News
The Ultimate Hold-My-Beer Watch: Patek Philippe’s Ref. 6301P Grande Sonnerie
News
The Ultimate Hold-My-Beer Watch: Patek Philippe’s Ref. 6301P Grande Sonnerie
There is a reason that the horological faithful universally laud Patek’s minute repeaters as the best in the world, and this is all down to an extraordinary combination of tone, clarity, volume and, for lack of a better word, “voice”. While they may not necessarily be the loudest repeaters in the world — nor have they ever chased this comparatively pedestrian goal — but the music they produce is, without a doubt, the most aurally stunning to experience and the watchmaking equivalent of Sam Cooke, Van Morrison, Aretha Franklin or Janis Joplin, in that no other repeater comes remotely close to their sonic signature. I was forever changed by this moment, my understanding of repeating watches so immutably and indelibly forged by it that I’ve decided I will never own a striking watch until the day I can own a Patek Philippe repeater.
So when word broke that Patek would unveil its new Grande Sonnerie upon this day of our Lord, 10 November 2020, my heart rate shot into palpitatious overdrive (yes, I made up that term). Of course, the first question that came to mind was, what would the aesthetic execution of this watch be? This was, after all, not Patek Philippe’s first Grande Sonnerie.
In 2016, the Grandmaster Chime became part of Patek’s regular production as the ref. 6300, with more discreet hand engine-turned engraving on the case-middle than the elaborately hand-engraved ref. 5175. Both the ref. 5175 and the ref. 6300 were massive, totemic double-sided timepieces measuring 47mm and 47.7mm in diameter, respectively — not precisely the type of understated watch one could wear with any measure of discretion taking a postprandial stroll around town.
In other words, what I really wanted to know was: “Will the new ref. 6301P be discreet enough in styling to wear every day?” And the answer to that is yes. Despite its not-inconsiderable size, at 44.8mm in diameter and 12mm in height, the new ref. 6301P is a masterpiece of sublimely refined stealth design.
“That was precisely Thierry Stern’s objective with this watch: to create an expression of understated elegance,” says Jasmina Steele, Patek Philippe’s public relations director. Indeed, original plans for his design actually omitted the indications for the power reserve of the movement and of the sonnerie, which are found at nine and three o’clock on the dial, respectively. “Of course we understood why we wanted to do this, to create the ultimate expression of restrained and pure Patek Philippe design, but in the end, we convinced him these indications were important enough to keep,” says Philip Barat, also affectionately known as “Mr Plexi” to those Patek devotees who have had the pleasure of his technical discourses aided by large plexiglass models of watch movements and parts.
The ref. 6301P took its inspiration from the ref. 5370 Split-Seconds Chronograph — more specifically, from the platinum-cased model with black grande-feu-enamel dial and applied Breguet numerals that was discontinued this year and replaced by an equally stunning blue enamel-dial model. This is what is so great about the ref. 6301P: if you were to close your eyes and come up with a dream list of Patek Philippe design attributes for a grande sonnerie, you would probably arrive at almost exactly the watch that they have created. Platinum Calatrava-style case? Check. Black grande-feu-enamel dial? Yes. White printed chemin-de-fer-style minute track? You got it. Sublime applied Breguet numerals, one of the most revered Patek design codes of all time? If you insist, sir. Luminous leaf-shaped hands? OK, just for you.
Anyway, my point is, the ref. 6301P is everything you could possibly want in terms of iconic Patek Philippe styling — it is that ravishing. There are two additional indicators on the dial, one at nine o’clock and one at three o’clock, which give you the power reserve for the barrels of the movement and sonnerie respectively.
Philip Barat explains, “I do not like to call this a ‘dead seconds’ mechanism. The dead seconds was the predecessor to the chronograph for measuring time and uses a different system involving an anchor and escapement of its own. The jumping seconds, in comparison, was first introduced in the ref. 5275P launched for our 175th anniversary. This was a tonneau-shaped watch with jump hours, a chiming function on the hours and this method of displaying the seconds.
“The calibre 32-650 HGS PS was derived from the movement in the Grandmaster Chime. In this movement, we do not have a way to create a direct seconds hand. There is a seconds wheel, but it is turning in the reverse direction. So we decided that if we are going to create an indirect seconds, we should do something more. We came up with a system where the energy of the seconds wheel is stored for up to eight oscillations before it pulls the jumping seconds wheel forward. It is made out of silicon to keep it very light, and so, that the spring tension stays uniform throughout its life.”
At a time when so many people have been economically affected, to me, it is just downright tasteless to rub everyone’s noses in by flaunting how wealthy you are. Of course, no one is trying to tell you not to enjoy yourself if you can afford one, but at the same time, there is no need for you to join Dan Bilzerian, Kim Kardashian and other vulgarian assholes out there in their overt and tasteless celebrations of vapid, mindless and profoundly wasteful opulence. Anyway, that’s just my opinion. To me, the ref. 6301P militates against this orange Lamborghini arriviste barbarism and shines a path to the future of classic, understated, elegant high complications for the rest of the industry.
To be fair, a grande sonnerie is already vested purely within the rarified realm of the horological ultra-elite — meaning, you have to be educated enough to appreciate what it is from a technical perspective and also affluent enough to afford its correspondingly sky-high price tag. There are only five brands in the world that are capable of making a grande and petite sonnerie: Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Gérald Genta (now under Bulgari), François-Paul Journe and Jaeger-LeCoultre. The first grande-sonnerie wristwatch was produced by independent watchmaking legend Philippe Dufour.
A minute repeater works as follows: the hours and minutes have star cams set with steps for readings on them. The minute repeater has a feeler system that, when activated, reads these cams almost like a visually impaired person reading Braille. It then translates this into a certain number of strikes of its miniature hammers on its wire gongs.
Traditionally, there are two gongs: one high and one low in tone. Hours are represented by the low-pitched gong, minutes up to 14 by the high-pitched gong, and quarters by a combination of a high-low melody. The minute repeater is considered, by far, to be the most challenging complication to fine-tune and perfect. Minute repeaters are judged by the quality of their “voice” — the clarity, brightness, beauty and volume of their song. Accordingly, there are all sorts of arcane techniques relating to repeaters, such as hardening gongs in horse urine, etc.
OK, so if a minute repeater were the equivalent to wearing a black belt in terms of horological badassitude, then the ability to make a grande sonnerie would be analogous to the top Tiger Style master monk at Shaolin Temple in terms of martial arts prowess. A grande sonnerie always has a minute-repeater function, and moreover plays the time in passing, which a repeater cannot do. So, it plays the hours on the hours, and the hours and quarters on the quarters in passing. Grande sonneries also have a “petite” mode, which means the watch plays the hours on the hours, and only the quarters on the quarters. As I’ve mentioned, there have only been six watchmaking firms or watchmakers who have achieved this lofty goal.
Philippe Dufour was the first to introduce his masterpiece back in 1992, and has made a total of four grand-sonnerie watches with enamel dials and five with transparent sapphire dials; it is rumoured that he still occasionally cranks one of these out. What many people don’t know is that Dufour’s project was financed by Henry Tay of Singapore’s The Hour Glass.
The second person to achieve a grande sonnerie (a carillon with three gongs and three hammers) was the late Pierre-Michel Golay who was at Gérald Genta at the time and was able to modify an ébauche from an old Vallée de Joux pocket watch. As a result, Genta, and now Bulgari, has the ability to make this complication, which they combine with an automatic tourbillon no less.
While the Grandmaster Chime’s many complications are packaged in an ornate case, the ref. 6301P’s absolute zen-like focus on being the best grande sonnerie in the game, is reflected in its pure, sober and wonderfully elegant design. However, its apparent simplicity is an act of cunning subterfuge, as the watch is actually a vessel for extraordinary innovation and holds three patents.
Three Patents
Lastly, the third patent relates to an all-new jumping-seconds mechanism. The seconde morte complication preceded the chronograph as the most accurate way to measure time, and is one of the coolest complications around. Normally it functions by having a second escapement with a pallet and escape wheel that engages the seconds hand, but this system robs the watch of energy. As described earlier, Patek’s innovation does away with levers and springs, and functions only using wheels and a release lever, which consumes far less power and is easier to regulate and control.
The Movement
Just to give you some perspective, that’s a full 1,056 strikes the watch will perform in this 24-hour period. If that sounds like a lot, that is because this new grande sonnerie is a carillon with three hammers and three gongs. Each quarter is played as a high-low-medium melody. “There was a lot of discussion about the number of hammers and gongs for this watch,” says Philip Barat. “Essentially, it is the movement of the Grandemaster Chime without the additional alarm, date striking or calendar functions. As such, we were able to really focus on the sound. We made prototypes with four hammers and even five hammers. But as you increase the number of hammers, the strikes become less powerful, and eventually, Thierry Stern decided on three hammers and three gongs to get the right balance of power and beauty in the sound. Also while the Grandmaster Chime played alternating melodies for each quarter, here, it plays the same melody, which is always the combination of high-low-medium gongs in that order.”
Jasmina Steele says, “Collectors know that Thierry is involved in every aspect of the design, but he also oversees the movement both in terms of its aesthetics and its technical details. One nice detail here is the skeletonised Calatrava Cross is positioned over the fusée of the watch, so for the first time, you can see the flying regulator which Patek first created in the Calibre 89 without anything covering it.”
Beyond all its technical street cred, you can also see Patek’s unrivalled high level of finish lavishly and lovingly applied to the entirety of the movement — particularly evident in the sharp internal angles on the bridges, which can only be performed by the most skilful hands. The watch also comes complete with Patek’s signature Gyromax free-sprung balance and its Silinvar silicon hairspring; the latter enables the watch to be impervious to magnetism. As an aside, Silinvar is silicon with a deposit of silicon dioxide on it to compensate for the material’s reaction to thermal variation. This balance is found on a full traversing balance bridge for added stability.
Finally I love that Patek made the case in platinum because this is the hardest material to craft a great-sounding striking watch in. Because of platinum’s density, it is notorious for being a poor amplifier of sound. Journe overcame this by making his 700,000-euro 42mm sonnerie in steel, but to me, that has always seemed to be a bit of a copout. But this is not the path Patek decided to take. Instead, they decided to demonstrate that not only could they make the world’s best-sounding grande sonnerie, but that they could design it to be a masterpiece of stealth elegance and craft the case from the most challenging material possible — and still have it set a benchmark in terms of tonal quality that exceeds all others. I just love the sheer badassness of this statement from Patek Philippe to the rest of the watch world that essentially proclaims, if you will forgive my use of vernacular: “Y’all think you make grande sonneries? Here, hold my beer.”
The ref. 6301P is priced at CHF1,115,000 and will only be allocated to the very lucky few approved by Thierry Stern.