Historic review

Baselworld 2010

Patek Philippe Geneva
March 2010
The grand tradition of Patek Philippe chronographs
Chronographs have always played an important role in the broad spectrum of complicated timepieces
that manifest Patek Philippe’s horological virtuosity. Just a few years after the manufacture wasestablished, it began to accrue expertise in short-time measurements and over a period of 150 years
crafted numerous chronographs, most of which are on display in the world’s most prestigious museum
collections. The few historic exemplars on the market are highly coveted among connoisseurs.
Patek Philippe’s chronograph heritage dates back more than 150 years
One of the earliest Patek Philippe chronographs was completed in 1856. It is pocket watch No. 10 051
with a large chronograph hand and jumping seconds (seconde foudroyante) in a subsidiary dial. It was
already capable of timing events with an accuracy of one-fourth of a second. It did not have a zeroreset mechanism and needed a separate key to be readied for every measurement.
Starting in the mid 19th-century, a few specialists began to dominate the production of chronographmovements, among them the Victorin Piguet Fils manufacture. The company was founded in Geneva
in 1880 but only three years later moved to the Vallée de Joux, a region that gradually evolved tobecome a stronghold for ultra-complex horological mechanisms. Victorin Piguet entertained aparticularly privileged relationship with Patek Philippe, crafting some of the most intricate movement
blanks in the company’s history for pocket watches that would eventually bear the Genevan
workshops’ signature. However, all movement modifications as well as component finissage processes
such as chamfering, perlage, polishing, and decorating were always performed in-house by Patek
Philippe’s master watchmakers.
The first Patek Philippe wrist chronographs
In 1923, Patek Philippe crafted its first wrist chronograph – a split-seconds chronograph, to be precise– on the basis of a small pocket watch movement blank. Around 1927, the workshops began toregularly produce wrist chronographs with and without the rattrapante function. They were presented ina wide variety of art-deco cases: round, square, rectangular, tonneau-shaped, and cushion shaped.
The models without rattrapante function were classic monopusher or three-phase chronographs whichallowed short-duration events to be timed with a single pusher in the winding crown. The sequence
was start, stop, and reset. Their column wheels were already crowned with polished caps that to thisvery day adorn the controller of Patek Philippe’s wrist chronographs and in the most recent models
have even been endowed with a new function. The early chronographs also incorporated classic
horizontal clutches and reset mechanisms with column-wheel-controlled hammers and heart cams.
Needless to say, Patek Philippe transformed these chronograph calibers into true masterpieces ofaesthetics as well. The edges of all bridges and steel parts are manually chamfered and polished. The
flat components are artistically decorated with Geneva striping and perlage. The screw slots are

Chemin du Pont-du-Centenaire 141 – CH - 1228 Plan-les-Ouates
Mail address: P.O. Box 2654 – CH - 1211 Geneva 2Tel. + 41 22 884 20 20 – Fax + 41 22 884 25 47 – www.patek.com

Continued 2

beveled, the teeth of steel wheels and the leaves of the pinions are individually smoothed and polishedwith hardwood disks. From the very beginning, the work involved in these meticulous finishingprocesses imposed a natural limit on the number of Patek Philippe wrist chronographs that theworkshops could complete.
Transfer of ownership and a new chronograph caliber
The grand era of Patek Philippe wrist chronographs began in the 1930s. Additionally, 1932 marked amajor transition point: Brothers Jean and Charles Stern acquired Patek Philippe from the lastdescendants of the manufacture’s founders. After an in-depth analysis of the American market, theycame to the conclusion that chronographs had a bright future. In 1934, the manufacture presented its
Ref. 130 wrist chronograph with pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock. This model would be the archetype of
Patek Philippe wrist chronographs for several decades. To provide a sustainable basis for chronographproduction, the new owners, together with their technical director Jean Pfister, evaluated the market forchronograph blanks. They discovered the column-wheel caliber 23VZ built by Reymond Frères in theVallée de Joux in an atelier that was renamed Valjoux SA in 1929. With a diameter of 13 lignes (about28 millimeters) and a height of 5.85 millimeters, the size of the blank was ideal for wristwatches inthose days. The escape and driving wheels were set on separate cocks, the index pointer received aswan’s neck precision regulator, and the chronograph bridge obtained its distinctive three-arm form. In
1939, Patek Philippe introduced its first chronograph with the modified Valjoux caliber. It was madeduring a period of twenty-five years and constituted the heart of timepieces that today, if at all, areavailable only through the world’s most prestigious auction houses. The caliber powered the Ref. 130
with rectangular pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock, the Ref. 1436 split-seconds chronograph, twochronographs with perpetual calendars (Refs. 1518 and 2499), the 1955 Ref. 2571 split-seconds
chronograph with perpetual calendar, and the one-of-a-kind timepiece completed in 1940 thatcombines the chronograph function with Louis Cottier’s ingenious World Time mechanism.
When the quartz crisis erupted and self-winding chronographs appeared in the 1970s, Valjoux SA saw
the fate of caliber 23VZ sealed. Its production was discontinued in 1974. But having built up aninventory in a timely manner, Patek Philippe still had a sufficient number of movement blanks tosustain the production of Ref. 2499 chronographs with perpetual calendars until 1985. But as stocks
neared depletion, alternate solutions were sought and an option was found not far away from Valjoux
SA at ébauche maker Nouvelle Lémania SA. The era of caliber CH 27-70 began to unfold.
Patek Philippe elevates caliber CH 27-70 to the benchmark in haute horlogerie chronographs
The CH 27-70 had all the classic features such as manual winding, column-wheel control, and thehorizontal clutch. But of course, this movement blank had to be totally reworked as well to meet Patek
Philippe’s strict standards. Nearly all supplied components were modified or replaced. For functionality
and traditional reasons, the escape-wheel and fourth-wheel cocks, the chronograph bridge, as well as
the configuration of the clutch lever were redesigned along the lines of the 1923 role model, the firstwrist chronograph. Tooth profile and transmission ratio changes allowed the torque curve to beoptimized and boosted the caliber’s power reserve by 20% to 60 hours. Of course, the heart of the newmovement is the Gyromax balance invented and patented by Patek Philippe as well as a hairspringwith a Phillips overcoil. Thanks to its frequency of 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour (2.5 Hz), thechronograph hand can be stopped at increments of one-fifth of a second. These modifications arefollowed by all the finissage processes, including chamfering, polishing, graining, satin-finishing, and all
the other manual decorations that make Patek Philippe calibers paragons of aesthetic beauty. As allother Patek Philippe movements of the era, this one was also hallmarked with the Geneva Seal.

Continued 3

In 1986, the profoundly enhanced caliber CH 27-70 ticked for the first time in the Ref. 3970
chronograph with perpetual calendar, a timepiece that instantly became an icon. It quickly became
known as the world’s most beautiful chronograph movement and convinced a growing number ofwatch collectors that waiting lists spanning several years were no deterrent. The Ref. 5070, without
additional complications, followed in 1998. At the same time, rumors began to circulate that Patek
Philippe was developing a chronograph caliber that would originate entirely in-house, like all its othermanufacture movements.
Total independence with three proprietary chronograph movements
Indeed, the manufacture was contemplating such a development because the systematic quest forindependence also implied total autonomy in the domain of chronography. However, its plans did not
really begin to materialize until the beginning of the new millennium. When the kickoff occurred, several
options were explored, including a classic configuration that would eventually supersede the CH 27-70,
but also along the lines of a modern self-winding construction with a vertical disk clutch.
The first debut took place in 2005: the Ref. 5959 split-seconds chronograph with the CHR 27-525 PSmovement. With a height of only 5.25 mm, it is the world’s thinnest column-wheel controlled rattrapantecaliber. These watches are crafted one by one and feature chronograph wheels with the new, patented
toothing profile that optimizes power transmission and reduces friction. The CHR 27-525 PS is also thefirst chronograph movement built entirely in Patek Philippe’s ateliers.
The next première took place in 2006. The whole world was expecting to be acquainted with thesuccessor of the CH 27-70 but instead witnessed the launch of the Ref. 5960P Annual Calendar
chronograph with a second proprietary development: the self-winding CH 28-520 IRM QA 24H
chronograph caliber with vertical clutch, Annual Calendar, power-reserve display, and 24-hourindication.
Finally, in 2009, ten years of speculation came to an end. Patek Philippe celebrated the inauguration ofits completely refurbished showrooms on Place Vendôme in Paris by presenting the CH 29-535 PS
chronograph caliber. So the company now has its own manually wound chronograph movement with aclassic column-wheel controller and masters all complications across the entire collection in-house. Asfar as the CH 29-535 PS is concerned, it embodies six patented technical innovations, including thetoothing profile unveiled with the launch of caliber CHR 27-525 PS. Of course, these movements will
display the Patek Philippe Seal from the very start. It is the hallmark introduced and published as a setof written directives by the Geneva-based manufacture last year to officially authenticate its benchmark
quality standards.
For further information, please contact:
Jasmina Steele
International Communication and Public Relations Director
Patek Philippe Genève
P.O. Box 2654
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel.: +41 22 884 20 20
Fax: +41 22 884 25 47
Or visit: www.patek.com