By Harlan Chapman-Green
Everyone remembers the completely unexpected pilot’s watch from Patek at Baselworld this year, if you don’t, click here. I’ll be honest when I say that we’re all fans of this watch here at WristReview, it unites two wonderful complications in perfect platinum encased harmony.
There’s still the dial styling found on the original 5205 reference Patek from back in 2010 when this model was launched, however, there are some tiny little details that Patek updated this time around. For example, there’s a new colour scheme to it and also the seconds hand for the chronograph has a minute scale. Still remaining is the large ring around the outer part of the dial containing the 3 calendar windows. A slight update to them is now the date window in the centre has a white gold frame around it. There are two other windows nearby, one contains the month and the other contains the name of the day, these windows don’t have a white gold frame, signalling that while they’re useful if you want to check the date with a passing glance the date window will be obvious to you. There’s also a slightly larger chronograph sub-dial than previously, and as a nice little practical touch in the form of lume applied to the dauphine style hands. Those hands give the watch extra kudos in my books simply because they’re my favourite style, well, those and Omega’s Broadarrow hands.
This watch is 42mm in diameter, that’s very large for a dressier piece, meaning that although it took a while the very top of the chain of watches has caught on with the trend of modernised, larger styling. They clearly couldn’t just bump up the sizes, that would be very indiscreet and very unlike brands such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and so on.
Within that platinum shell rests the automatic Patek Philippe Caliber CH 28-520 QA 24H column wheel chronograph annual calendar movement which has both a Spiromax and Gyromax hairspring and balance respectively. It’ll keep the time for a solid 55 hours before it stops, however, the chronograph will drain that more quickly than you think, so it’s best to run it only when you need it. It’s a 60 minute chronograph on this watch anyway, so while not so practical, the super rich have lots of time anyway. Also good to know is that this movement has a circular design decorated onto it as opposed to Geneva stripes, matching the 21K gold rotor. Following on from designs, I should mention that Patek is upping the ante with the new ‘modernising’ of this watch with the colours. Available are the usual black dial on a black leather strap, however there’s now also a deep, rich blue colour available on both the dial and the strap, take that discreetness.
Patek has wowed us again with this watch of beautiful craftsmanship and effortless elegance. It’s a real man’s watch and something every man should own at least once. For more info, please visit patek.com
Harlan Chapman-Green – Contributing Editor
First introduced to horology with the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 by his father few years ago, Harlan enjoys his passion for fine horology. He prefers to spend his time in the boutiques of upmarket brands, trying out new pieces constantly. His preferred 3 brands are A. Lange & Söhne, Breguet and Vacheron Constantin. Although not much for the smaller brands, he still finds the complications intriguing and wishes to own one watch from each of his three favourites. Read his articles here.
