World of Patek Philippe

ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD

On 4 October 1958, BOAC, forerunner of today’s British Airways flew the first transatlantic jet flight. One plane took off from London shortly before 9am, and a few hours later, at about 7am local time, another left New York’s Idlewild Airport bound for London. The jet age had begun. In 1960, Patek Philippe launched a timepiece for it: the Reference 2597, also known as the “Cross Country” or “Two Time Zone”. Push-pieces at eight and ten o’clock advanced or retarded the hour hand without needing to touch the crown. “A watch of Patek Philippe’s high accuracy may be slightly disturbed when its owner is obliged to set it an hour or two ahead or back,” the company elucidated at the time.

The Reference 2597 was designed by Louis Cottier. When it came to travel watches, Cottier was a genius, whose chef d’oeuvre is denoted chez Patek with the two-letter suffix HU (“Heures Universelles”). Dating from the 1930s, the first worldtime watch featured an inner ring with 12 hours, an outer ring with 24-hour markers, plus over 30 cities and locations, representing the respective time zones, including – amusingly – the Klondike. It was a revelation: it allowed users to read the time anywhere around the world by simply aligning their local city at 12 o’clock.

As elegant as it was simple, it marked the beginning of a long and illustrious journey for Patek Philippe in the realm of travel watches that has resulted in some of the most coveted timepieces the world of horology has to offer. Today, collectors are prepared to part with six-, occasionally even seven-figure sums to acquire rare mid-century examples of Patek’s HU watches: the Ref. 1415 HU (manufactured from 1939 to the mid-1950s) and the Ref. 2523 HU which replaced it and remained in production until the mid-1960s.

MASTERPIECES IN ENAMEL

The late sixties represent the golden age of travel – and these watches reflected the very best of life above the clouds. Especially coveted by collectors are those models with exquisite enamel dials, many of which depict miniature world maps. True works of art, they speak of a lost world when travel was a privilege and a pleasure. And they are perfect examples of Patek Philippe at its best: synthesising mechanical complexity, horological innovation, practicality and beauty And it is the same qualities that guide Patek Philippe’s traveller- oriented watches today. The first modern-era world-time watch, the Ref. 5110, made its debut at the dawn of the current century. It featured a modernised version of Cottier’s invention that improved usability in particular, by introducing a pusher at 10 o’clock for easy adjustment of the city ring and local time. The Reference 5110 set a new standard for modern world-timers and has been succeeded by the References 5130 and 5230. And the tradition of the jewel-bright cloisonné enamel has made a triumphant return on the recently launched Ref. 5231. And for those who like to mix their complications, there is the Reference 5930, an extremely elegantly realized combination of a self-winding world-timer with a flyback chronograph.

A NEW TWO-TIME-ZONE DISPLAY 

Alongside the blossoming of the modern HU models, the “Travel Time”, with its two-time-zone display has been developed: the rugged “Aquanaut Travel Time” Ref. 5164 appeared in 2011; in 2014, the ever-desirable Nautilus range added the “Travel Time Chronograph” (Ref. 3990). As its name suggests, the “Calatrava Pilot” (Ref. 5520) is a natural home for the simple two-time-zone display of the remarkable Alarm Travel Time. It is instantly recognisable thanks to the quartet of pushers punctuating the case wall. 

But perhaps my favourite is the Reference 5326. It combines the elegance of the Clous de Paris case band and textured anthracite dial with the travel time function with day/night indication, and further adds an annual calendar, to create a watch of rare sophistication and aesthetic harmony. If only the reality of modern travel were as chic as the globetrotting watches made by Patek Philippe!