Discover Two Of Patek Philippe’s New 2024 Releases

Patek Philippe is revered for its mastery of high complications, which it calls “Grand Complications.” These include the minute repeater and perpetual calendar. A perpetual calendar watch shows the day of the week and the full date, including the date, month, year, and moon phase. They even account for leap years. To showcase this wealth of information, many perpetual calendar watches have relatively busy dials, using multiple dials to display the date legibly.

In 2021, Patek Philippe debuted a new patented way of telling time in a perpetual calendar wristwatch. At first glance, you wouldn’t think it was a perpetual calendar, which is part of the fun for those in the know. Instead of three or four subdials, it uses several apertures and a single large subdial in what’s called an in-line perpetual calendar. These have been used in pocket watches, but Patek Philippe miniaturized the components to incorporate this display into a wristwatch. It earned three patents for its ultra-thin automatic movement, Caliber 31-260 PS QL. Today, the Swiss manufacture unveils a new dial color for this unique watch.

Reference 5236P-010 comes in a 41.3mm platinum case that measures 11.07mm in height. The case was fully polished by hand. The dial is an opaline rose-gilt color inspired by vintage timepieces. It has applied white gold hour markers with a charcoal-gray finish. The baton-style hands tell the hours and minutes. At 12 o’clock, a large rectangular aperture shows the day, date, and month. While it might look simple enough, it was a huge technical feat. In order to display the date in this manner, Patek Philippe needed to place four disks on the same plane, all moving in tandem.

Two smaller apertures at 8 and 4 o’clock house the day/night indicator and the leap-year cycle. In this image, the date is Saturday, March 18th in the third year of a leap-year cycle. The subdial at 6 o’clock has a small seconds hand and a beautiful moon phase. A platinum mini-rotor powers the movement, which is visible through the sapphire crystal caseback. A solid platinum caseback is also available. The watch is finished with a shiny brown alligator leather strap with a platinum fold-over clasp.

Patek Philippe also unveiled a new women’s timepiece in the Twenty~4 collection, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The rose gold cuff-style watch pays homage to the original timepiece, as the collection has since expanded to include models with a round case. Like the first Twenty~4 watches, Reference 4910/1201R-010 has a quartz movement, Caliber E15. This timepiece has a stunning dial with a concentric wave motif. This embossed pattern is coated with dozens of layers of purple and translucent lacquer, which has a gorgeous, rich color and a high degree of shine. Applied Arabic numerals and hour markers finish the look. Both the markers and the hands are coated in a white luminescent coating for legibility at night. The rectangular two-tier case is set with two rows of brilliant-cut diamonds.