Patek Philippe

Hi All, I had a mini GTG with my friend in Hong Kong. His 5159 is very nice and we tested the retrograde date hand. Guess what ? Not really retrograde because at the end the of the month the hand jumped clockwise forward to the beginning instead of backwa...  

I went to try the 5159G once as it looks very nice, especially with its officer's caseback and the (non) retrograde date. Concerning this mater, I must say I didn't know it worked that way. Congratulations to him for the 5270 Blue dial. I would say he nee... 

This would be quite a "thing" as the declaration of the product would be wrong. But Patek does not seem to be too fussy about details at times if you look at their chromos with wrong scaling. Have you tried also months ending in 30 days? Maybe it moves cl... 

yesterday my friend and I moved the date count forward (from May 29th to June 1st) by manually adjusting the hours hand because only 3 days from month end, and unless he finds his adjuster stick (or use a tooth pick) , he would probably wait for a while. ... 

From October to January 2014, I had the opportunity to play with a 5159G and observed the retrograde hand at the end of the months on several occasions, and posted my experiences in this forum. The date hand always moved ccw at the end of the month. Never... 

You sure about that? I don't have a proper high speed camera, but here are some frames I did at 240 fps. Sorry for the poor quality! This is taken of my 5059, which has the same movement as the 5159. It appears to me that the date hand is a properly funct...  

The 5159 has got a satellite wheel for the date changes which the 5059 did not have. Best Moritz

Do you have any more information about that? I have always heard that the 5059 and the 5159 share the same movement. Some newer 5159's have a 324 based movement as opposed to 315 on early 5159s (and all 5059s), but the main difference between 324 and 315 ... 

the 2009 - 2010 catalogue. But the chart is hardly to understand and the the explanation is therefore not really useful. The explanation in Patek's catalogue does not mention the satellite wheel but I read it in a different article. What I understand so f... 

The 324 beats at 28,800 or 4 mz over the 315's 3 mz and has a slightly shorter power reserve than the 315 due to its higher cadence. The result is a less jittery seconds hand on the 324. Otherwise, they are the same.

The mechanism is designed to do a CCW Retrograde. Although if you look at the design of the system, it's possible that it can do a clockwise motion without damaging itself. For the 5270, he can wait until he's ready to unwrap it. It's just a watch. And it... 

On the 5270 still sealed in plastic, yes, it is a shame that it hasn't been opened. As a reason to "break the seal", I had a brand new 5205G that I bought from my dealer in Malaysia a few years ago. Stuck it in the Bank safe box as I was moving to Hong Ko... 

I think all mechanical devices need to be used and work otherwise, they prematurely dry up and need service.

Very cool pics. And good job getting your friend to take the watch out of the wrapper :) Regards, ED-209

by the naked eye, Gordon. I've tried too many times. And not logical either. I really doubt if Patek would have employed another mechanism in lieu of the retro movement without releasing the news to the public. It would have meant another major technical ... 

clockwise movement, right? Based on what you two had told me previously, I informed my friend and we tested it together. As I was standing next to him, I could not see the move but he said it was clockwise. What a myth!! Yes, let's get a GTG in June and l... 

of eyes, we can reasonably hope to discover some truth. LOL Looking forward to our next GTG. Francis

You should have let me know you were around - I am currently looking at a very special sealed piece in my office and awaiting the right moment to open!

guess which one it might be. Will go to HK soon (probably this week) and hopefully can witness the "opening" ceremony. Cheers, Gordon

A particularly special example.........