Patek Philippe

Hi,

At least on pictures I'm close to finding it more beautiful than the R.

I keep an excellent impression from the watch on my wrist last year!

Cheers

Dje

CL makes an interesting point - most limited editions are in platinum or white metals.  This time, the 5970P will be produced for only a year, but so was the 5970J.  With yellow being more rare than the white or rose, will it be more sought after?  Will prices soar??  This did not happen with the yellow 5070 - but imho the thing that make the 5970J different is that it is BEAUTIFUL, and appealing in this metal.  The 5070J with its black dial just wasn't as appeaing aesthetically.  I think the yellow suits the 5970 very well, as it was meant to be reminiscent of the 2499 and earlier Patek chronos, and yellow is very PURE in a vintage sense.  I think we will see the yellow overtake the others in the long run for this reason - there will simply be fewer around.  Despite people having differing views about the platinum, I think this 5970 will be king.

 

 

The 5970P, with black dial is indeed quite nice, although legibility may be an issue for some collectors.  Quite frankly, I was hoping that Patek would have made the 5970P just a bit more unique, or special vis-a-vis it's other 5970 variants.  For example, a 5970P with silvery dial, and breguet numerals would have been a show stopper.

I know it's purely bias (no offence to existing 5970 owners), but I still maintain that the 5970G, with it's silvery dial, and white metal case is the nicest dial/case combo of the 5970 series.  The 5970J, although only produced for one year, I believe that total production numbers may be very close to the G/R.  Reason being, Patek only had one 5970 variant to produce, and I suspect that production may have been ramped up a bit  (pure speculation on my part).

In terms of pure visual impact, here are my choices:

1. 5970G, silvery dial, with white gold case,  just looks "right" for this model.

2. 5970P, black dial, still very nice, and will always have high desirability due to his PT case.

3. 5970R, very beautiful watch, with a great vintage look.

4. 5970J, very nice.  However, if I was going with a warm color metal, for a 5970, I would take the R. 

Cheers,

arolex

Arthur.

 

 

 

 

 

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nt

No message body

Back from the basel fair where I saw many nice watches. But believe me, if you see the new 5970P live...it's a mindblowing beauty!!!
Lucky who will call this masterpiece his own

nt

nt

I too am a bit disapointed that no all-new chrono references were launched (nothing to stand in place of the non pt 5070), but I thought it was good of them to launch a Calatrava reference with styling cues of the much more expensive 5159. I was hoping they would do something like that to give the little guy more watch, and an aspirational appetite for bigger game.

I'm most struck by the volume of yellow and particular rose gold.  The platinum and rose celestial for example - the 5101 in Rose.  Rose sells extremely well in Asia, so it's likely Patek is catering to the market best able to ride out of the financial crisis, still with an appetite for watches.

The 5074p, the 5131g and the 5970p are the three I would like to acquire this year and my AD called me from Basel with good and bad news.  The 5970p will be produced for 1 year only and I have been allocated an early production piece (Yesssss!!!!) ..  Hoping to get delivery before I leave on summer vacation. The 5131g will be an ongoing production but I have zero chance of getting one this year as the entire region my AD operates in has not been allocated 1 piece. The 5074 will be on an ordered basis, as to be expected from a repeater.

I'm pleased I was able to get the 5101p last year because it is noticeably absent from the list this year.  Also I'm struck by the sheer collective number of pieces, and the number of metals.  My AD is fairly large in Patek and has reported he has been allocated many fewer pieces by Patek in 2009 than 2008 (through no fault of his own).  With so many different models, and metals, and the economy the way it is, I'd expect deliveries across all models to slow to a trickle this year (low allocation of 5131g in our region for example).

This message has been edited by nothing but time on 2009-03-26 17:05:58

Hi,

Congratulations on getting a 5970P!  You're possibly the first in that case!

Any idea about when it could arrive? I know PP is generally fast to begin deliveries after the show.

Your comments about the PP market are interesting. I have no clue if Asia is going to be among the first markets to take off again. Heard from Europe the Asian markets are suffering, it's hard to compare though!

I just hope for PP that they will be able to deliver watches and sell them, for ADs that they will receive watches and sell them, and for customers that they will see watches, buy them and appreciate them (and for me that I will be among them ).

Cheers

Dje

I am told my 5970p will be one of the very first.  Pics to follow on arrival. HK has always been a watch hotspot.  On a per-capita basis, the local populace covet their timepieces more than anyone.  No surprise Patek would tilt their production to where the spenders are.

Great pics and report. the 5960R is my favorite.

And the grail is the 5101R.  I saw the 5101P months ago but it didn't speak to me. The dial was not my cup of tea. But the 5101 really is gorgeous

Hi,

I will not try to put my name on the list though!

And I like the 5101P a lot too, so I need to think about it! 

Cheers

Dje

It seems like patek philippe is just doing some tweaking to their current inventory. There seems to be no breakthrough design in this year's collection. Furthermore, it seems like ther'e cutting costs IMHO. Why would i say something like that? well,

 

Calarava: the officer's case back? Youv'e gotta be kidding me. It seems they thought the 5159 would be such a seller, and made heaps of cases to minimise production costs, and now, theyr'e stuck with a ton of them, and so, the next best alternative would be using it on urrent models instead!

 Guilloche dial? even this guilloche dial is of the 'same design' as the 5159. Why would patek philippe do something like that? it's like a 'mix n match' collection now! Hell, we producted too many of the cases and we're not utilising the craftsman enough, so, might as well ask them to make even more and pour the excess cases and dials onto a current collection!

5960R: it's just a different case metal! i'm disappointed! it seems like they made too many 5960Ps in the past few yrs, and they've decided to use the mold to make a rose gold case instead!

5101R: Nothing much as a hoo-hah about! Clients of PP has been demanding the case to be made in RG for ages! maybe they've fially taken note of the demand!

5098: Now, i think this is the only decent/relatively good idea which they came up with. Yes, the case is the same, but in different metal, but at the very least, they didn't just 'mass produced the guilloche dial, they had to make some modifications to it, resulting in the stunning dial combination. Thumbs up for this design!!!

Nautilus: Trashy. It seems like some art student just graduated and was employed for this design. Bling is bad enough, but the dial? It seems like a rotten combination of 2 dials.

I know it irks people when i make such comments, but i believe being patek philippe, and they wanting to have a PP seal instead of a geneva seal, they should challange themselves to a higher 'bar' as opposed to making mediocre designs/decisions. They have such a reputation to live up to and people would undoubtly demand something better then this year's designs and watches!

Hi,

I understand that the new offerings can let you thirsty, but they're not bad at all!

By the way, please let me try to answer:

Calatrava:  I hope you've realized the 5159 calibre (5.25mm) is thicker than the 5153 calibre (3,3mm), so the case can't be the same! In fact i'm sure you know that! 
Of course you don't have to love, not even like the watch! Still for those who like the 5159 guilloche, they may like to see it on a more affordable watch, and indeed it helps create a family!

5960R:  I'm not going to say it's just not molded, it's just because tou don't like pink gold I suppose. I don't like too much the 5960R either, but some seem to like it here, so the watch is good news for them!

5101R: yes we  agree! And the watch is not bad at all (even if I still prefer the 5101P, but who cares).

5098: Yes we agree even more, that's the one I hope to see end of April (although I won't have saved the money for the end of April).

Nautilus: I let the women answer!     

IMO they have a very high reputation, but not the one of a company that makes the news every year! The Seal is enough for me this year! Let's get the new calibres next year! Yes new calibres please!  (we shall talk about that soon).

I hope I helped you find some peace! 

Cheers

Dje

Patek is "not the one of a company that makes the news every year!" Couldn't agree more!

No surprise this year, but not disappointing either. Perhaps we have been so used to seeing "stunners" like 3712, 5712, 5980, 5970, 5960, 5098... in the past few years that we all now demand a "star" from Patek each year.

As for me, "nothing new" means it's time to save up my bullets for next year's models. And I should spend more time with those babies I acquired last year, when I still had money.  Not bad at all! 

 

 

I understand the thinking in Patek. While their watches are beautiful, the company was similar to wall street stock in assuming that the prices will keep going up. The worst was the 5098P. I talked to a Patek AD and he said that he does not expect to sell many of them now. So, when the recession hit them deep (no one expected the 5159 to not sell), they are skillfully modifying their watches to make it sell given the conditions now. I like the 5098R and 5101R. The others are boring to me (my taste). I guess that it is going to take Patek a while to come up with something like the Sky moon now. As a customer, I am glad that Patek is coming down to earth and thinking of the economic conditions and adapting to it.
This message has been edited by parunach on 2009-03-29 15:35:39

Congratulations on getting your name added to the list for the 5970P.

I shall look forward to seeing your photos.

Of this beautiful looking watch.