Patek Philippe

patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
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Cathedral Gongs...

Thank you Dje for your impressions! I agree, after hearing the minute repeaters, my already high opinion of Patek Philippe has grown even higher. I would agree this experience has left a very strong lasting impression to me. It's a pity here in the United States, it's very rare to see a minute repeater in a boutique. I have only personally seen about three minute repeaters for sale in the United States.

I have seen and heard many minute repeaters from various brands (many from the wrists of other fellow PuristS), but I had only heard my first Patek minute repeater recently. To me, the minute repeater is the complication that seems to give the most life to a watch (in my opinion), I feel that the watch is but not a watch, but almost an animated object telling me something, every time the message is different.

Honestly, I wasn't particularly impressed with the sound quality of the 5002, it was impressive, but not as impressive as other minute repeaters. I feel that despite its cathedral gongs, the sound quality seems muffled probably due to all the other complications within the watch. My biggest impression of the 5002 was the wearability of the watch; I was originally overwhelmed of the size of the watch; I was expecting the watch to be extremely large and unwearable, but I had no problem wearing it and fitting it under my off the rack shirt cuffs.

I've attached photos of the catalogue and a photo of the page itself where I read it is possible to outfit the movement with cathedral gongs. I realize after reexamining this, that I may have misread and the catalogue may be referring to the possibility of fitting cathedral gongs to this movement, but only in conjunction with the perpetual calendar complication. Thus, after some careful thought, I find it is less than likely the 5078 is available with a cathedral gong arrangement. However, if you see the photos below, one can perhaps understand how I was misled.

I think I'll have to go and listen to the Patek minute repeaters more often to be able to establish the difference between the normal and cathedral gongs. Despite the minute repeater being my favorite complication, it is possible my ears were unfortunately "popped" during my experience and this would affect my ability to hear.

As for the quality of sound between watches that all do not have the cathedral gong, I still find that the 5078 seems to sound better to my odd ears. I tried the 5016, 3939, and 5078 all simultaneously and despite the 5078 having a platinum case, I found it to be slightly better sounding than the others (this is just my opinion, furthermore it could be my ears were not consistent on that day).

Oh, as for that 5016, it was in pink gold, and I was told that pink gold in general sounds better than most other metals. So, the pink gold is possible, so you can get a second minute repeater! Please excuse the poor quality of the photo below... I am not adamant at all when it comes to photography.

My personal favorite is the 5074, but I love all of them extremely!