Patek Philippe
History of the Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
Patek Philippe
History of the Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
Without retelling the entire history of Patek suffice it to say that it was founded in 1845 by Antoine Norbert de Patek and Adrien Philippe. In 1932 the company was acquired by Charles and Jean Stern. In 1958 Charles’ son Henri who had been Patek’s importer to the United States succeeded him as president and in turn his son the now legendary Philippe Stern took the Patek’s reigns in 1977.
1941-1954 Patek Philippe 1518
• Mostly yellow gold
• Aprox. 55 pieces in rose gold
• 4 pieces in steel
• Rumored 3 pieces steel and rose gold
The 1518 is in every way the Primus, the Alpha, the unequivocal first of its kind. It would define the aesthetic and technical blueprint of every single perpetual calendar chronograph that would come after. And even in instances where the design or layout of this complication differs from this watch, be it double retrograde as with Roger Dubuis or triple in-line windows as with Patek, it is fair to say these designs are a reaction to the iconic status of the 1518. The case of the 1518 is relatively straightforward. It is features straight thin lugs, a thin slightly concaved bezel, a large winding crown and rectangular chronograph pushers, all made by Georges Croisier.
But it is in the design that it is so iconic. The 1518 created the now familiar layout for perpetual calendar chronograph information, with day and month in two windows beneath the 12 o’clock index. The perimeter of its dial features at its outermost edge a base 1000 tachymeter scale – this is actually quite amusing that in the context of 1941 they thought they might need to time objects up to this speed – and an ingenious chemin de fer track with marks for the 1/5th of the second (corresponding with the Valjoux movement’s 18,000 vph) at the outer edge and for minutes/seconds on its inner edge. A subdial at 9 o’clock provided a reading for continuous seconds and a subdial at 3 o’clock displayed the chronograph minute counter.
1950-1985 Patek Philippe 2499
• Yellow, white and rose gold
• Two watches in platinum; one in the Patek collection the second sold at auction for Patek’s 150th anniversary in 1989 and purchased by Eric Clapton. Auctioned by Christie’s in 2012 for US$3.6 million
First Series 1950 to mid 1950s
The most valuable series of 2499 features Arabic markers, a tachymeter scale and rectangular pushers. What is the most valuable 2499 in the world? Based on the amount it achieved at auction it would be this first series 2499 double signature watch, the only one known in existence to feature an Asprey signature which sold for USD 3,879,843 at Sotheby’s GE1804 ‘ASPREY’ auction.
Second Series 1955 to 1960s
The second most valuable series of 2499 features Arabic or baton markers for the hours, a tachymeter scale and round pushers. The second series watches could also be double signature watches, check out this incredible 2499 second series with Tiffany stamped dial on a bracelet here chronicled by our friend SJX.
Third Series 1960-1978
This series is the most common and does not have a tachymeter, uses baton markers for the hours, round pushers but retains the acrylic crystal of its predecessors.
Fourth Series 1978-1986
This series is similar to the third series but now features a sapphire crystal. In 1985 just before the end of the production run the Stern family commissioned two platinum watches to be made. One was kept in the Patek Philippe collection while the other was auctioned as part of the celebrations for the brand’s 150th anniversary. That watch ended up in the hands of renowned Patek collector Eric Clapton before surfacing at auction at Christie’s thanks to Aurel Bacs and in 2012 achieved US$3.63 million including buyer’s premium.
1985-2004 Patek Philippe 3970
4,200 watches
Stern who would already be well on his way to becoming one of the most revered near mythological figures in the watch industry would create a watch that was Zen reductionist purity in extremitas. Says Foulkes, “That is what is so appealing about the 3970, it rejects any form of unnecessary flourish and focuses on the perfect execution of the perpetual calendar chronograph reduced to its barest essence.” Everything about the 3970 is discreet and understatedly appealing.
First Series 1986
100 watches
Second Series 1986-1991
Third Series 1991-2004
The difference in the third and most common series of watches is the designation “E” for Etache or Waterproof after the model number. Watches all now come with both a sapphire screw back and a solid screw back, a practice which would continue with the subsequent models. The idea is that owners could have the option of viewing their sumptuously decorated Geneva Seal movement, a tradition that reaches all the way back to the 1518 or could personalize the solid case back with an inscription, initials or coat of arms. The front of the watch differs as well in that all third series watches feature thinner baton hands and long, more attenuated markers replete with sharp diamond tips. These markers now almost touch the bolder arrow shaped printed indicators that point at the Arabic markers for each 5th second on the seconds track.
End-of-Series Watches and Special Order Watches
In 2003, just before the 3970 was discontinued, several end-of-series special order watches were made including this incredible Arabic index platinum model. Note that the dial features the off-color subdials normally associated with the first series watches, and stunning black rhodium baton-shaped later series style hands and unique Arabic indexes. Indeed, on close inspection this watch appears to be a 3970 with a platinum 5004 dial and 3970 hands.
It should be noted that the very first time Patek abbreviated a track to accommodate the date display was with the seconds track in some first or second series 2499 watches.
But this way of abbreviating the tachymeter was something never done before in either of the 3970’s predecessors. Looking at images of the 1518 you will see a fully articulated ring around the date indications at 6 o clock, a fully realized seconds track and the tachymeter placed to the exterior which makes it harder to read because the font for the speed is so small. The first two series of the 2499 use the same arrangement though some dials feature an open date display that merges into the second track. With the unique dials of the 3970 / 5004 the inversion of the seconds track and tachymeter means that the tachymeter gains far greater visibility and is much easier to use.
London Exhibition Watches
The “Eric Clapton” style dial 3970 was revived in 2015 during the Saatchi Gallery exhibition for the brand’s 175th anniversary during which a stunning rose gold model of the 3970 was introduced featuring a black Arabic 12, applied dot index dial with tachymeter. If you look here at the images of the London Exhibition 3970 you will see that the dial is actually the same as the dial used in this 5004 made expressly for Eric Clapton.
5020 cushioned shaped perpetual calendar chronograph 1993-1999
• Approximate number of watches 300
Because of the model’s initial unpopularity it was discontinued after a couple of years and as such it is speculated that no more than 300 examples of this watch exists.
Eventually collectors must have come around to them, as the rarity of these watches has caused them to be auctioned for prices in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
5004 Perpetual Calendar with Split Second Chronograph 1994-2012
• All metals around 200 watches
• 50 end-of-series watches in steel with owners’ names engraved on the caseback
It is commonly known that the most challenging complication to craft is the minute repeater, a watch that plays the time in hours, quarters and minutes on wire gongs. However while many think the tourbillon is the second most challenging watch to fabricate, experts know that this is actually the split seconds chronograph. And the 5004 was no exception. Said Philippe Stern, “The problem was that the Lemania 2310 or CH 27, was never intended to be a split seconds chronograph. We had two major challenges. The first was the pinion that all the hands – hours, minutes, chronograph seconds and split seconds – had to be made even longer and we were really stretching the limits of what was possible. Even the slightest mistake it was easy to bend this pinion. And second thing was that the CH 27 would experience rattrapante drag each time the split seconds function was activated.”
Patek’s solution to this issue was both beautiful and ingenious. It created a second mechanism known as an isolater, that sits on top of the split seconds brake. When the function is activated the isolater lifts the return lever off the heart cam so that there is no pressure placed on it. When the split seconds function is released it pushes the lever back into the heart cam so that it instantly resets. This mechanism is known amongst collectors as the “Octopus” because its shape resembles that of a the multi-tentacled sea creature.
The 5004 was launched in 1994, nearly a full decade after the debut of the 3970 and was only discontinued in 2012. It is said that Patek made around 12 watches per year so during its 17 year run that means that only 204 watches were made which seems too low. An additional 50 watches were made in steel to celebrate the end of series for this now mythological timepiece and each owner’s name was engraved in the back.
The dial of the 5004 is one of the most beautiful ever created by Patek, taking the Arabic indexes of the 1518 and the first two series 2499 watches and merging them with an otherwise classic minute and seconds track with slight abbreviation of the minute track to accommodate the date display from the 13th to the 19th. The steel watches feature a totally different dial characterized by baton markers. All models of the 5004 feature leaf shape hands. As mentioned there were several unique dial executions for the 5004. You can see Eric Clapton’s black dial, Arabic 12 and applied dot dial with tachymeter here.
There is also this incredible watch with a similar configuration only with a Roman 12 and incredible luminous hands and indexes here.
There was one unique watch created in titanium for the 2013 Only Watch Auction which achieved an incredible result of 3.98 million dollars.
2004-2010 Patek Philippe 5970
• 2,800 watches
• Rose and White gold the most common, made from 2004-2008 (1,000-1,250 each)
• Yellow gold the rarest and made only in 2008 (100-300)
• Platinum made from 2008-2010 (300-500)
Said Thierry Stern in an interview with Nick Foulke’s for Revolution found here, “Looking back I could see that it was a test to see if I could become an adult in terms of design at Patek. The only brief my father gave me was, ‘Ok, make your own choices.'” After thinking about it long and hard, Stern decided to create a watch that would represent a bridge between his father’s generation and his: “I decided to design a watch that could be worn by either my father or myself… For me it is one of the few pieces, perhaps the only pieces that is the mix of two generations of the Stern family.”
Stern began with one critical design criteria which was to make his watch 40 mm in diameter to aid visibility. Says Stern. “My key focus was legibility. For that I needed more space than the 3970 allowed. The indication of the day and month were giving me so much trouble that I came very close to including a magnifier on the glass to enable them to be read easily. But that would have been too radical. Instead, I worked to make it as simple as possible and we tried around 20 different dials.”
Next Stern brought back the tachymeter scale that was used to great effect with the Patek 1518 and the first two series 2499 watches. The tachymeter also served one other important purpose. That is to ensure the subdials of the watch did not feel stranded in the center of the dial. Nick Foulkes explains, “Thierry had to be careful that the subdials did not seem marooned in the middle of a comparatively empty dial. At 40mm the 5970 was by no means big for its day, but it allowed the sub-dials space to breathe; as a result the date on the subdial at 6 o’clock is noticeably more legible, as Thierry made that subdial bigger. However, any sense of agoraphobia is banished with the tachymeter that provides what is in effect a circular frame for the familiar yet subtly different layout.”
Here’s some further insight into the 5970. The rose and white gold watches were made concurrently from 2004 to 2008 and it is believed that 1,000 to 1,250 examples of each of these exist. The yellow gold version was made for one year only in 2008, making it the rarest of all metals with an estimated 100-300 created. The 5970 was produced in platinum for two years from 2009-2010 with an estimated 300-500 made. What’s interesting about the platinum watches is they are set apart from the other 5970s with two discreet but clear differences. The first is that each case is set with a diamond at 6 o’clock. And the second is that the marker for 120 appears on the tachymeter scale whereas in the other versions the word “Swiss” appears. In this case, “Swiss” is subtly integrated into the seconds track below. This is the only regular production 5970 where the 120 marker appears.
2011-today Patek Philippe 5270
The movement first made its debut in 2009, in of all things, a ladies’ chronograph. But it was clear from that moment that it was intended to do duty as the base for all of Patek’s manual-wind chronographs. Says Thierry Stern, “The advantage to the CH 29 is that it was designed from the ground up to function with a perpetual calendar as with the 5270 or even a perpetual calendar as well as a split seconds function as we offer with the 5204. In comparison we had to reverse engineer the capacity to have these functions with the CH 27.”
The new CH 29 was without a doubt a far more advanced and technically superior movement. First it beat at a far more modern 28,8000 vibrations versus the CH 27’s 18,000 making it far more stable against micro-shocks. Second it featured a precise jumping minute counter. While not the first chronograph movement to accomplish this – Lange and Chopard L.U.C had already achieved this – the CH 29 also featured six patents unique to Patek.
The first three related to the elimination of chronograph backlash. This happens when the teeth of the chronograph drive wheel and the chronograph seconds wheel mate imprecisely causing the chrono seconds hand to either leap forward or backwards, undermining its accuracy. Patek combated this with a patent on an optimized tooth profile, so the teeth of these wheels engaged better. Its second patent related to improved penetration adjustment between clutch and chronograph wheels. This allowed more precise adjustment of the depth engagement of these wheels, also a factor in back lash. And third it took a patent on the improved synchronization between clutch lever and blocking lever, which improved the interaction between the braking mechanism and the drive mechanism for the chrono so that the chrono seconds hand was stopped and started as accurately as possible.
The remaining three patents related to improving the reset function of the chronograph. Patent four was for a pierced out minute counter cam, patent five for self-setting return to zero hammers and patent six for hammers pivoted between jewels. These were all subtle improvements that collectively introduced a whole new level of function.
Regarding the design of the 5270, the watch has now undergone four incarnations and it is interesting to look at the progression related to this over the years. During this time design has changed only for the dial while the 41 mm case with flared lugs, in essence a larger size 5970 case, has remained the same.
2011 First Series no tachymeter
• White gold silver dial
This causes both subdials to drop well below into the lower half of the dial, which in turn pushes the large sized date/moonphase display at 6 o’clock to the bottom of the dial. Now this is entirely fine when the perimeter of the dial features a double layer chemin de fer minute and seconds track but no tachymeter. Though collectors were puzzled that the seconds track was divided into 1/5th seconds rather than 1/8th second to correspond to the movement’s vibrational speed. But things get a little bit more complicated when Patek decided to add a tachymeter back to the watch with the second series beginning in 2013.
2013 Second Series integrated tachymeter and seconds track with “Chin”
• White gold opaline dial
• White gold blue sunray dial in 2014
2015 Third Series classic tachymeter and seconds integration similar to 5970
2018 Fourth Series Gold on bracelet and Salmon dial with Arabic Indexes
But as dynamic as the rose gold 5270 on bracelet was, it was eclipsed at the 2018 Basel Watch Fair by another Patek 5270 that paid incredible tribute to the Stern family’s history with this complication and that is a platinum case watch with a stunning salmon dial. In the history of the Patek perpetual calendar chronograph salmon dials were reserved for very special watches. You can see an image of Eric Clapton’s salmon dial 3970 with Arabic 12 here.
And there were the platinum case salmon dial 5970 watches with Roman 12’s that were part of the end-of-series 4-watch box sets. Then there were the white gold salmon dial London Exhibition 5970s from 2015. But this was the first time that a salmon dial perpetual chronograph had been made as a general release.
Further the watch featured something not seen on a regular production perpetual chronograph since the 1950s and that was Arabic indexes which ended with the second series 2499 watches. The fact that Patek chose to revive these indexes here instantly made this new watch a cult collectible. Further, because of the size of the black rhodium treated Arabic indexes they serve to perfectly fill the larger empty space left across the top of the dial by relegating the three subdials below the horizon line. The result is the single most balanced and attractive 5270 in the model’s history. It is simply epic.
Ref. 5204: From 2012 – Present day
So when approaching the isolator mechanism of the new 5204, Patek went back to the drawing board. And the first thing they did was get rid of the isolator wheel spring mounted on the split seconds wheel. Instead they ingeniously integrated this spring as part of the split seconds column wheel cap. The second thing they did was design an isolator that can move back and forth in two directions and thus doesn’t have to overcome the force of the brake spring which is much better for long term reliability.
The first model on the 5204’s maiden launch was a platinum case beauty with a silvered solid gold dial and luminous hands and indexes. To me this was a wink to the special order luminous 5004 watches owned by collectors such as John Mayer and Mike Ovitz. The dial of the 5204 is also distinguished by a moonphase indicator that opens across the lower half of the 6 o’clock subdial.
Ref. 5372 perpetual calendar monopusher split seconds chronograph: 2017 – Present day
• Platinum case with either blue or salmon dial.
On the dial side the changes continue most noticeably with the moonphase indicator shifted to 12 o’clock and the day display integrated into the subdial at 9 o’clock and the month of the year located within the subdial at 3 o’clock. There is also a day/night indicator at 7:30 and a leap year indicator at 4:30.