On the occasion of the “Rare Handcrafts 2020-2021” exhibition, the Genevan manufacture presents a world debut with new models of grand complication timepieces.
Since the company was founded in 1839, Patek Philippe has always considered its watches to be works of art that reflect the refined aesthetics of mechanical perfection. The quest for immaculacy and harmony comes to the fore in understated, elegant, and timeless designs. It is further emphasized by quality in craftsmanship and the manually executed finissage. With the same passion, Patek Philippe cultivates all techniques used to decorate timepieces, assuring that these skills are handed down from one generation to the next.
Ref. 6002R Sky Moon Tourbillon
Launched in 2001, the Ref. 5002 Sky Moon Tourbillon is Patek Philippe’s second most complicated wristwatch and has become one of the grand complications most coveted by collectors and connoisseurs. Now, the manufacture has endowed this emblematic timepiece with a new face, combining the warm shimmer of rose gold with brown grand feu enamel. The periphery of the dial, the moon-phase aperture, and the moon of the rotating disc are executed in champlevé enamel. With this technique, the base metal must first be precisely milled out so that individual elements such as the minute scale remain relieved.
Then, the recesses are manually filled with enamel compound. The center of the dial features a decor in grand feu cloisonné enamel that was created with the help of thin flat gold wire. The case, the crowns, the repeater slide, and the fold-over clasp are manually engraved with a motif of volutes and arabesques on all sides. The master engraver invests more than 100 hours of work and considerable patience to complete the process to the highest standards.
The Sky Moon Tourbillon combines 12 fascinating complications, including a tourbillon and a minute repeater that strikes on cathedral gongs. The front dial shows a perpetual calendar with a retrograde date, a moon-phase display and the leap year cycle. The other side shows a celestial chart on which the apparent motion of the moon and the stars can be viewed from the northern hemisphere. To orchestrate the grand ballet of the celestial bodies, Patek Philippe developed a system of three superposed discs that move in different, precisely calculated trajectories.
The new Sky Moon Tourbillon Reference 6002R-001 is paired with a patinated chestnut alligator leather strap secured by a hand-engraved rose gold fold-over clasp.
