart 417 ES (Photo by Francois Gragnon / Paris Match via Getty Images)

His affection for his Hanhart 417 was made conspicuous when McQueen went to East Germany in 1964, along with motorcycle racing specialists the Ekins brothers, to represent the United States at the International Six Days Trial (ISDT), often described as the Olympics of enduro motorcycle racing. McQueen was notoriously obsessed with detail when it came to competition. Prior to his 1964 race, he had gone to pick up his Triumph TR6 Trophy SC at Comerfords, London, where he proceeded to make all the modifications himself. So he surely applied that same sense of high scrutiny to the timepieces in his life. The mystery behind McQueen’s Hanhart 417 ES is that while the provenance of his Heuer Monacos and his Rolex Submariners have been well documented, the fate of his Hanhart is unknown. I keep telling Wallner and Hall to track down this watch and make it the star in their museum! How cool would that be?

Hand assembled at Hanhart's workshops, The Rake & Revolution Limited Edition Bronze 417 Chronograph is offered on a quick-patinating bronze CuSn8 case

I’m pleased to report that the Hanhart 417 Bronze Limited Edition is holding its value well and has actually been selling for almost double its retail price on the aftermarket.

2020 Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT “White Light” for Revolution & The Rake

42mm, limited to 25 pieces in titanium

I think one of the key takeaways from 2020 is that luxury brands will be regarded for what they represent as much as the watches they create. In both categories, Bvlgari has been exemplary. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bvlgari’s CEO Jean-Christophe Babin was one of the very first to respond, funding a 3D microscope to help researchers at Spallanzani Hospital study the virus at the cellular level and transforming a fragrance factory outside of Milan to produce hand sanitizer. If the latter seems somewhat commonplace today, think back to when the world and, in particular, Italy faced a total shortage of sanitizers and PPE amid the first wave of COVID-19. In addition, Babin did something truly extraordinary. He and Bvlgari created a virus eradication fund dedicated not just to combating COVID-19, but to addressing future outbreaks of infectious diseases. This fund provided much needed medical school scholarships to the next generation of researchers and helped to fund vaccines, such as the one developed at Oxford University.

That aside, I vividly recall the moment in 2019 when I first set eyes on Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic. I was utterly blown away. As you may know, I am a fan of chronographs and one of my favorite movements is the Frédéric Piguet 1185, which for 31 years previous to 2019, was the world’s thinnest automatic time writer at 5.5mm. The movement in the Bvlgari watch smashed that. At 3.3mm in a watch that is just 6.9mm thick, the automatic BVL 318 is even thinner than the manual wind version of Piguet’s legendary vertical clutch caliber, the 1180, which is 3.95mm thick. In design, the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic is a supremely elegant achievement.

The Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic launched in 2019

The platinum and aluminum periphery rotor of the BVL 318 movement powering the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic

Almost immediately, though, I started dreaming of a decidedly more aggressive version of this watch. Broaching the subject with Bvlgari’s creative director Fabrizio Buonamassa, he found the concept appealing. He explained, “I love the idea of a ‘tool watch’ version of the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT. The first thought was that we should put a tachymeter on the bezel. For someone that is an auto enthusiast, this would be a valuable and iconic function to have.”

Bvlgari’s creative director Fabrizio Buonamassa

Even though Bvlgari has an Octo chronograph model with a tachymeter — its Zenith El Primero-driven Velocissimo — that watch is significantly thicker, as are all its parts. It wasn’t a question of printing a tachymeter scale on the bezel of the Octo Finissimo chronograph. Buonamassa explained, “The Velocissimo is considerably thicker, and the bezel is totally different. Engraving and printing a tachymeter scale on the ultra-slim Octo Finissimo took a lot of experimentation.” The way in which any Octo Finissimo is assembled involves posts integrated into the bezel, which run through the monocoque case and which are fixed on the caseback with special fasteners. During the engraving and printing process of the tachymeter, any pressure deforming the bezel would result in a case that would be compromised in its security. After considerable attempts, Buonamassa found the solution. But then we arrived at a second challenge.

Any tool watch needs to have luminous indexes and hands. In the Octo Finissimo, this proved almost impossible. Said Buonamassa, “With a dial that is only 0.2mm thick, the indexes and hands were just too thin to be coated with lume. But then I thought, what if we painted the entire dial, then all the indications would stand out in negative relief?”

As you can imagine, I loved this. Buonamassa immediately set to work on dial prototyping. He explained, “We went through quite a few dials. Some were too luminous so that even in normal light they were glowing, and some were not luminous enough. We wanted to find just the right balance so it looks like a normal white dial chronograph in daylight, but as soon as you move into darkness, it glows with perfect visibility and remains luminous for a long time.”

Once a specification of Super-LumiNova was determined, the team at Bvlgari had to reconfigure the amount of material used to stamp all of the markings on the dial of the Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT. Essentially, the markings had to be made a lot thicker, effectively making this a “maxi dial” Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT. They had to do this so that the sheer glow of the dial completely covered in lume does not render the indexes illegible.

The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT White Light is powered by self-winding BVL 318 movement with peripheral winding rotor.

The watch’s 0.2mm dial is entirely painted with lume so that the markers on it are illumated in the dark in negative relief.

One of my favorite moments when lockdown lifted was a video sent to me by Jean-Christophe Babin as he and Buonamassa were discussing the dials over lunch. I love a white dial chronograph. There is something so appealingly pure about it, and the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT perfectly encapsulates this.

The end result, the special edition Bvlgari Octo Finissimo “White Light”, has been a nice success for us, and we are really grateful for the response of our readers and customers. One person I really want to thank is Adam Craniotes, who has been a very big champion of this project.

2020 Ralph Lauren for The Rake Negroni Polo Bear Watch

42mm, limited to 200 pieces in steel

The opening to my story on the Ralph Lauren Negroni Bear watch goes like this:

“His countenance is known the world over. His visage has become an obsession for men and women alike. There are legions devoted to his ineffable style, his ability to move effortlessly between sublime sports chic, pitch-perfect preppy-dom, and transcendent black tie. He is the celebrity’s cause célèbre, with many, from Kanye West to Drake to John Mayer, smitten by him. And the mere rumor of his appearance on a skateboard literally broke the Internet, with millions of fans vying for the chance to meet him. He says little, but his warm, fathomless brown eyes speak volumes of his extraordinary depth. And while he may be small in stature, he exudes a heroism and strength of character that is singular and inspirational. Amid the turmoil of 2020, for many of us, he has become a symbol of hope and optimism. I speak, of course, of the Ralph Lauren Polo Bear, who at a mere 29 years of age, has ascended to the status of both fashion and popular culture icon.”

Which, I think, is a pretty good summation of the appeal of the Ralph Lauren Polo Bear.

The watch was inspired by Wei Koh’s favourite drink and reinterprets this iconic motif to show the Tuxedo Bear holding a negroni.

In November 2019, the Polo Bear made his first appearance on the dials of three charming watches. The watches that marked the first Ralph Lauren Polo watches and set the stage for the Polo Player timepiece that launched last year featured our favorite ursine friend dressed in three of Lauren’s most iconic ensembles: the dinner jacket with frayed jeans and cowboy boots on the Tuxedo Bear; the tweed jacket, jodhpurs and riding boots on the Bedford Bear (after the town where Lauren resides); and the American flag sweater with denim jacket and jeans on the American Flag Bear.

Since the launch of the Polo Bear watch, I’ve secretly harbored a dream of a Rake Bear timepiece. After finally summoning the courage to request it, I was overjoyed to learn that Mr Ralph Lauren had given his personal assent. Immediately I began discussing with our team how our furry hero should be styled. Anyone who knows The Rake understands there is one cocktail that has become synonymous with the magazine, and that is the heady combination of bitter, vermouth and gin concocted in 1919 in Florence’s Café Casoni, where Count Camillo Negroni inspired the legendary barman Fosco Scarselli to create his namesake beverage. For the community of The Rake in 2020, the Negroni had become something of a symbol of resistance against despair; its distinct orange hue burning brightly against the darkness. Without hesitation, we requested that the Polo Bear be designed enjoying this libation, as he too would be standing firm and elegantly weathering the inclemencies of these unforgettable times. The dial of the watch features hands as well as the five o’clock index in distinct Negroni orange. Why the number five? Well, because it is always five o’clock somewhere.

The dial of the watch features hands as well as the five o’clock index in distinct Negroni orange. Why the number five? Well, because it is always five o’clock somewhere.

What’s been really fun about the Negroni Bear watch is that so many people have posted images of themselves wearing the watch and dressed up in Polo style and, of course, drinking a Negroni. There are also some pretty cool bracelet options for the Negroni Bear watch, specifically a steel “beads of rice” bracelet from Switzerland as well as an epic Negroni stingray NATO strap made by our friend Huitcinq, ensuring that the Negroni Bear is certainly one of the best accessorized furry mammals around.

2020 Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin for Revolution & The Rake

With sector dial, 40mm, limited to 12 pieces in steel

In 2020, Laurent Ferrier celebrated his 10th anniversary with what might initially seem like a counter-intuitive move, which was to launch his most accessibly priced and simplest watch — the Classic Origin three-hand manual wind model. But this act of revisionist horological history has been in the works for a full decade. Said Ferrier with a smile, “It was important to me, 10 years ago, to position my brand at the highest level with a watch that had a substantial technical value, like the Tourbillon Double Spiral. But in my heart, I was always dreaming to create something that was a core expression of my purest values. A simple three-hand manual winding watch with a beautifully restrained movement expressing all my values — elegance, love for watchmaking history, ergonomics and finish at the highest level.”

Laurent Ferrier has used the sector dial to great effect, in particular in his Galet Square with the Only Watch 2015 pièce unique, the two limited editions for Chicago’s Swiss FineTiming and even in a luminous version with the borealis. But, to me, the most beautiful execution of this is the watch created by Aurel Bacs, the world’s greatest vintage watch auctioneer and expert. Around the time the Micro-Rotor watch emerged, Bacs came up with the idea of creating a pièce unique for himself with a sector dial. Using his extensive knowledge, he created what must objectively be called the most beautiful Laurent Ferrier watch of all time. It was so stunning that when he showed it to several of his team members at Phillips, including renowned experts and collectors Alex Ghotbi and Paul Boutros, they too wanted one. The watch was anointed as an icon when it was also ordered by none other than the incredible Auro Montanari or John Goldberger, historian, author and collector ne plus ultra.

Laurent Ferrier Classic Origin for Revolution & The Rake has its movement treated in a special yellow-gold finish that is micro-sandblasted, used previously in the Montre École watch

While those watches featured a micro-rotor movement, when given an opportunity to create something on the Classic Origin hand-wound platform, I simply requested that Ferrier create something in the spirit of the Aurel Bacs watch, but without replicating it. The resulting design by Ferrier and Amandine Perrier is something I can only describe as ravishing. It features a two-tone dial with a cream center, surrounded by a printed sector track and Arabic markers. The dial is silver outside the central area, receives circular brushing under the indexes and is opaline under the minute track’s chemin de fer. Seconds are at six o’clock with a full seconds track and four enlarged markers at the compass points. The hands are Ferrier’s signature Assegai models that have been flame-blued and, to me, contrast perfectly with the cream of the dial. It should be noted that the Aurel Bacs watch features different hands selected by him, as well as a different styled crown.

While I had the choice of titanium or steel, I selected steel. Why? Because first, I found this more appropriate for a scientific-style watch and second, because we wanted to mount the watch on a steel “beads of rice” bracelet made in Japan with straight end-links — this is our preferred way of wearing the watch. This bracelet was directly inspired by Auro Montanari and his wearing of his own Laurent Ferrier Micro-Rotor Aurel Bacs scientific model on a vintage steel Gay Frères “beads of rice” style bracelet. A second Alcantara strap with beige lining fitted with a Laurent Ferrier pin buckle is included.

2020 Holthinrichs × Revolution Brutal Elegance Ornament

38mm, limited to 15 pieces in steel

One of my favorite discoveries of 2020 has been Holthinrichs Watches. Michiel Holthinrichs, who is based out of Delft in Amsterdam, has created precisely the type of watch that I feel the collector’s community was searching desperately for. Why? Well, first he created an all-new design that is simultaneously different and intriguing but somehow also familiar and comforting. Part of what makes his perfectly sized 38mm case so unique is his use of 3D printing, which allows a remarkable level of complexity, particularly in the amazing massive architectural voids he creates along the caseband and through his signature lugs, which are skeletonized along two axes and are, to me, reminiscent of the flying buttresses of France’s iconic Nantes Cathedral. I think it will come as no surprise that Michiel was an architect in a previous life. If there was a prize for sexiest modern watch lugs, I would be engraving Michiel’s name on the trophy.

The second thing I love about Holthinrichs is that each and every watch is made by him —meaning he applies the angling to the handmade hands and he is the one applying the angles and the engraving to the baseplates and bridges of every one of his highly modified vintage Peseux movements. In a world where automation, even in the rarefied field of horology, rules the day, it is refreshingly human to have the hand of the man whose name is on the dial actually finish and assemble every timepiece that leaves his workshop. The closest equivalent I can think of is the ultra cool Akira Nakai of Rough World, aka Rauh-Welt Begriff, the famed Japanese Porsche customiser who insists to fit each and every car with his signature fender flares, nose and speed tail personally.

A closer look at the sandblasted-type finish dial contrasted by high-polished angular applied Breguet numerals on the Holthinrichs Brutal Elegance Ornament for Revolution

A view of the skeleton lugs and a secret signature, 3D printed on the side of the case with the polished and the "raw" surfaces

Considering the not-insubstantial demand for Holthinrichs’ watches (OK, let’s just say he has a big-ass waiting list) I was surprised and touched that he reached out to propose a collaboration on a small series of handmade watches after I wrote an article on him. The idea that he had was intriguing. He explained, “I am a fan of both your magazines — Revolution which is one of the best and coolest watch magazines and websites around, and also The Rake which is really a unique voice for classic elegance. Why don’t we create a different design for each of these — one for Revolution and one for The Rake?”

For Revolution, Michiel created the B.E.O or Brutal Elegance Ornament. This features a 38mm steel case in his signature raw finish, which looks like a sandblasted treatment but is actually the way the metal emerges from the 3D printing process. The benefit to this is significant because although sandblasting creates a robust-looking finish, it is actually extremely delicate and scratches very easily. Conversely, the raw finish from Michiel’s 3D printing is relatively resistant to scratching. It is also uniquely identifiable as he is the only individual in watchmaking that uses this technique for his cases. As such, his “raw” look acts as a visual identifier for his brand. The beauty of the raw finish is sublimely contrasted by the high polishing applied to areas such as the lugs and the crown. This is a hugely labor-intensive process.

Michiel laughed, “I have to finish each of these cases with a small file and sandpaper to achieve the level of refinement I feel is necessary.” To keep the brutal theme going, Michiel selected a dial with a similarly brutal sandblasted-type finish. This is contrasted by stunning high-polished applied Breguet numerals. Said Michiel, “If you look closely, you will see these numerals have sharp straight edges to keep a maximum of dramatic contrast with the dial. This idea of dynamic tension between roughness and refinement is something I learned from architecture and perhaps most from Le Corbusier.”

For the Brutal Elegance Ornament, Michiel worked on different minute tracks, including applied markers. He finally arrived at a technique that looks like dots fixed to the dial but actually aren’t. He explained, “Because my dials are also 3D printed, I could specify to have these dots for the minutes that stand out in relief from the dial, but they are actually part of the printing process.” The result is a watch that expresses a sense of refined brutality that Michiel complemented with a rough and heavy buffalo strap.

For the movement, he wanted to keep the sandblasted effect and used a stunning frosted finish to the white rhodium-treated mainplate and bridges. The evidence of laborious hand work is on full display here. Said Michiel, “All the edges of the bridges are beveled and polished by me with sharp inward and outward angles that collectors will recognize as signs of real handmade anglage. There’s no milling machine that is capable of creating these sharp inward angles. Similarly, all the screw heads are black-polished by hand to achieve a mirror-like surface that doesn’t reflect light.”

2020 Holthinrichs × The Rake Refined Elegance Ornament

38mm, limited to 15 pieces in steel

For The Rake’s R.E.O or Refined Elegance Ornament, Michiel began with his high-polished 38mm Ornament steel case. He explained, “Immediately when I thought of a dandy’s watch, I thought of a grand feu enamel dial. But this would immediately shift our target price of 5,500 euros up dramatically. So I ended up using the Japanese lacquer that I have experience with from my Blue Delft Limited Edition.” This material, also called “stretched lacquer”, is applied in layers, and when it is finished, comes remarkably close to the look of grand feu enamel but without the fragility or super high cost. Said Michiel, “Because I knew we were going to have to drill holes in the dial for the applied Breguet numerals, I thought this was the best course.” Michiel’s attention to detail came down to creating a slightly different type of Breguet numeral than he used on the Brutal Elegance dial. He explained, “Here I used numerals with a softer, rounder profile which I feel complemented the lush, stunning high-gloss look of the Japanese lacquer dial better.”

A closer look at the white stretched lacquer dial contrasted by high-polished rounded applied Breguet numerals on the Holthinrichs Refined Elegance Ornament Limited Edition for The Rake

For the minute indexes and his logo, Michiel selected a soft grey pad-printing technique which evokes faded indexes in vintage enamel. He explained, “Initially I tried black print but it came off too harsh. I wanted something more subtle and timeless-looking and, after many experiments, arrived at this grey.” For the movement, by this point, Michiel and our team had grown so enamored with the frosted finish applied to the Brutal Elegance Ornament that we wanted to continue with this finish for our Rake watch. Said Michiel, “There was, of course, the temptation to do a Côtes de Geneve and blued screws finish, but there is something both charming and unusual about the frosted finish. A lot of watchmakers don’t like to use this because it shows every mark that’s made on the movement. But it is also reminiscent of the finish that was used in traditional British watchmaking in the 18th century. Since The Rake is based in London, we thought this could be a fun nod to the magazine’s roots.”

The takeaway from our collaboration with Holthinrichs is that he considers every detail of his watches over and over. He explained, “We also included a kind of hidden message in the caseband of the watch which is deeply recessed, so it is subtle and something for the owner to discover. I love little touches like this.”

Finally, for the Refined Elegance watch, Michiel and I wanted to add another signature touch in the form of a “beads of rice” bracelet reminiscent of the vintage Gay Frères bracelet worn with a wide array of watches by renowned collectors such as John Goldberger, otherwise known as Auro Montanari.

The NOS Peseux 7001 movement used for the Holthinrichs Refined Elegance Ornament Limited Edition for The Rake features a sandblasted-type finish on its bridges

2020 Moritz Grossmann Benu 37 for Revolution & The Rake

With grand feu enamel dial, 37mm, limited to eight pieces in steel

Christine Hutter is, in addition to being a watchmaker, the only woman to have founded an independent watchmaking brand and run it as CEO. From the perspective of technical creativity, her brand Moritz Grossmann ranks up there with some of the most sublime in her field. Her watchmaking pedigree couldn’t be more flawless. “Watchmaking is in our blood in Glashütte and so many of us have parents and even grandparents who were watchmakers,” she shared. “For everyone, the name Moritz Grossmann is incredibly meaningful because he founded the German School of Watchmaking here in our town in 1878. Students from all over Germany and beyond would come here to learn this craft. Grossmann was also a prolific watchmaker in his own right, and his dial designs and movements in his pocket watches contributed a great deal to what we think of today as German watchmaking.” Indeed, Grossmann, who created his eponymous brand in 1854, was revered by horologists throughout Europe. He even received first prize from the British Horological Institute in London for his 1866 treatise, “On the Detached Lever Escapement”.

Moritz Grossman CEO Christine Hutter

Thus inspired, Hutter acquired the rights to the Moritz Grossmann name in 2008. She would set up a manufacture with the expressed purpose of ensuring that “the Moritz Grossmann name would never be sullied by ETA ébauche movements”, in a provocative statement about her in-house movement intentions.

In 2018, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the brand, Christine Hutter curated an amazing collection of vintage Moritz Grossmann watches paired with her timepieces which was auctioned by Christie’s. Amongst the auction lots was a very interesting and unique Atum 37mm × 9.2mm slim Hommage wristwatch that was paired with a pocket watch of the movement number 6126 made by Moritz Grossmann in 1872. To me, this wristwatch featured one of the most stunning dials I’d ever set my eyes on. The elegance of the ultra slim Roman numerals surrounded by the delicately printed chemin-de-fer minute indicator and contrasted by the four diamond-shaped markers at the cardinal points was wonderful. It was the most perfect example of Zen reductionist tranquility I’d seen in recent years and, in some ways, it staged a serious challenge to Laurent Ferrier’s wonderful language of restrained elegance. But this hand-fired enamel dial watch was only created in this one unique execution. Or so I thought, until I had the opportunity to speak to Christine Hutter on her visit to Singapore last year.

The Moritz Grossmann Autum “Hommage” paired with an original 1872 Moritz Grossmann pocket watch that was auctioned by Christie’s was the spark for the entire project.

Remarking on the majesty of the auctioned watch, she asked if we might consider collaborating on a version of the timepiece. Of course I was humbled and delighted to acquiesce. She pointed out that the Benu Heritage 37mm case, which was launched in April of 2018, was exactly the same shape and dimension and could offer us the perfect platform to start.

We soon returned to her very original idea when she founded Moritz Grossmann, which was to forge a link between Saxon watchmaking’s past and future. From the past, we selected a grand feu enamel dial similar to the pièce unique auctioned by Christie’s. But instead of white, we decided on an ivory-colored dial with black Roman indexes, contrasted by a soft, seductive deep purple chemin de fer which perfectly complemented the signature flamed purple color on her lovely spade-shaped hands. To perfectly expressed the idea of ultimate horological tranquility, we decided to omit the seconds hand. This would, after all, be the watch of a flaneur or a boulevardier — an individual for whom time is a luxury — and it would simply not do to allow the banal encroachment of a small seconds indicator.

A closer look at the Moritz Grossmann Benu 37 Steel with Grand Feu Enamel Dial for Revolution & The Rake's grand feu enamel ivory dial and the watchmaker's incredibly delicate hands heat treated in their signature colour

The movement would, of course, be the German silver masterpiece of the Benu 37, which allowed for the unencumbered view of the engraved escape wheel cock. The balance wheel and winder of the movement are now also manufactured in-house, allowing Christine Hutter the dignity of a movement she can call truly in-house. The end result, the Benu 37 in steel with grand feu enamel dial for Revolution & The Rake is one of my favorite of our collaborations, simply because it epitomizes a spirit of total authenticity embodied by Moritz Grossmann and Christine Hutter. And, if I may say so, at 37mm in diameter by 9.7mm in height and rendered as an expression of 19th century evocative calm, it is the perfect watch for that individual who lives an understated life full of nuanced riches and calm meditational sybaritism.

The Moritz Grossmann Benu 37 Steel with Grand Feu Enamel Dial for Revolution & The Rake is powered by the Manufactory calibre 102.1 which is forged in untreated German silver and decorated with wide Glashütte ribbing over the expansive three-quarter plate, marked with gold chatons and annealed brown-violet screws

2020 Reservoir Hydrosphere × The Rake × Fari Islands

45mm, limited to 100 pieces in bronze

To complement the bronze case of this special Reservoir Hydrosphere, we found a dial with the perfect color of the rising sun and complemented by a beautiful sunray effect emanating from the center.

François Moreau has always had a fascination with gauges. Something that becomes abundantly clear at our first meeting in Mexico City during the 2019 SIAR — an event that now seems like it took place a lifetime ago considering the seismic changes of the last year. Immediately, we began to discuss the beautiful pragmatism of gauges like the Smith speedometer and tachymeter mounted to my 1972 Norton Commando as well as the VDO gauges that had presided over the stripped-out Spartan cabin of my 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo, a car that used to try to kill me on a daily basis as a young man living in Los Angeles.

To be fair, during our conversation, I had to admit I knew very little about his brand specializing in gauge-themed watches with jump hour and retrograde minute displays. So how did I go from a first meeting to discussing a limited edition? That was the moment I set eyes on François Moreau’s diving watch named the Hydrosphere. With the Hydrosphere, you get something totally different. It has to be the single most out-of-the-box, take-the-path-less-travelled, march-to-beat-of-its-own-drummer dive watch in existence, and the one and only jump hour retrograde minute dive watch in Christendom.

In this special edition, the indexes are made in rose gold, filled with luminous material, then applied to the dial for an extra touch of vibrancy and richness from the regular production watch.

“Wait a minute. Hold up a second,” you say. Because you, too, have immediately zeroed in on the fact that a dive watch needs to have a unidirectional dive bezel to show elapsed time. And that this elapsed time is read from the bezel relative to the minute hand, which would absolutely not work in the context of a retrograde minute hand. Well, that’s just what is so damn cool about the Hydrosphere. Moreau has created the very first dive watch bezel that functions perfectly with his retrograde minute indicator.

When the opportunity arose to create a special edition watch with Reservoir, it was without hesitation that I asked for it to be on the Hydrosphere platform. As it turns out, we had the perfect theme. We will be opening our first physical retail shop in 2021. While many speculated that this would be in a major city like London, New York or Singapore, our first boutique will be located in the Maldives — specifically 50 minutes from Malé on a reef owned by our partners Pontiac Land, where they have reclaimed three islands for three different hotels comprising a total of almost 300 villas on the water.

Said Moreau, “We selected bronze because this has been a material for some of Revolution’s best-selling special edition watches, including the IWC Mark 11 in 36mm with a George Cleverley 200-year-old Russian reindeer hide strap. I recall all 150 pieces of this watch sold in 18 minutes in 2018 when it was launched. But even more because in the context of a diving watch, bronze was always the material used to create ancient marine elements like hardware, oar locks, latches and even propellers. The use of bronze gave our Hydrosphere the sense that it was an artifact from a Jules Verne fantasy. We loved the idea of this watch developing a beautiful patina because it was used in the stunning blue waters of the Maldives. To complement the bronze case, we found a dial with the perfect color of the rising sun and complemented by a beautiful sunray effect emanating from the center. Then, we found the perfect tone of brown ceramic for the bezel insert.”

IWC Mark 11 watch sold out in 18 mins according to The Rake Online

Note that on this special edition, the indexes are made in rose gold, filled with luminous material, then applied to the dial for an extra touch of vibrancy and richness from the regular production watch. The entire design was an interesting exercise in playing with much warmer color codes such as the cream-colored Luminova used on the bezel. The end result is a watch with a totally different character, much warmer and somehow sensual, and we love it. With the watch, we include both a rubber strap and a NATO strap with bronze hardware and keepers. This is an all-new strap design for us and is exclusive to the Revolution model. The Reservoir × Revolution Bronze Hydrosphere will be made in a limited edition of 100 pieces and is priced at CHF 4,350 including VAT. It also comes with a print of an all-original artwork by Alain Bouldouyre, commissioned by Reservoir to tell the story of our collaboration in the lush and wonderous Maldives.

Said Moreau, “It’s funny, when I look at the watch and dream of wearing it in the Maldives, I am filled with optimism. In some ways, the watch fills me with hopefulness for the future.” I am most inclined to agree with him.

The post Revolution and The Rake Special Edition Watches: A Retrospective Over Seven Years appeared first on Revolution Watch.

Complete Guide: Patek Philippe’s Modern Chronographs

Wei Koh — Mon, 28 Dec 2020 11:00:00 +0000

The concept of tabula rasa or “clean slate” reaches back through time to the very roots of Western philosophy; to Aristotle. In his treatise De Anima, or “On the Soul,” he conjures up the image of the “unwritten tablet,” to refer to man’s state of pure potentiality before he is subjected to the experiences that shape him. This idea was built upon in the 12th century by Persian philosopher Ibn Tufail, compelling him to write the seminal novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, literally meaning “Alive, Son of Awake.” This book, the precursor to Western works like Robinson Crusoe, depicts a feral child — a tabula rasa — raised away from organized society. What is described is the innate decency of humanity even as experiences both good and bad are imprinted on him. But it is John Locke who is the most well-known proponent of the “blank slate” as the natural condition of the human mind. Locke believed that we are shaped by our experiences but not enslaved by our predispositions. This idea vied in particular with Thomas Hobbes’ more pessimistic belief that human beings are born with a sense of self-preservation that takes precedence in the way we regard the world. But in the end, the optimists amongst us — and fans of the last scene in A Tale of Two Cities — would all side with Locke in his belief that man’s innate right is to be the author of his own soul.

It is particularly when faced with a tabula rasa, a codex wiped clean, that the Stern family have excelled in their creativity. Time and again when given the opportunity to define a new watch or propose a new movement, invariably, a new era is created. Remember that it was only a mere nine years after they took the helm of Patek Philippe that the Stern family created the two most important complicated watches of the 20th century: the 1518 perpetual calendar chronograph and the 1526 perpetual calendar. Both watches were unveiled in 1941 while the world was in the throes of the Second World War. Together, they introduced us to the modern era of the complicated wristwatch. But, in every way, these two watches were the result of a tabula rasa. The Stern brothers (Charles and Jean Stern), in essence, started from a blank slate and using nothing more than their imagination; in an act of seismic creativity, they defined the prevailing aesthetic and technical language of 20th-century modern horology. Nearly half a century later — in 1989 — on the occasion of the maison’s 150th anniversary, Philippe Stern would reconnect a world fully recovered from the ravages of the Quartz Crisis with a renewed faith in complicated mechanical watches by launching the record-setting caliber 89 and, once again, a new era was defined.

An exceedingly rare stainless-steel Patek Philippe ref. 1518, an example of Patek Philippe's first serially produced chronograph perpetual calendar launched in 1941 and discontinued in 1954) (Image: John Goldberger)

1941: Patek Philippe’s first series-produced perpetual calendar wristwatch, the Ref. 1526, also established the company’s signature dial layout of two apertures and a central subdial. This model was 34mm and fitted with the hand-wound calibre 12-120 QP

Brothers Jean and Charles Henri Stern, defined the prevailing aesthetic and technical language of 20th-century modern horology with the launch of the 1526 Perpetual Calendar and the 1518 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

Similarly, in 2009, when it came time for Patek Philippe to unveil its first in-house manual-wind chronograph, the resulting movement would usher in a new era of technical excellence chez Patek. Overseen by Thierry Stern, the caliber CH 29-535 would be a testimony of the vastness of his horological ambitions, which coalesced into the single most innovative manual-wind chronograph movement of all time.

Father and son duo, Philippe and Thierry Stern at the Patek Philippe manufacture

Patek's take on the Lemania 2310 movement in the ref. 3970, renamed the Cal. CH 27-70 Q was introduced in 1985 (Image: sothebys.com)

Launched in 2009, the Patek Philippe CH 29-535 PS

But to view this movement purely from a performance perspective doesn’t fully capture its genius, which resolves every single past frailty and susceptibility in traditional chronographs with a grace and ingenuity that can only be described as poetic. To me, the CH 29-535 would become a symbol of all that is Patek in that, at first, it only hints at the incredible thought and research that went into it, which, like the first sip of Romanée-Conti, you will only understand with further more meaningful exploration. It is the purpose of this story to turn the pages of the palimpsest that is the CH 29-535 and unveil those extraordinary qualities to you. Before delving into the seductive intricacies of this caliber, however, it is the CH 27-70 that warrants a more detailed exploration as its famous predecessor.

The CH 27-70

Looking at the history of the manual-wind chronograph at Patek Philippe until 2009, you might be surprised that there have only been three movements that have powered almost a century’s worth of watchmaking icons. The first is the caliber 13-130 based on the Valjoux caliber 13. The second is the caliber 13 based on an ébauche by Victorin Piguet which was used, in particular, in many of Patek Philippe’s split-seconds chronographs and even powered some very early examples of the reference 130, including the magnificent steel-cased no. 198073, featured in John Goldberger’s iconic tome Patek Philippe Steel Watches. As an aside, the “13” in the name of both calibers refers to 13 lignes, which is the equivalent of 29mm and is the diameter of both movements.

Early Patek Philippe ref. 130 steel chronograph powered by a Victorin Piguet ébauche and in a monopusher configuration, instead of the Valjoux-based movement found in the majority examples of 130 (Image: John Goldberger)

The third chronograph movement and the subject of our exploration is the caliber CH 27-70 based on the Lemania 2310. Though lovingly and masterfully reworked by Patek Philippe, the CH 27-70 is based on a movement introduced all the way back in 1942. The 2310 was designed by Albert-Gustave Piguet, the brilliant young technical director at Lemania, as his first major achievement. Its significance is profound as it was really the world’s first modern high-performance chronograph caliber. As proof of this, the Lemania 2310-based Omega caliber 321 was the only movement that passed NASA’s famous torture tests, allowing the Speedmaster to become certified as the official watch of the Gemini and Apollo astronauts.

The 2310 was introduced in two versions: the CH 27-17P two-counter version (seconds and chrono minutes) and CH 27-12P three-counter version (seconds, chrono minutes and hour totalizer). Adding to the complexity, the movement came in a 17-jewel version (which formed the base of the Omega 321) and also a 21-jewel version with swan-neck regulator known as the Lemania 2320. The movement’s vibrational speed was 2.5 hertz or 18,000 vibrations per hour. Each of Patek’s movements was based on an ébauche (a blank movement kit) selected by the Stern family for its combination of reliability and potential for beauty when transformed by Patek, who applies a dizzying array of transcendent finish to it.

The Patek CH 27-70 is immediately distinguished from a basic Lemania 2310 by a free-sprung Gyromax balance wheel and many other signature Patek details, such as the stunning Y-shaped chronograph bridge. The CH 27-70 is also the first Lemania 2310-based movement to receive the Geneva Seal and, as such, features all the high-finished details required, including a polished cap for the caliber’s famous column wheel.

Following the recovery from the Quartz Crisis, in the ’80s, the Lemania 2310 became a canvas of expression for watchmaking’s most revered maisons, which would ultimately include Vacheron Constantin, Breguet and Roger Dubuis. But the first and predominant among these was Patek Philippe. Philippe Stern first used the CH 27-70 in 1985 to replace the Valjoux 13-130 of the 2499 and create the amazing 3970 perpetual calendar chronograph.

Thanks to the Lemania 2320’s 27mm diameter, Stern was actually able to make a smaller watch at 36mm in comparison to the 2499’s 37.5mm diameter. In 1994, the CH 27-70 was used to create the single most iconic perpetual calendar split-seconds chronograph — a Holy Grail of watch collecting — known as the Patek Philippe 5004. Four years later, in 1998, the chronograph movement would also power the ref. 5070. This remarkable watch was the largest Patek chronograph ever serially produced at 42mm and was based on an oversized pilot’s chronograph displayed in Patek’s Geneva museum. Finally, the CH 27-70 was used in the successor to the 3970, the larger 40mm 5970, designed by Thierry Stern and launched in 2004. Incidentally, the 5970, to me, is the single most beautiful perpetual calendar chronograph ever created. Patek finally stopped using the hallowed CH 27-70 in 2011 when it was replaced by the in-house 4Hz caliber CH 29-535 PS.

A caseback view of the Patek Philippe 5004, showcasing the Lemania-based CHR 27-70Q (Image: sothebys.com)

As to why Philippe Stern decided on the Lemania 2310 ébauche as the base of the chronograph movement that would occupy a place of primacy for 26 years of Patek Philippe’s history, I think we need to look at his options in the context of the time. Philippe Stern is the man that I consider the most important figure in the return of Swiss high watchmaking following the Quartz Crisis. If Nicolas G. Hayek, the founder of Swatch Group, can be said to have kept the industry alive and given it a new relevance with the creation of the inexpensive Swiss mechanical watch named the Swatch, it was Stern who reconnected the world to the values of haut de gamme horology. And key to his strategy was to stage the rebirth of mechanical complications, which would culminate in the world’s most complicated watch (beating out the Patek Supercomplication made for Henry Graves in 1933), the caliber 89 to celebrate Patek’s 150th anniversary. If this amazing panjandrum was to be the crescendo to his vision, then the reference 3970 would be his prelude and an important symbol of his belief in the renaissance of technical horology — a category of watchmaking that was created by his ancestors in 1941.

As such, it is highly conceivable that as he scoured the industry for an engine for his perpetual calendar chronograph, he quickly realized he was limited to what was available. The Quartz Crisis of the 1970s had all but decimated the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry. Movements had been sold by the weight, while machines used to create them had been callously discarded to make way for new technology at the height of the panic. It is therefore very probable that even if he had wanted to use the Valjoux caliber 13, which formed the base of the caliber 13-130 that powered both the 1518 and 2499, it was not being made anymore. And so he zeroed in on the Lemania 2310, which had somehow survived the widespread culling and which he knew was both extremely reliable, as demonstrated by its association with NASA, and had the capacity to be transformed into a work of dazzling horological beauty. It must be said that, to my mind, the Patek caliber 27-70 is the single most beautiful classic chronograph movement of all time, and even when compared to similar movements from other brands, the finish and design of the components such as the chronograph bridge or the coupling lever are unrivaled in their majesty.

Patek Philippe Cal. 89, packed with 33 stellar complications for the maison's 150th anniversary

Says Thierry Stern, “The Lemania-based movement was very much an important movement for Patek. It was inside several of our most iconic watches, such as the 3970 designed by my father or the reference 5970, which was the first project I oversaw from start to finish. It is a movement that has a very special place in my heart.”

To learn more about the 3970, the 5004 and the magnificent 5970 in all its different incarnations, please check out our story on Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronographs, here.

To learn more about the Lemania 2310, please check out our comprehensive story, here.

The Ref. 5070 Manual-wind Chronograph

At 42mm, the reference 5070 could only be called an act of horological audacity. And rightly so, because after a near 40-year absence — the last Patek chronograph-only watch was the reference 1463 which was discontinued in the ’60s — it signaled Patek Philippe’s return to once again become the dominate producer of the gentleman’s chronograph, albeit, in this case, a watch of very bold proportions. Says Thierry Stern, “The inspiration for the 5070 comes from a unique oversized 46mm pilot’s split-seconds chronograph that is on display at our museum in Geneva.” Patek neophytes sometimes mistake the 5070 as emerging from the period of oversized watches that dominated the first decade of the new millennium. But that would be incorrect. The 5070 was launched in 1998. Remember that the Panerai brand was only launched by Richemont Group at the 1998 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie and it would take several years before the trend for large-sized watches would predominate even in dress watches. In order to have launched the incredible 5070 in 1998, Philippe Stern would have already conceptualized and designed this exceptional oversized timepiece many years before.

In comparison to the reference 3970 or the 5004 launched, respectively, in 1985 and 1994, both at 36mm in diameter, the 5070 — a full 6mm larger in size — seems like a wild, almost libidinous departure. But, in fact, the oversized chronograph has always been a tradition at Patek Philippe. For example, in 1937, just one year after the launch of the 33mm-diameter reference 130 — the very first gentleman’s chronograph watch made in series — Patek Philippe launched the reference 530, which was 3.5mm larger in size at 36.5mm. To understand this, you have to bear in mind that in the context of the 1930s, there is no such thing as a sports watch. Indeed, to create a watch that was suited to sporting purposes, such as for the burgeoning worlds of aviation or auto racing, you would simply create a larger version of an existing watch to enhance visibility when you were in the cockpit with engine vibration obscuring your vision. This is perhaps best exemplified by the legendary Patek chronograph delivered to gentleman racing legend Count Carlo Felice Trossi in 1932 which measured a staggering 46mm in diameter. It is a wonderful image to conjure up of Trossi calculating his average speed behind the wheel of his famous Ferdinand Porsche-designed Mercedes SSK which he bought in 1933, a year after he had received his equally legendary Patek chronograph.

Early 50s, Patek Philippe Pilot's Split-Second Chronograph

The yellow gold, black dial ref. 2512 split-seconds chronograph that Patek Philippe bought at a Christie's auction in 2000 for the Patek Philippe Museum; this execution of the 2512 inspired the modern day ref. 5070 launched in 2008

1998–2002, Yellow Gold with Black Dial

Patek Philippe Ref. 5070J-001 (Image: phillips.com)

2002–2008, White Gold with Silver Dial

Patek Philippe Ref. 5070G-001 (Image: phillips.com)

2002–2008, Rose Gold with Silver Dial

Patek Philippe Ref. 5070R (Image: phillips.com)

2008–2009, Platinum with Blue Dial

Patek Philippe Ref. 5070P-001 (Image: phillips.com)

The Patek 5070 was based on an equally mythical 46mm chronograph — the famous reference 2512 pilot’s split-seconds luminous-dial chronograph from the early ’50s, which now resides in the Patek Philippe Museum. Now what is interesting is the following: While it is well documented that Philippe Stern based the design of the 5070 on the stunning oversized chronograph with a yellow-gold case, black dial with luminous Arabic numerals and a big bold tachymetric scale, Patek Philippe only acquired this watch from auction at Christie’s for a hammer price of 1,439,750 Swiss francs in 2000. Which means that Philippe Stern must have already been seriously enamored with this particular timepiece well before he purchased it and gave it a fitting place of precedence at the Patek Philippe Museum.

What is also interesting is that both the references 2512 and 5070 faced the same design challenge, which was how to take a smaller chronograph movement and design a very big chronograph with a dial that feels balanced. In the 2512, this was the caliber 13-130 based on the Valjoux caliber 13, which measured 13 lignes or 29mm; and in the 5070, it was the caliber CH 27-70 based on the Lemania 2320, which measured 27mm in diameter. The issue, of course, related to the placement of the pinions for the chronograph minute hand and the continuous seconds hand, which, when placed in an oversized case, can suffer from a “cross-eyed” syndrome where their corresponding subdials feel like they are too close together.

The yellow gold with bronze dial ref. 5070J-012 made for the 2015 London Grand Exhibition, limited issue of 5 pieces (Image: acollectedman.com)

The platinum with blue dial ref. 5070P-013 made for the 2015 London Grand Exhibition, limited issue of 5 pieces (Image: acollectedman.com)

The white gold with salmon dial ref. 5070G-014 made for the 2015 London Grand Exhibition, limited issue of 5 pieces (Image: michaelashtonwatches.com)

To overcome this design challenge, Philippe Stern took inspiration from the solution demonstrated by the reference 2512. Stern used the oversized tachymeter combined with a big bold seconds track to occupy the additional space between the chronograph subdials and the bezel of the oversized case. If you look at the images below showing the first example of the 5070, which follows the combination of yellow-gold case and indexes with black dial seen on the reference 2512, you can see that the scales in design, font and proportion are very close. The case of the 5070 also closely follows the case style of the reference 2512 in that it features a bezel with quite a significant step down to the case itself, which further serves to break up the space from the center of the watch to the perimeter of the case.

The design genius of the 5070 is the use of what are, essentially, circles that radiate outward from the center of the watch that each become a defined segment of the design real estate. First, there is the inner part of the dial featuring the applied Arabic numerals. This is followed by the tachymeter. Then, the seconds track in bold chemin de fer (or railroad track) style. Then, the bezel and, finally, the shape of the case. Together, these circles create the effect of ripples radiating on a pond, resulting in a dynamic but very harmonious effect. Incidentally, this is also a design code that Thierry Stern would use when he designed the 5970. The 5070 was only the second water-resistant chronograph created by Patek Philippe and occupies a very special place in the hearts of collectors for its unusual and, literally, larger-than-life allure.

The Tabula Rasa — CH 29-535 PS

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the manual-wind chronograph movement at Patek Philippe. In the maison’s history, it powered the two watches that defined the Stern brothers’ early vision. The reference 130 was born in 1936, a mere four years into the Stern dynasty, and defined the modern gentleman’s chronograph. The reference 1518 perpetual calendar chronograph, introduced in 1941, not only represented the world’s first high complication made in series, but also defined how a complicated wristwatch should look. You could say this amazing chronograph forged the aesthetic codes for every complicated watch in the 20th century. Says Thierry Stern, “The importance of the chronograph to Patek Philippe is paramount. This complication contributed in a huge way to define our identity throughout the 20th century and continues in that role well into the new millennium.” Tasked with the creation of Patek Philippe’s very first in-house manual-wind chronograph movement — the mighty CH 29-535 — you could be certain that the significance of this event was profoundly felt by not only Thierry Stern, but also everyone at Patek Philippe’s Plan-les-Ouates manufacture, including even Stern’s forebearers watching with interest from horology’s Valhalla.

I always find the pragmatism with which Patek names its movements amusing in that they are simple, unemotional descriptions of their height and girth. If we were to name human beings in the same way, I would be Mr. Five-foot-nine — 175 pounds. Accordingly, the CH 29-535 gets its name from its dimensions, specifically, 29mm in diameter and 5.35mm in height. It is, however, not Patek Philippe’s first in-house chronograph movement. That honor belongs to the automatic vertical-clutch-driven caliber CH 28-520 found in the annual calendar chronograph reference 5905. But it is important to understand that this movement was conceptualized as an altogether different animal. With its automatic-winding function, column-wheel-activated vertical clutch and silicon hairspring, escapement wheel and escapement lever, it was created from the ground up to be Patek Philippe’s high-performance, ultra-robust sports watch chronograph movement. In comparison, the creation of the manual-wind, laterally coupled CH 29-535 movement was a work of horological elegance rather than the exercise in pure performance that was the CH 28-520. If you want an analogy, the CH 28-520 is comparable a 118-foot WallyPower yacht while the CH 29-535 can be likened to the world’s most elegant sailboat.

Patek Philippe’s first in-house chronograph movement is the automatic vertical-clutch-driven caliber CH 28-520 found in the annual calendar chronograph references such as, the ref. 5905

So, what’s so amazing about the CH 29-535 PS? Let’s look at the reasons. As described by Thierry Stern, it was designed with adequate power to enable the addition of any complication like a perpetual calendar, a split-seconds function or both, as is the case in the magnificent 5204, with little difficulty. Part of this can be attributed to the frequency of the movement. While the outgoing Lemania-based CH 27-70 oscillated at the decidedly old-school speed of 18,000vph, the CH 29-535 PS beats at the very modern speed of 28,800vph. This higher oscillating speed gives the balance greater autonomy from the microshocks that a wristwatch is subjected almost constantly during normal wear. Together with an enhanced power reserve of 65 hours (over the CH 27-70’s 40 hours) and a stronger and more consistent quality of torque coming from the mainspring, the new base movement is more than capable of powering additional complications when they are consuming power, such as when the split-seconds function is activated just when a calendar changeover is taking place on the reference 5204. OK, this is already impressive but there is more.

The CH 29-535 also features a precise jumping minute counter. This is a chronograph minute counter that jumps forward by one minute only at the precise moment the chronograph seconds hand passes the 60-seconds mark. In other chronographs, the minute counter hand creeps forward incrementally or, if it does jump, can take one to two seconds to complete this motion. A precise jumping minute counter requires the addition of a complex mechanism comprising a snail cam attached to the seconds wheel, a ruby feeler that rests on the cam and that falls off the edge of the cam each minute, activating a minute counter lever to pull the chronograph minute wheel precisely. While the first and only other manual-wind chronograph movement to feature this added complication is the Lange Datograph, Patek’s approach to their precise jumping minute counter features both a completely redesigned snail cam profile as well as an oversized spiral spring used to power the chronograph minute lever, which exerts less spring tension and thus transmits less friction to the snail cam. As a result, the system in the CH 29-535 PS places far less load on the movement.

The Patek Philippe CH 29-535 is one of a handful of chronograph movements with a precise jumping minute counter

All laterally coupled chronographs suffer from what is commonly known as “chronograph backlash.” This is when a drive wheel is brought in contact with the chronograph seconds wheel. Because both of these wheels feature teeth, there are moments when the teeth contact each other point to point. This causes the tooth of the drive wheel to slip forward to the space before or backward to the space behind the tooth of the chronograph wheel. On the front of the watch, this looks like the seconds hand is either skipping slightly forward or backward. If the objective of a watch is to be able to time things accurately down to a fraction of a second, each time this happens, you could argue the overall accuracy of the event being timed has been compromised. For the CH 29-535, Patek Philippe has created an all-new tooth profile for both the chronograph wheel as well as the drive wheel to eliminate backlash because point-to-point contact is no longer possible. Finally, it’s created a very easy system to adjust the depth of engagement between these two wheels, using an eccentric cam that acts as the cap on the movement’s column wheel. Let’s look at the six amazing patents filed by Patek Philippe in the creation of the CH 29-535.

Six Patents for the CH 29-535 PS

Optimized Tooth Profile

Optimized synchronization of the clutch lever and brake lever

Precision adjustment of engagement depth at the column wheel

Slotted minute counter cam for the precise jumping minute counter

Self-setting hammers

Hammers pivoted between jewel bearings

Patent six is that these reset hammers are pivoted between jewels to eliminate friction and bring an ever-greater aura of horological finery to this amazing movement.

Says Patek’s head of communication Jasmina Steele, “Collectors are aware that Thierry Stern is deeply involved in the design of our watches. But what they might not know is he is very much involved in the design of our movements from both a technical and aesthetic perspective.” Rather than a Y-shaped bridge that retains the chronograph seconds wheel on one side and the chronograph minute counter on the other side, the decision was to give each wheel its own dedicated bridge. Says Thierry Stern, “We moved the subdials of the continuous seconds and the chronograph minutes slightly lower on the dial, so as to be able to enlarge the apertures for the day and month for our perpetual calendar models.” This shift in placement also has to do with the added mechanism for the precise jumping minute counter, which is placed on the same bridge as the wheel for the chronograph minute counter.

Looking lower down on this bridge you will see first one ruby on the left just below the “PP” shield of the Patek Philippe Seal. It is on this jewel that the chronograph minute wheel lever, which features the feeler that rests on the snail cam as well as the pawl that pulls the chronograph minute wheel forward, is set. Further down at the bottom of this bridge, you will see another jewel that retains the spiral spring that provides the spring tension for the lever. The architecture is complemented by a muscular balance cock for the movement’s free-sprung balance beating at 4Hz. The bridge on the far left of the movement retains the seconds wheel or fourth wheel, which in turn powers the chronograph drive wheel, which sits on a jeweled pinion on the S-shaped chronograph lever. Underneath this lever, a long feeler, along with the feeler for the brake and the reset hammers of the chronograph seconds wheel and the minute counter, rests against the all-important column wheel. Above this, the S-shaped chronograph lever ends in a long attenuated arm that rests against the eccentric cam that sits on top of the column wheel. By turning this cam, you adjust the depth of the engagement for the chronograph lever.

Says passionate Patek collector Ahmed “Shary” Rahman who owns both the 5270 perpetual calendar chronograph and the 5370 split-seconds chronograph, both based on the CH 29-535 PS, “When you understand all the functional innovations represented by the movement, you appreciate its architecture even more. What you at first regard as a work of aesthetic beauty is now endowed with a language where form and function merge in a wonderfully poetic way. To me, this is the magic of Patek and the magic of the CH 29-535 PS. Everything has a purpose; nothing is superfluous. There is always a raison d’être.”

The Ref. 7071 Ladies First Chronograph

From left, the various executions of the 7071 and their production years: Rose gold, gem-set with silver dial, 2010–2017: rose gold, gem-set with black dial, 2010–2017; white gold, gem-set with silver; dial, 2012–2017; white gold, gem-set with gray dial, 2012–2017; white gold, gem-set with blue dial, 2012–2017

In 2009, the watch cognoscenti were invited from around the world to Patek Philippe’s manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, for the unveiling of a very special, new women’s manual-wind chronograph. From a cultural perspective, it signaled a moment where Patek was affirming its commitment to the creation of complicated watches for women; a tradition that reaches back to 1839 when Patek sold its first three watches to the Hungarian Countess Koscowicz. This extraordinary customer would return in 1868 to purchase Patek’s first wristwatch — a rectangular yellow gold case was embellished with enamel and diamonds.

1968: Patek Philippe creates the first Swiss wristwatch, made for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary

In the modern age, the commitment to women’s complicated watches was expressed with the launch of the reference 4864 in 1992, a Travel Time watch for women. Today, Patek Philippe is the only Swiss watchmaker that offers a women’s world-time watch, the reference 7130; two women’s annual calendar references 4847 and 4948; a manual-wind Ladies First Chronograph, the magnificent reference 7150; a women’s small seconds with moonphase watch, reference 712; a stunning Ladies First perpetual calendar reference 7140. Even their famous minute repeater — the ref. 5078 — is offered in a 38mm case that is well suited to women’s wrists. Accordingly, in 2009, Patek unveiled a stunning manual-wind women’s chronograph in a truly unusual case configuration.

Patek Philippe launched the ref. 4864 Travel Time in 1992, powered by the cal. 215 PS FUS 24H (Image: sothebys.com)

The Patek Philippe Ref. 7071R-001, powered by the CH 29-535 (Image: christies.com)

This cushion-shaped watch featured a round dial, meaning that the space at the four corners of the dial could be used for decorative gem-setting. At 39 × 35mm, it was decidedly sporty sized, emphasized by the use of luminous hands for the hours and minutes. However, the use of mobile lugs allows the substantially sized watch to fit a larger variety of wrist sizes. The dial used a combination of thin attenuated Roman numerals and baton markers popular in the reference 130.

Cushion-shaped-case chronographs at Patek have normally been reserved for its more complicated and rare watches such as the reference 5950 split-seconds chronograph in steel or the reference 5050 “TV Screen” perpetual calendar chronograph. So you could make the argument that Patek wanted the 7071 to feel very special. And for good reason because it represented the very first home for its all-new in-house manual-wind chronograph caliber, the CH 29-535 PS. And while many people remarked on the watch’s charm and how it represented a beautiful and sincere expansion of the role of complicated women’s watches at the world’s most revered manufacture, the true connoisseurs could only marvel at the movement within the watch with an understanding that it had just ushered in an all-new era of the manual-wind chronograph at Patek. Immediately, the speculation about the first men’s watch to feature this movement abounded. But we would have to wait a full agonizing year before this was unveiled.

The Ref. 5170 Manual-wind Chronograph

To think of the sublime and subtle reference 5170 as the heir to the big and bold reference 5070 is to miss its intentions entirely. Instead, we have to once again consider the Stern family’s acute ability to understand the prevailing moral values of the time. In 2010, the world is just recovering from the global financial crisis of 2007/2008. But more importantly, there has been a shift back to classicism. We see this in a renewed interest in classic elegance and sartorialism; there was a distinct shift away from the trends in the earlier part of the millennium and we see this, in particular, in watch tastes. While the watch industry in the first decade of the 2000s was driven largely by the idea of extroverted watchmaking and characterized by a growth in case sizes to dimensions that are verging on unwearable and the heaping of every known visible complication onto transparent or even nonexistent watch dials to create what are termed “hyper complications,” Patek was the first to realize a resurgence in understated, modulated and discreet elegance. And the reference 5170 is the perfect expression of all of these qualities, making it the successor, not of the sporty and decidedly racy reference 1463 “Tasti Tondi,” but the magnificent tranquility of the reference 130, the watch that started it all, back in 1936.

Similarly, the ’30s following the worldwide economic depression was a period of measured discretion in contrast to the exuberance of the Roaring ’20s. This was all perfectly expressed by the reference 130 which, at 33mm, was the classic size for a gentleman’s chronograph. There is nothing aggressive or “shouty” about the reference 130; from its wonderfully smooth Calatrava-style case to its discreet square pushers, all 1,500 examples made between 1936 and 1964 exhibit the graceful, lithe, attenuated charm of a classic beauty, like Catherine Deneuve, Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly. In the context of its launch in 2010, this is precisely the motivation for the wonderful reference 5170.

2010-2014, Yellow Gold with Silver Dial and Pulsation Scale

Patek Philippe launched the Ref. 5170J in 2010 as the first chronograph to be powered by their in-house designed calibre CH 29-535 PS (Image: Phillips.com)

The 2010 Patek Philippe Ref. 5170J's dial is the only one in the reference to feature a combination of Roman Numerals and baton hour markers with a pulsation chronograph scale (Image: Phillips.com)

Caseback view of the 2010 Patek Philippe Ref. 5170J showcasing the calibre CH 29-535 PS (Image: Phillips.com)

First, the size of the watch at 39.4mm in diameter is perfect for a modern gentleman’s dress chronograph. Then, there is the style of the case, which is wonderfully smooth like a pebble worn by the water found on a riverbed. It is a watch designed to slip effortlessly underneath a gentleman’s shirt cuff. Gone are the aggressively stepped lugs and bezel of its predecessor, the reference 5070.

It is Zen reductionist, or minimalist perfection, at its very best. The crown and square pushers have the same balanced proportions of the reference 130, while the dial uses a beautiful, decidedly vintage style of typography that’s also reminiscent of the reference 130. Even the surface decoration of the dial is kept uniform throughout the watch, making it the apogee of calm, meditative tranquility with softly sunken subdials.

Patek did, of course, bestow us with the gift of its wonderful applied Breguet numerals, which take center stage in the most collectable versions of the reference 130. In most cases, I am a fan of tachymeters and all forms of scales on chronographs. I am still waiting for a brand to make a watch with a Negroni-meter to time how long it takes me to quaff my favorite beverage. But, somehow, in the reference 5170, my favorite versions of the watch are those without scales, in particular the black-dial Breguet-numeral version in a white-gold case. And, of course, there is the ravishing platinum version with a blue dial and diamond indexes, which still somehow manages to remain charmingly discreet.

2013-2016, White Gold with Silver Dial, Breguet Numerals and Pulsation Scale

The Ref. 5170G-001 was launched in 2013; this second version of the watch featured a white gold case with applied Breguet hour markers and a pulsation scale (Image: Phillips.com)

2015, White Gold with Black Dial and Breguet Numerals

The Ref. 5170G-010 was launched in 2015; this second version of the watch featured a white gold case with applied Breguet hour markers on a black dial, devoid of a specialty chronograph scale (Image: Phillips.com)

The Ref. 5170G-010 was launched in 2015 was powered by the calibre CH 29-535 PS (Image: Phillips.com)

2016-2018, Rose Gold with Breguet Numerals

The Ref. 5170R-010 was launched in 2016 alongside the white dial version, the Ref. 5710R-001; this generation of the watch had a rose gold case with applied Breguet hour markers (Image: Christies.com)

2017-2019, Platinum with Blue Dégradé Dial and Diamond Hour Markers

In 2017, Patek Philippe launched the Ref. 5170P-001, the concluding generation of the reference in platinum with a blue dégradé dial featuring diamond baton markers and a tachymeter scale

From left, key executions of the 5170 and their production years: Yellow gold with Roman Numerals 5170J-001, 2010-2014; White Gold with Breguet numerals 5170G-001, 2013-2016; Rose Gold with Breguet Numerals 5170R-001, 2016-2018; Platinum with Diamond Hour Markers 5170P-001, 2017-2019

Today, the 5170 has been replaced by the excitingly sporty reference 5172 and secondary prices of the watches make them rather accessible, in particular for the white-dial versions of the watch. To me, this is, at the moment, a fantastic value and a great way to enter the world of the Patek Philippe chronograph with a watch which, lest we forget, is equipped with the single greatest achievement in manual-wind chronograph movements on the market.

The Ref. 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

In 2011, an important transition happened for Patek Philippe. It bid adieu to the much-beloved CH 27-70 powered 5970 and introduced the 5270, the very first Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph in the brand’s history to be powered by an in-house movement. There were two factors underlying this.

The first was that Swatch Group owner Nicolas G. Hayek had long publicized his intention to stop delivering movements to brands outside of the group. The second was Philippe Stern’s long-term objective to achieve full independence in manufacturing. The latter was clearly the impetus behind his creation of Patek Philippe’s incredible manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, which, as of 2020, has had a major extension.

It was behind his push into silicon escapement components, which freed him of reliance on Swatch Group-owned Nivarox. It was the motivation behind the creation of the in-house, laterally coupled column-wheel chronograph movement, the CH 29-535 PS. Says Thierry Stern, “The advantage to the CH 29 is that it was designed from the ground up to function with a perpetual calendar, as with the 5270, or even a perpetual calendar as well as a split-seconds function, as we offer with the 5204. In comparison, we had to reverse-engineer the capacity to have these functions with the CH 27-70.”

2011-2013, White Gold without Tacymeter Scale

The 5270 Perpetual Calendar's first generation, Ref. 5270G-001 was launched in white gold, in 2011 and then discontinued in 2017; this early version of the watch did not have a tachymeter scale and was discontinued in 2013

Gen 2 - 2013-2015, White Gold with Tacymeter Scale

2013 version of the Patek Philippe ref. 5270G, the 5270G-013 with the infamous "chin" and tachymeter scale on the watch dial, this second version of the white gold 5270 was discontinued in 2015

Gen 3 - 2013-2015, White Gold with "Chin" Tacymeter Scale

2013 version of the Patek Philippe ref. 5270 in white gold with the blue dial, still with the infamous "chin" on the watch dial

Gen 3 - 2015-2018, Rose Gold with Tacymeter Scale

A rose gold version was added in 2015 with the 5270R-001 and discontinued in 2018, sans "chin"

Gen 3 - 2015-2018, White Gold with Tacymeter Scale & Seconds Track

The white gold white dial 5270 was also updated in 2015, sans "chin", with the Ref. 5270G-018

Gen 3 - 2015-2018, White Gold with Tacymeter Scale & Seconds Track

The white gold blue dial ref. 5270 was also updated in 2015, sans "chin" with the ref. 5270G-019

Gen 3 - 2018, Platinum with Tacymeter Scale & Seconds Track

The Ref. 5270P-001 platinum 5270 introduced in 2018 with the salmon dial

Gen 3 - 2018, Rose Gold with Integrated Brick Bracelet

The Ref. 5270/1R-001 rose gold 5270 introduced in 2018 with the integrated full gold bracelet

Gen 3 - 2020, Yellow Gold with Tacymeter Scale & Seconds Track

The Patek Philippe 5270J-001 is the 5270 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph for the first time ever in yellow gold (©Revolution)

Launched in 2020, the 5270J-001 takes after the 3rd generation dial design of the 5270 with the integrated tachymeter and seconds track on the outer perimeter of the dial (©Revolution)

But, technical considerations aside, the reference 5270 was a fascinating watch, first and foremost, because of its design. While the reference 5170 chronograph was an expression of restrained elegance and subtle beauty, the reference 5270 was quite the opposite. It was maximalist to the core and positively radiated an exuberant energy — think Monica Bellucci in her youth, smouldering like a just-erupted Vesuvius in full décolletage glory; think Raquel Welch in a fur bikini in 20,000 BC. First of all, at 41mm, it was the largest perpetual calendar chronograph ever produced by Patek Philippe and within 1mm distance of Patek’s largest ever serially produced chronograph, the reference 5070. One reason for this was pragmatic.

Say Thierry Stern, “I love perpetual calendars, but the irony is when you get to the stage in life when you can own one, sometimes your eyesight is not the best. During the design of the 5970, I even experimented with using a loupe or a magnifier over some of the displays. As such, when it came to the 5270, I wanted to create a design that was as clear and visible as possible.” This is clearly evinced in the larger case size and more open dial. It is also part of the rationale for the subdials of the CH 29-535 PS being lower on the dial, significantly beneath the horizon line created by the crown.

Says Philip Barat, Patek’s head of watch development, “When Thierry was working with us on the movement, he explained he wanted to enlarge the displays for the month and the day at 12 o’clock, and so we shifted the subdials slightly lower on the movement to afford more space on the upper half of the dial.” The other reason for the subdials of the 5270 sitting a bit lower on the dial relates to the precise jumping minute counter. Because this counter necessitates an additional mechanism, specifically the minute counter lever and spring, the subdials need to shift either lower or higher on the dial to make room for this mechanism, depending on the orientation of the movement. If you check the position of the subdials of the Lange Datograph, the only other manual-wind chronograph with a precise jumping minute counter, you will see that they are also positioned slightly lower on the dial.

But back to the design of the Patek 5270. One of the most appealing elements of Thierry Stern’s design for the hallowed 5970 relates to the flared and faceted lugs, which add a provocative and alluring dimension to the case. For the 5270, Stern upped the ante on the lug design by combining an even more exaggerated flare and facet for the lugs with an added step. The results are the single most dynamically stylized lugs of any Patek chronograph since the famous spider-lug chronograph, reference 1579. Looking at the watch, you cannot miss the lugs, and the difference between these and the lugs of the 5170 is as significant as the wheel arches between a standard Porsche Carrera and those on an Akira Nakai Rauh-Welt Begriff (or “Rough World” Concept) modified Porsche 930 Turbo. Thanks to them, the 5270 is given an aggressive and almost predatorial stance that I associate with Mike Tyson’s trapezoids in his prime. These lugs are complemented by the thicker, more aggressively raked bezel that contrasts with the thinner, more concave unit found on the 5970.

The case of the 5270 has a set of exaggerated flared and faceted lugs with an added step, compared to the ones on the 5970 (©Revolution)

The resultant design on the 5270's lugs is the single most dynamically stylized lugs of any Patek chronograph since the famous spider-lug chronograph, reference 1579 (©Revolution)

On the dial, all the indications as intended by Thierry Stern are significantly enlarged for heightened visibility. Most notably, the small co-axial indications for AM/PM and leap year found in the subdials of the 5970 have been replaced by apertures. The day-and-night indicator is a round aperture to the left of the moonphase and turns blue during night hours, and the aperture for the four-year cycle is found to the right. It turns blue during a leap year and then is followed with 1, 2 and 3 to show which year you are in. Incidentally, this leap-year indication was first seen on the reference 3450 perpetual calendar made from 1981 to 1985 in 244 examples. If you want to read the story about that watch, click here.

Over the decade-long history of the 5270, we have seen an interesting design evolution to the watch. The first series watches which were made from 2011 to 2013 have the cleanest dial design in that they have no tachymeter scale, and the circumference of the dial is defined with a nice chemin de fer seconds scale. While they are lovely watches, to me, the aggressive sportiness of the 5270 works better with a tachymeter. The second series watches made between 2013 and 2015 now have a tachymeter (but no seconds scale) and is configured with what collectors refer to “the chin.” In these watches, the date indication protrudes visibly into the tachymeter to create this chin-like effect. In 2015, Patek launched the third series of the 5270; this time, with the most beautiful and balanced dial, which featured a seconds track as well as a tachymeter that merged seamlessly with the date indicator, as per the design of the 5970.

In 2018, two major design achievements came the way of the 5270. The first was what has been universally applauded as one of the most stunning perpetual calendar chronographs of all time — the platinum model with a salmon dial and Arabic indexes known as the 5270P-001. This is interesting, particularly because Arabic indexes have been used very rarely on this complication, appearing most notably in the 5004 split-seconds chronograph perpetual calendar in certain configurations, the 2499 first series watches and the 1518. Add to this the rarity of a salmon dial and to say that this watch will be a future collectable is something of an understatement.

But, that same year, Patek Philippe also released a rose-gold, black-dial version of the 5270 with one of the most desirable elements in Patek collecting culture — an integrated factory bracelet. Wearing a Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph/split-seconds chronograph on a bracelet was popularized by none other than Eric Clapton, who frequently ordered his pièce unique 5970s and 5004s with their signature Breguet “12” on matching metal brick bracelets. Here is an image of a white-gold 5970 in that exact configuration that was once owned by the guitar hero known by the evocative sobriquet “Slowhand.” The thing was, an integrated bracelet perpetual calendar chronograph was something that Patek would only provide for very special customers. That was, until Thierry Stern introduced the 5270/1R, which not only came replete with a coveted rose-gold bracelet, but the pushers for the calendar correction had also been integrated into end-links of the bracelet for the first time in Patek’s history. These two watches represent some of the most brilliant, ravishing and, to my mind, collectable Pateks of the modern era.

If you want to read more about the Patek 5970, you can check out my story, here.

Or, famed journalist Nick Foulkes’ story on the 5970, here.

If you want to learn about the history of the Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph, check out our story here.

The Ref. 5204 Split-Seconds Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

In many ways, the 5204 is my favorite watch featuring the CH 29-535 PS. Because each time I’m in its presence, I am reminded of 2012 when Patek Philippe staged a retrospective on its history with the chronograph in Singapore. It was an extraordinary event where I had the pleasure of listening to a repeater in every material activated by none other than Thierry Stern. And at the press lunch, I had the incredible honor of being sat next to the man that is, to me, the single greatest leader in modern watchmaking — the one and only Philippe Stern.

It was during this lunch that he recounted all the numerous challenges Patek had in the creation of a split-seconds version of the CH 27-70. If you think about it, there has never been any other watch in history to use a split-seconds version of the Lemania 2310 ébauche. And that was for good reason, in that the movement was never meant to incorporate this feature. Of course, later, Breguet would create its own version of a split-seconds 2310-based chronograph, but that was only after Patek had made the 5004 and, in so doing, exposed one of the movement’s weakness and shown the way to overcome it.

OK, it goes like this. A laterally coupled chronograph is already a parasitical device, meaning that when activated, it consumes power from the base movement. But when you add a split-seconds mechanism and when the split function is activated, you get a further drop in power and diminishment of the balance’s amplitude, because the mechanism that allows the split hand to catch up with the running seconds hand is creating drag. This consists of a ruby roller attached to a lever that is under spring tension. In order to eliminate this drag, Patek Philippe created a special isolator system which is nicknamed “the Octopus” by collectors for its resemblance to the multi-tentacled sea creature. This device lifts the reset lever off the split-seconds heart cam that is attached to the chronograph wheel. As Philippe Stern explained during our lunch, “Without this, the 5004 would never work properly.”

The Isolator Mecahism: CH 29-535 PS Q

Says Thierry Stern, “When it came time to create our own movement, our experience with the Lemania ébauche gave us a great deal of insight into what we could improve. It was, in particular, our work with the 5004 that showed us where we could do better. The Lemania movement was never meant to have this function and so, in many ways, we had to reverse-engineer a way to accomplish this. As such, it was with great enthusiasm that we approached the opportunity to create an all-new chronograph that from the ground up could power any complication we wanted.”

One of the things I’ve always suspected about the CH 29-535 is that, knowing Patek Philippe, I would not be surprised if the movement has adequate torque to power both the 5204’s perpetual calendar displays and its split-seconds function with negligible effect on the balance’s amplitude, especially at a full state of wind. But I love the fact that they decided to create an isolator mechanism for the split-seconds function anyway. To me, this is an example of the slavish lengths to which Patek will go to ensure the perfect function of their watches and also, in a big way, pay homage to the Octopus, which has become a symbol of their technical innovation and ingenuity.

Now, it is important to understand that at the time of the 5004’s launch in 1994, the Octopus was ground-breaking technology. There are two main springs in the Octopus’ isolator system. The first is the spring for the split-seconds brake, which allows its clamping function. The second is the isolator wheel spring that sits on top of the split-seconds wheel and necessitates a good bit of extra height. Now, this is the important part. The springs of the isolator wheel and the springs of the split-seconds brake act in opposite directions. That’s because the Octopus rotates in just one direction. When the clamp of the split-seconds brake opens, the Octopus wheel has to rotate to its home position, which is done by the isolator wheel spring. Which means that it has to overcome the force of the split-seconds brake spring.

So when approaching the isolator mechanism of the new 5204, Patek went back to the drawing board. And the first thing they did was get rid of the isolator wheel spring mounted on the split-seconds wheel. Instead, they ingeniously integrated this spring as part of the split-seconds column-wheel cap. The second thing they did was design an isolator that can move back and forth in two directions and, thus, doesn’t have to overcome the force of the brake spring which is much better for long-term reliability. Amazing, right?

The Isolator Mecahism: CH 29-535 PS Q

Parts of the split-seconds mechanism on the 5402's CH 29-535 PS Q

The split-second version of the CH 29-535, the CH 29-535 PS Q found in the 5204

What was also amazing was the design of the 5204 which, in 2012 — yes, the same year I sat next to Philippe Stern at that memorable lunch — was launched to replace the legendary 5004.

If you want to learn more about the 5004, you can click here to read our story on the complete history of Patek Philippe’s perpetual calendar chronographs.

This new 5204 was a completely different animal. First, at 40.6mm, it was significantly larger than its 36mm predecessor. Second, the style of its case was significantly sportier. While it had straight lugs as opposed to the flared, faceted lugs of the 5270, the 5204’s lugs featured a pronounced step to them. As opposed to the steeply raked bezel of the 5270, the 5204 has the more classic, concave-style bezel that gives its case a cleaner and more refined look than its unabashedly aggressive sibling. Added to this are the 5204’s magnificent domed pushers, reminiscent of those from the 1563. Finally, a pusher for the split function was integrated into the crown in the same style as the 5004 to keep the overall appearance of the watch clean. This restraint was echoed, in particular, by the choice of baton indexes for the watch. But wait, because, all of a sudden, you realize that the indexes and the dauphine-style hands are luminous.

2012–2016, Platinum with White Dial Featuring Luminous Baton Markers & Hands

The Patek Philippe Split Second Perpetual Calendar Chronograph was lauched with the 5204P-001 in 2012; the watch was the first to be powered by the CH 29-535 PS Q

At 40.6mm, the 5204 is significantly larger than its 36mm predecessor, the 5004; the style of its case is significantly sportier

The lugs on the 5204 are straight with a a pronounced step; the bezel on the case is a more classic, concave-style bezel that gives it cleaner and more refined look

2014–2016, Platinum with Black Dial Featuring Luminous Baton Markers & Hands

The Patek Philippe Split Second Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Ref. 5204P-011 in platinum with the black dial, launched in 2014 (Image: Sothebys.com)

What is important to understand is that, in the context of perpetual calendars chronographs/split-seconds chronographs, luminous-dial versions were the exclusive domain of special order watches made for luminaries like Eric Clapton. Indeed, the world’s whitest musician John Mayer can often be seen playing the guitar with a luminous 5004 on his wrist. The fact is that the 5204 represents the very first instance in which luminous hands and indexes were standard on a serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph and, to me, this is a detail that elevates this magnificent timepiece. Take a look at the image below to see a 5004 luminous-dial watch in white gold with an integrated white-gold bracelet, made for the Hollywood mogul Mike Ovitz.

Here’s a stunning black-dial version in yellow gold with luminous hands, also made for Mike Ovitz.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5004J-017; possibly unique yellow gold perpetual calendar split seconds chronograph wristwatch with moon phases, leap year, special luminous monogram dial; reportedly the former property of Hollywood mogul, Mike Ovitz (Image: phillips.com)

Closer look at the dial of the Patek Philippe Ref. 5004J-017 (Image: phillips.com)

Certificate of Authenticity directly from Patek Philippe on the 5004J-017 (Image: phillips.com)

2016, Rose Gold with Silver Dial Featuring Luminous Baton Markers

The rose white dial version of the 5204, the 5204R-001 was launched in 2016 and remains in production to this day

2016, Rose Gold with Black Dial Featuring Luminous Indexes & Hands; Fitted on Gold Bracelet

The 5204/1R-001 with the brick style rose gold bracelet on the rose gold, black dial version of the 5204 was launched in 2016 and remains in production to this day

In 2016, Thierry Stern made this coveted watch even more insanely desirable by adding to it an integrated brick bracelet in rose gold for the rose-gold, black-dial version, which is one of the all-time best modern Patek Philippe watches in an era already filled with amazing timepieces. As mentioned in the section on the 5270, integrated bracelets are usually only available through special order from Patek, and so the inclusion of this element on a serially produced watch is something that truly delighted Patek fans.

The Ref. 5370 Split-Seconds Chronograph

The Patek Philippe 5370 split-seconds chronograph is an absolute killer. Why? To me it’s the combination of aesthetics and technical innovation. From the aesthetics side, it reminds me of my two favorite Patek Philippe split-second chronographs: the 1436, which is the split-seconds version of the hallowed reference 130 and the insanely beautiful 1563, which is the split-seconds version of the transcendent 1463. Incidentally, a version of the 1563 owned by the jazz great Duke Ellington featuring stunning Arabic numerals resides at the Patek Philippe Museum. Here is a picture of it below.

Reference 1436

1946 Patek Philippe ref. 1436 yellow gold split second chronograph with Breguet numerals (Image: Sothebys.com)

Reference 1563

The Auction House Phillips De Pury & Luxembourg Auctioned Off A Rare Patek Philippe 1563 Wristwatch That Once Belonged To Musician Duke Ellington For $1,593,396 May 13, 2002 At The Hotel De Brgues In Geneva, Switzerland. Ellington Purchased The Watch In Geneva In 1948. (Photo By Getty Images)

2015, Platinum with Black Grand Feu Enamel Dial Featuring Breguet Numerals

The immensely revered, Patek Philippe 5370P-001 Split-Second Chronograph with a black enamel dial and gold applied Breguet numerals; the watch was launched in 2015 (©Revolution)

From the perspective of the square pushers, the 5370 is more in alignment with the 1436, but from the viewpoint of the case, its robustness and especially its size at 41mm in diameter borrows spiritually from the 1563, which was considered very large for its time at 36mm. But then there is the dial, which is an absolute masterpiece. If Patek had consulted with psychologists on a combination of traits to drive collectors truly frenzied with desire, they could not have done a better job. First, it is an applied Breguet-numeral dial, which, from the perspective of all the dial variations for vintage Patek Philippe chronographs, is by far the most collectable. Second, the dial is crafted from grand feu enamel, which results in the most beautiful hand-fired dials in Christendom. And third, the dials are a dark background — in the case of the platinum watch, with a black dial and, as of 2020, with a blue dial — meaning that the subdials, chemin de fer and tachymeter are all printed in white. This color combination is not only extremely rare from a Patek Philippe perspective, it is also much more legible than a light dial with these same elements printed in black.

Finally, the leaf-shaped hands are luminous — something that many people overlook because it is so subtly executed. But I can tell you for a fact that any luminous hand, Breguet-numeral Patek Philippe chronograph comprises the Holy Grail of collectability; add to this the split-seconds function and this is, without a doubt, the most sought-after triumvirate of Patek Philippe features in the world.

From the viewpoint of the case, its robustness and especially its size at 41mm in diameter borrows spiritually from the 1563 (©Revolution)

But in the CH 27-70, the device operating this wheel — a beautifully shaped element dubbed the “Octopus” — could only turn in one direction. As such, its isolator wheel spring had to overcome the force of the spring exerting pressure on the split-seconds brake. In the case of the CH 29, the isolator is able to move back and forth in both directions, so it no longer has to overcome this spring force, which is much better for long-term reliability.

Second, in the CH 27-70 you had a spring integrated into the isolator wheel to get it to return to its original position (this is the aforementioned isolator wheel spring) when released. In the new movement, a long, incredibly designed and engineered spring that is integrated into the cap of the split-seconds column wheel does this with far less force, also helping with long-term reliability. Finally, the CH 29’s frequency of 28,800vph also allows it greater stability. So much so that I have always suspected that the CH 29-535 PS in split-seconds form would actually work fine even without the isolator. The only other isolator from this era is found on the Frédéric Piguet 1186 from 1989, which is a rattrapante version of the automatic vertical-clutch chronograph caliber 1185.

Note that throughout the lifespan of the CH 27-70, there was never a split-seconds chronograph-only version of this watch. There were, of course, references such as the 5959, but that watch was based on an ancient Victorin Piguet ébauche.

CH 29-535 PS based 5370 is unique in that it is the only modern split-seconds chronograph designed from the ground up with this feature, with a fully contemporary movement and a focus on perfect performance (©Revolution)

The 5370P-001 was discontinued in 2020, along with the introduction of the 5370P-011. same gorgeous feat of watchmaking, now with a blue grand feu enamel dial (©Revolution)

2020, Platinum with Blue Grand Feu Enamel Dial Featuring Breguet Numerals

Case profile of the 5370P-011 showcasing some masterful artistry on the lugs of the platinum case and square pushers ala Ref. 1436 (©Revolution)

It is Patek Philippe's convention to identify their platinum cases by placing a small diamond on the side of the case, just under the 6 o'clock hour marker; seen here on the case of the 5370P-011 (©Revolution)

The CH 29-535 PS based 5370 is unique in that it is the only modern split-seconds chronograph designed from the ground up with this feature, with a fully contemporary movement and a focus on perfect performance. Add to this the host of aesthetic flourishes and it is definitely the one current collection of Patek Philippe watches I don’t own, that I would love to have.

The Ref. 7150 Ladies’ Manual-wind Chronograph

In 2018, Patek Philippe simultaneously delighted and frustrated watch collectors around the world with the 7150. The delight stemmed from the fact they had created one of the most astonishing beautiful chronographs in their collection. The 7150 was a veritable litany of Patek’s most revered designed codes from their history with the chronograph. The 38mm case featured the “spider” lugs of the beloved reference 1579 from 1943. This 36mm vintage watch represented one of the most significant acts of modern design in Patek’s history and examples of this watch regularly achieve high auction results, with platinum versions trading for over two million US dollars.

Patek Philippe ref. 1579 gold and steel chronograph with Arabic numerals fitted on a Gay Frères “grains of rice” bracelet adored on the gold spider lugs of the timepiece (Image: John Goldberger)

2018, Rose Gold with Silver Dial, Diamond-Set Bezel & Pulsometer Scale

The Patek Philippe Ref. 7150-250R-001 was launched in 2018, featuring a silvery opaline dial, framed by a bezel encircled with diamonds, applied Breguet numerals, Breguet hands, a pulsation scale, mushroom-shaped “Tasti Tondi” pushers, and "Spider" lugs from the 1579

The design of the 7150 then added to these spider lugs the most iconic chronograph pushers in Patek Philippe history — the mushroom-shaped “Tasti Tondi” pushers from the legendary 1463, Patek’s first waterproof chronograph and, to my mind, the single most beautiful chronograph ever created.

Note that the crown of the 7150 is also similar to the flat, oversized winding crown of the 1463. Then, just to make us more delirious, the dial of the 7150 featured applied rose-gold Breguet numerals. Breguet numerals are found on the most desirable versions of the references 130 and the 1463 as well as the references 1436 and 1563 split-seconds chronographs made from the 1930s to the ’60s. Today, Breguet numerals are reserved for the most complicated and desirable models, such as the magnificent platinum-case split-seconds chronograph 5370, featuring a blue grand feu enamel dial with applied white-gold Breguet numerals.

Then, just to tease us further, the 7150 features Breguet-style hands, presumably to match the Breguet numerals; however, it should be noted that this style of hands is actually quite unusual for a Patek Philippe chronograph. A lovely final touch is the use of a pulsation scale used by doctors in the past to calculate the heart rate of patients based on 30 beats.

A closer look at the dial of the Ref. 7150-250R-001 with the pulsation scale, applied Breguet numerals and Breguet hands

The bezel of the Ref. 7150-250R-001 is adorned with 72 diamonds

A closer look at the Breguet hour hand of the Ref. 7150-250R-001

Mushroom-shaped “Tasti Tondi” pushers on the Ref. 7150-250R-001

The Patek Philippe Ref. 7150-250R-001's lugs are inspired by the "Spider" lugs from the ref. 1579

The 2018 Patek Philippe Ref. 7150-250R-001 is powered by the manual winding Caliber CH 29‑535 PS

But if you think the 7150 is simply an amalgam of vintage codes, you would be wrong. Because Patek has also used this opportunity to create one of its slimmest chronographs. The 38mm diameter case of the 7150 is a mere 10.59mm. In comparison, the case of the men’s manual-wind chronograph reference 5172 is 11.45mm in thickness. However, the 7150 feels much thinner because of its boxed sapphire crystal, which allows the bezel to sit lower in the case architecture, making the watch feel far more lithe and elegant. This combines with the watch’s elegant 38mm size to give you the perfect Patek chronograph.

So I’m sure you are at this point saying, “These are all amazing qualities,” and rushing down to the nearest Patek authorized dealer. But not so fast. Because, as I said, this 7150 has also frustrated a great many male collectors; with its gem-set bezel, this timepiece was intended to be a women’s watch. Now, bear in mind that should you love everything about the 7150 and are not deterred by its diamond-set bezel, then by all means strap one on. I’ve been sorely tempted to myself.

Add to this amazing masterwork of design the fact that the watch features the magnificent CH 29-535 PS and I cannot think of a greater medium-sized, gem-set manual-wind chronograph. Time and again, I’ve heard the most savvy male collectors bemoan their fate, “If only they made the 7150 without the diamond bezel,” pause as their eyes get a faraway look and they whisper, “Or could you imagine it in steel.” Whether this will happen, only time will tell. Sadly, it probably won’t.

The Ref. 5172 Manual-Wind Chronograph

What I love about the reference 5172 chronograph introduced to us in 2019 is that it is an act of full design maturity, coming from a man ascending to the peak of his design powers. And that man is, of course, Thierry Stern. The 5172 is one of my favorite watches in Patek’s contemporary collection because, in ethos, it harks back to the era of the reference 1463 in that it is a large-sized sporty, water-resistant chronograph that tantalizingly mixes the concepts of elegance and adventure together. At 41mm in diameter and 11.45mm in height, it has considerable wrist presence. With its white-gold case, navy-blue dial with luminous hands and indexes, it is thoroughly rooted in the modern world. And yet, at the same time, it is a fantastic repository of classic Patek Philippe references that reach back almost a century.

To begin with, its design is based on the gorgeous Patek reference 5320 perpetual calendar — a watch that is, in turn, inspired by the legendary water-resistant steel perpetual calendar reference 1591 made in 1944 and delivered to a maharaja in India. This discerning gentleman clearly wanted a masterpiece of complicated watchmaking from the maison that introduced this concept, but he also wanted a watch he could swim or even play sports with; a timepiece thoroughly without compromise. And that has been perfectly transmitted through the cream-dial 5320, which takes its indexes and syringe-shaped hands from the 1591, and the same design code is now also perfectly imparted to the 5172.

2019, White Gold with Blue Dial Featuring Arabic Numerals & a Tachymeter Scale

The Patek Philippe Ref. 5172G-001 was launched in 2019 with a blue dial featuring luminous Arabic numerals, hour and minute hands, and a tachymeter scale

Made by Patek Philippe, a steel pièce unique ref. 1591 water-resistant perpetual calendar with luminous Arabic numerals and hands made for an Indian maharaja in the 1940s (©Revolution)

The distinct triple-stepped lugs of the 5172 also come from the 5320, which are, in turn inspired by reference 2405 — an Art Deco-influenced three-hand watch from the 1940s. What I love about Patek Philippe is that the more you educate yourself about this amazing brand and its history, the more you discover wonderful design precedencts in the modern watches. This is, to me, one of Thierry Stern’s greatest abilities; the capacity to reference and even riff on the past to create watches that feel incredibly modern. Patek is one of those brands that the more you learn about it, the more you fall in love with it. It begs education and reflection, and, in the end, that has been the purpose and motivation of this series of articles.

The Ref. 5172G-001 is adorned with luminous Arabic numerals, hour and minute hands

Mushroom-shaped “Tasti Tondi” pushers on the Ref. 5172G-001

The triple-stepped lugs of the Ref. 5172G-001

The only challenge with writing these stories is, at the end of each 10,000-word journey, I have to restrain myself from rushing out to purchase more watches that I can’t afford. Of the modern watches featuring the magnificent CH 29-535 PS, I would say my favorites are: the 5172, for the way it channels so many seminal design codes of Patek; the salmon-dial with platinum case and black-dial with rose-gold integrated bracelet 5270s, because they are the closest any mortal will get to owning a special-order Patek perpetual calendar chrono normally reserved for the collecting world’s demigods like Eric Clapton; the rose-gold integrated bracelet 5204; and, of course, the black-dial 5370, because I am sucker for split-seconds chronographs and, to me, the full technical majesty of the CH 29-535 PS is unveiled in the split-seconds configuration. Having said that, one of the watches that has me staying up at night is the relatively simple white-gold with black dial 5170. With its stunning applied Breguet numerals and at 39.4mm, it is the perfect size and the essence of what a Patek manual-wind chronograph should be.

So that’s it. Here endeth the story on Patek Philippe’s modern chronographs, and I hope you enjoyed perusing this text as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am aware that we have not explored Patek’s automatic chronographs featuring the caliber CH 29-535 PS yet. But that, hopefully, gives us something to look forward to.

The post Complete Guide: Patek Philippe’s Modern Chronographs appeared first on Revolution Watch.

The Rake x Ralph Lauren ‘Negroni Bear’ Polo Bear Watch

Wei Koh — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 11:43:19 +0000

Available on Shop.Revolytion.Watch

His countenance is known the world over. His visage has become an obsession for men and women alike. There are legions devoted to his ineffable style, his ability to move effortlessly between sublime sports chic, pitch-perfect preppy-dom, and transcendent black tie. He is the celebrity’s cause célèbre, with many, from Kanye West to Drake to John Mayer, smitten by him. And the mere rumour of his appearance on a skateboard literally broke the internet, with millions of fans vying for the chance to meet him. He says little, but his warm, fathomless brown eyes speak volumes of his extraordinary depth. And while he may be small in stature, he exudes a heroism and strength of character that is singular and inspirational. Amid the turmoil of 2020, for many of us he has become a symbol of hope and optimism. I speak, of course, of the Ralph Lauren Polo Bear, who at a mere 29 years of age has ascended to the status of both fashion and popular-culture icon.

Steiff Teddy (Photo by XAMAXullstein bild via Getty Images)

Kanye West appears on stage during MTV’s Total Request Live at the MTV Times Square Studios March 31, 2004 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)

The Ralph Lauren x Palace Pilot Bear.

CEO of The Rake, Alain Gafundi and Tom Chamberlin, Editor of The Rake in coincidentally matching Polo Bear sweaters

Wei Koh in his Bear-emblazoned corduroy dinner suit.

While there’s humour in my introduction, there is also truth. Because for me and the team at The Rake, we feel the world is now more than ever in need of symbols that represent kindness, warmth, and a childlike sense of joy. For us the Polo Bear has never been more relevant. Because it was created by the man I consider not only to be the world’s greatest designer but one of its best human beings. I shall not go into the details of Ralph Lauren’s genius and authenticity, which to me is best expressed by his self-effacing humanitarianism. If you want to read about that, you can check out the cover story of issue No. 36 of The Rake. What I love best about Ralph Lauren is his capacity to create clothing and objects that make us smile — and none more so than the Polo Bear.

Ralph Lauren.

The roots of the Polo Bear go back to the late 1980s, when his team presented Lauren and his wonderfully effusive and elegant brother Jerry with Steiff teddy bears modelled on them and dressed in outfits made by the Ralph Lauren factories that created their menswear.

Lauren was so charmed by these bears he decided to offer them in a limited series of 200 in 1991. Even before the age of the internet, buzz about the bears spread through New York like wildfire, with every Ralph Lauren devotee making a beeline to the Rhinelander mansion flagship in Manhattan, where they sold out over the weekend. Because the bears were made by Steiff, and, like his personal bear, wore clothing (specifically, grey flannel pleated trousers, a woven leather belt, and a blue Oxford button-down), they were limited in supply. Foreseeing the popularity of this new symbol for his brand, Lauren also emblazoned his likeness on clothing including the iconic Polo Bear sweater, which depicted the Bear wearing an American flag sweater. This sweater is to this day known as the ‘Iconic Polo Bear Sweater’. From 1991 to 2001 the Polo Bear enjoyed a decade of sartorial dominance, and everything he graced became the object of cult collectability. The Holy Grail among these is the so called ‘Never-Ending Bear’ sweater, which features the Polo Bear wearing a Polo Bear sweater of the Bear wearing the Polo Bear sweater, and so on. You get it.

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The Polo Bear was depicted in everything from a western fringe jacket, a beret stiped T-shirt , and espadrilles, collegiate preppy clothing under a camel Polo coat, RLX ski gear, and my favourite, a magnificent evening suit replete with monogrammed evening slippers and a Martini. To be correct, I should note that the Polo Bear actually has three black-tie ensembles: a classic black, a white dinner jacket with black trousers, and a jaunty Black Watch tartan jacket that he pairs with louche red socks for extra panache. To borrow from Walt Whitman, the Polo Bear was large. He contained multitudes. Indeed, his incredible style, which became a catalogue of Ralph Lauren’s most iconic looks, demonstrated how infinitely varied yet appealing the Ralph Lauren world was. In each instance the Bear looked cool, beatific, successful and friendly. And, most importantly, regardless of your age, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic demographic, he made you smile.

In 2001 the partnership with Steiff came to an end, and with it the use of the Polo Bear on Ralph Lauren clothing. But by that time Polo Bear clothing had taken on a life of its own, particularly in the hip-hop community and most notably with Kanye West, who almost exclusively wore the clothing throughout the launch of his seminal College Dropout album in 2004. (The cover even featured West depicted as a preppy bear.) By 2013 the demand for all things Polo Bear inspired his return to the Ralph Lauren visual lexicon, where he remains more popular than ever. Indeed, the Polo Bear collaborations, with brands such as Palace skateboards, have become some of the most sought-after and desirable objects around. The Polo x Palace sweater (I had two of these, and gave one to the editor of this magazine and the other to our C.E.O.) almost caused the internet to explode upon launch, and now commands a massive premium on the secondary market if you can find one. I have personally been so charmed by the Polo Bear that I’ve even had a patch of him in his tuxedo sewn onto the back of my Ralph Lauren double-breasted corduroy dinner jacket, a service that Polo shops now offer.

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In November 2019 the Polo Bear made his first appearance on the dials of three charming watches. The watches that marked the first Ralph Lauren Polo watches and set the stage for the Polo Player timepiece that launched this year featured our favourite ursine friend dressed in three of Lauren’s most iconic ensembles: the dinner jacket with frayed jeans and cowboy boots dubbed the Tuxedo Bear; the tweed jacket, jodhpurs and riding boots named the Bedford Bear (after the town where Lauren resides); and the American flag sweater with denim jacket and jeans, named American Flag Bear. The watches featured 42mm steel cases and off-white lacquer dials and automatic movements dubbed the Calibre RL200, which looked like reliable ETA 28 series movements to me. Made in a limited series of 100 examples each, the Polo Bear watches flew out of the showcases with a rapidity reminiscent of the initial Steiff bear launch. After all, who wouldn’t want to look down at their wrist and see the world’s best-dressed bear gazing knowingly back at them.

Since the launch of the Polo Bear watch I’ve secretly harboured a dream of a Rake Bear timepiece. After finally summoning the courage to request it, I was overjoyed to learn that Mr. Lauren had given his personal assent. Immediately I began discussing with our team how our furry hero should be styled. We concluded that he should be resplendent in full eveningwear, as if he were going out for a night on the town. We loved the idea that he would heading to ‘Ralph’s’, the fictional New York jazz club that was the stage for the extraordinary fashion show where Janelle Monae brought the house down with one of the most electrifying performances of all time. Anyone who knows The Rake understands there is one cocktail that has become synonymous with the magazine, and that is the heady combination of bitter, vermouth and gin concocted in 1919 in Florence’s Caffè Casoni, where Count Camillo Negroni inspired the legendary barman Fosco Scarselli to create his namesake beverage. For the community of The Rake this year, the Negroni has become something of a symbol of resistance against despair, its distinct orange hue burning brightly against the darkness. And so, without hesitation, we requested that the Polo Bear be designed enjoying this libation, as he too would be standing firm and elegantly weathering the inclemencies of this unforgettable year. The dial of the watch features hands as well as the 5 o’clock index in distinct Negroni orange. Why the number five? Well, because it is always 5 o’clock somewhere.

This November, to coincide with the first anniversary of the launch of the debut Polo Bear watches, we are immeasurably delighted to unveil the Rake Bear New York watch, which we have also nicknamed the Negroni Bear timepiece. It will be made in a 200-piece limited edition, with a price of £1,680 . He comes with a black calf strap as well as a Negroni-orange grosgrain strap. Like his brothers that have come before him, we hope The Rake’s Negroni Bear achieves his defining mission in life, which is to put a huge smile on the face of each and every one of his owners.

The Rake x Ralph Lauren ‘Negroni Bear’ Polo Bear is coming to THE RAKE. Please raise a glass to the newest member of the team, launching Thursday 12th November 2020.

Available on Shop.Revolytion.Watch

The post The Rake x Ralph Lauren ‘Negroni Bear’ Polo Bear Watch appeared first on Revolution Watch.