Baselworld/SIHH

Patek Philippe, a name synonymous with quality, history and attention to the fine detail. At this years Baselworld, Patek once again proved true to these qualities. Where perhaps it is not so obvious at first, the collection this year has become richer with new complications, beautiful revisions of existing complications and celebrated the birthday of one of its most renowned complications.

So where to begin? For me, with my favourite new novelty, a complication that is perhaps for many the signature complication of Patek Philippe, the revered world time. The new reference 5230, captured the heart on so many levels. Let me share with you this sumptuous new creation, it left me filled with deep reverence, why?

Let us start first, with a historical reference: The famous ref 2523 

As a die hard Patek addict, (I make no apologies for this ), these references literally make me weak. So when I first saw the new reference, it was a moment where my jaw hit the floor, this was like one of those moment where you have to think, am I dreaming?

The 5230, captures all of the history and melds it wonderfully with a 21st century update. Now, I said already the beauty is in the detail, look closely at the decoration of the dial, it is mesmerising. I apologise now, as my pictures do not do it justice. The size was perfect too, at 38.5mm. A nod to the historic sizes, but keeping in touch with today. I case you may not have noticed, I love this watch, it encapsulates everything I love about Patek Phillippe, history, quality detail.

Did you notice any changes in the cities? lets see if you can spot them!

Staying with the theme of world time, many will know of the famous Doctors chronograph, the unique world time and chronograph timepiece:

well for the first time Patek unveil a series production of this combination of complications. But, Patek, being Patek, wanted to create a complication with a reasonable watch diameter and depth, unlike most of the industry variations of this complication, so we have a wonderful watch of excellent proportions of 39.5mm v 12.86mm. A fantastic feat in my opinion.

But it does not end there, look carefully and you can see how the dial has many depths, to perfectly display the 24 hour time and city, whilst, providing a perfect scale for the chronograph. To my knowledge this is a first? The chronograph scale is graduated to 4rth of a second scale, which matches nicely with the 4Hz frequency of the movement.

The overall aesthetic is very pleasing with the case once again lending to the historical references. Also quite remarkable is the 30 minute counter, which despite being small enough not to clutter the dial, is very legible. Maybe one day we can see a homage to the famous Doctors watch with pulsation and respiration scale? I hope so!!

Now for the perpetual calendars.

First, a new reference, the 5327. At first they may seem to be no more than a larger 5140, but actually the case is inspired from the 5227 with its wonderful sculptured lugs, in a modern sized 39 mm case. It is a modern reinvention of the classic 3940. The Breguet numbers just add that finishing touch.

The 5140p has been updated with a new sunburst grey anthracite dial. The combination of platinum and anthracite is perfect and breathes new life into this classic reference.

then we have the reference 5496p. The sad news is that the honey rose dial is no more. However, Patek have replaced it with a new dial with applied gold retrograde markers.......yes , when I speak of attention to detail, the pictures fully reflect what can not be put into words to demonstrate the craft and precision in this process......

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the annual calendar, the 5396 has been updated with Breguet numbers;

These are non limited, and add a lovely historical edge to an already revered complication reference.

Finally the 5164 Aquanaut and the 5204 are now available in Rose gold.

The RG Aquanaut was stunning, would look awesome on a brown leather strap!

and really finally, if you win the lotto:

The Grand Master chime is now available in white gold. I ordered six, but as they could not deliver by next week, I had to cancel. Shame.

I hope you enjoyed this whistle stop tour, thank you for reading, hopefully either myself or Mark will do a more in depth coverage in the coming months.

Best

Imran

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