PATEK PHILIPPE – Calibre 89 - The Most Complicated Watch in the World with 33 Complications
Unveiled in 1989, the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 is the world’s most
complicated watch which features 33 complications such as sidereal time,
second time zone, time of sunrise and sunset, equation of time,
perpetual calendar, century leap year correction, century, decade and
year indication, four year cycle indication, season, equinox, solstice
and Zodiac indication, star chart, phases and age of the moon, date of
Easter indication, split-seconds chronograph, hour and minute recorders,
Westminster chime on four gongs, “Grande and Petite Sonnerie”, alarm,
up/down indicators for the going and striking train, three way setting
indicator, winding crown position indicator, thermometer and Tourbillon
regulator. This ultimate art of horology surpassed the record of Leroy 01, One of the most complicated watches in the world, which owned the title as the most complicated watch since 1900.
Only four models were ever made – one each in yellow, pink, and white
gold, and one in platinum. All four timepieces were initially purchased
by a single Royal family. The collection was dispersed in the early
2000's: the yellow gold watch was bought by an important collector and
was in his private museum; the pink gold watch was bought by an
important Italian collector; the platinum watch was bought by a
Middle-Eastern Royal family, to be placed in their private museum; the
white gold watch auctioned for a superlative price of CHF 6.6 million in
Antiquorum auction in 2004. In 2009, the Yellow Gold
Calibre 89 was
sold for a total of CHF 5,120,000 to a private collector in Asia.
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The yellow gold watch has a front dial in cream colour with applied
yellow gold Breguet numerals, retrograde date sector, hour and minute
recording dials combined with the power reserve sectors for the going
and striking trains, moon phase, year, month, day and four-year cycle
apertures, second time zone, thermometer, winding crown position
indicator, alarm indicator, outer 1/5th seconds scale with five
minute/seconds red Arabic markers and subsidiary constant seconds. Blued
steel and yellow gold hands.
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The back dial features silvered with hours of sidereal time, date of
Easter sector,sun-rise and sun-set dials, subsidiary sidereal seconds,
equation of time sector, sun hand and aperture for the star chart. Blued
steel and yellow gold hands.
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The
Calibre 89 is an open-faced astronomical clock watch with two main
dials and has 33 complications which fall into five main categories:
timekeeping, the calendar, the chronograph, the chime and the
operational functions. The
Calibre 89 was built by a team of watchmakers
at
Patek Philippe, Geneva, to mark the company’s 150th anniversary.
Preliminary calculations and designs were started in 1980, a working
prototype was ready in July 1988, and the watch was finally completed in
April 1989. The standards of manufacture are commensurate with the
requirements of the Geneva Seal. This poincon or hallmark is awarded to
Geneva-made watches that meet the standards of manufacture described in
the laws of the Republic and Canton of Geneva of November 6, 1886,
amended on October 23, 1959, governing the inspection of watches.
The movement of the
Calibre 89 is on four levels contained on three
plates made of maillechort - an alloy also known as German silver. The
126-jewel movement is driven by a single mainspring barrel and regulated
by a tourbillon regulator. Two other mainspring barrels power the chime
and the alarm. The movement has a diameter of 71.5 millimeters,
including the mountings for the plates, and is 28.05 millimeters thick.
It weighs 600 grams (19.29 oz). On this side of the main plate are found
the mechanisms for the chime, the alarm, the 12-hour recorder and the
power reserve (up-down) indicators for the chime and movement.
The movement contains 1278 parts, including 332 screws, 184 wheels, 61
bridges, 68 springs, 126 jewel bearings, 24 hands, eight discs, two main
dials and 429 composite mechanical components. The mechanisms for mean
time, the chronograph, and the 30-minute recorder, as well as the
tourbillon, are mounted on the other side of the main plate. The
tourbillon can be seen on the left at about 8 o’clock.
The functions of the watch are controlled and set by 12 external
slide-pieces, push pieces and winders. The second plate holds the
mechanisms for the functions of the sidereal dial, namely: sidereal
time, the seasons, solstices, equinoxes and zodiacs, the times of sunset
and sunrise, the equation of time, the date of Easter and the star
chart. The crenulated cam for the date of Easter, surmounted by its
snail cam, can be seen just below the engraved bridge at the top.
The mechanisms for the secular perpetual calendar, the second time zone
indicator, the phases of the moon and the thermometer are supported by
the third plate, which faces the mean time dial. The secular perpetual
calendar mechanism is under the disc bearing the names of the months at
the right of the movement. The century wheel and its satellite that
completes a revolution every 400 years, are hidden by the bridge plate
at 3 o’clock.
The tourbillon regulator, invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823),
compensates for errors arising when the watch adopts different
positions in relation to the prevailing gravitational field. The design
requires the balance wheel and escapement mechanism to be mounted in a
cage which itself revolves, usually at one revolution per minute. The
tourbillon ensures that the load is evenly distributed on all sides of
every bearing in the regulator, largely irrespective of the changing
position of the watch.
In the
Calibre 89, improvements were made to Breguet’s original concept.
Instead of placing the tourbillon regulator in its traditional position
as part of the fourth wheel of the main drive-train, the fourth wheel
engages the cogged rim of the tourbillon’s cage. The fourth wheel of the
train not only drives the seconds hand and the tourbillon, but also the
chronograph and the 32-wheel mechanism of sidereal time.
The principal elements of the cage are made of titanium. The cage and
escapement are made of 54 pieces and weigh 0.73 grams. The cage revolves
once every two minutes. The escapement is of the straight-line, Swiss
lever type. The escape wheel has 20 teeth. The Gyromax Balance Wheel The
balance wheel is of the Gyromax type with variable inertia, vibrating
at 18,000 beats an hour, or five times a second. The balance wheel and
its inertia blocks are cut from 14K gold.
The Gyromax is a monometallic balance wheel having inertia blocks
arranged around its circumference. The inertia blocks, which are slotted
gold weights mounted on pins, provide an elegant means of adjusting the
balance wheel, for they may be turned to increase or reduce the
effective radius of the balance wheel at one or another point on its
circumference. The Gyromax balance wheel enables the regulatory
mechanism of the Calibre 89 to be adjusted with greater precision and
convenience than regulators equipped with the conventional index. The
hairspring is free-sprung with a Breguet overcoil. The 19 pieces making
up the balance wheel assembly, with its arbor and mounting, weigh 0.98
grams.
The Gyromax balance wheel was invented by
Patek Philippe & Cie, and
is protected by Swiss patent No. 261431 of May 15, 1949 and Swiss patent
No. 280067 of December 31, 1951.
The open-face case for the
Calibre 89 complicated watch is cut from
three pieces of 18K yellow gold. The case, in the Geneva “bassine”
style, consists of a central case band which supports the movement, and
two bezels in which the protecting glasses are set.
The pendant and winding-stem are at 12 o’clock according to the pattern
established by the French watchmaker Jean-Antoine Lépine and which bears
his name. The neck of the pendant is a boss that forms an integral part
of the case band. The two main dials are made from discs of 14K gold,
with a vapor of silver condensed on their surfaces to form an opalescent
coating. The dials are mounted directly on the second and third plates
of the movement. The glasses are made of corundum (sapphire) crystal and
will resist scratches from virtually every common material except
diamond.
They are in the shape of a circle cut from the surface of a hollow
sphere. The case has a diameter of 88.2 millimeters and is 36.55
millimeters thick without the glass, and 41.07 millimeters thick with
the glass. It weighs 500 grams (16.075 oz). The total weight of the
watch is 1100 grams (35.365 oz).
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The hours and minutes of mean time are recorded by blued-steel hands in
the Breguet style against a scale marked in 18K gold Breguet numerals
applied in relief. The seconds are indicated by a straight, small
seconds hand rotating in a subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock on the solar
dial. Mean time may be set by pulling the winding crown up to the
position B and moving the slide-piece at 11 o’clock to CL.
The hands are then made to advance by turning the winding crown
anti-clockwise. The unit of time according to which most clocks and
watches record time is the mean second - an 86,400th part of the mean
day. The mean day is a constant unit of time calculated from the average
length of 365 apparent solar days. The length of an apparent solar day,
which is the period between the sun’s successive transits of the
observer’s meridian, changes according to the Earth’s position in its
elliptical orbit, and is thus not suitable as a basis for timekeeping.
A gold Breguet hour hand indicates the hours of a second time zone
against the main scale of the solar dial. The independent hour hand is
mounted on the canon pinion of the hour wheel, but it can be moved
forwards in increments of one hour with each pressure on the push-piece
at 11 o’clock. The mechanism for the independent hour hand is based on a
design patented in Switzerland by
Patek Philippe & Cie on July 31,
1959 under the number 340191. The independent hour hand enables a
traveler to adjust his watch according to the standard time in different
time zones without advancing the minute hand.
Indications
The Mean Time Dial
1. - Day of the month
2. - Hours of mean time
3. - 12-hour recorder
4. - Up-down chime
5. - Day of the week
6. - Hour in a second time zone
7.- Chronograph
8. - Seconds of mean time
9. - Phases of the moon
10. - Winding crown-position indicator
11. - Century, decade and year
12. - Year in the four-year cycle
13. - Minutes of mean time
14. - 30-minute recorder
15. - Up-down movement
16. - Month
17. - Split seconds
18. - Thermometer
The Sidereal Time Dial
19. - Hours of sidereal time
20. - Date of Easter
21. - Minutes of sidereal time
22. - Time of sunrise
23. - Equation of time
24. - Seconds of sidereal time
25. - Star chart
26. - Sun hand
27. - Time of sunset
The equation of time is indicated by a blued steel hand against a
penannular scale at 12 o’clock on the sidereal dial. The scale ranges
from minus 17 minutes to plus 17 minutes.
The movement of the hand is governed by a cam driven off the mechanism
for sidereal time. The equation of time indicated corresponds to the
season shown by the sun hand, which is also driven by the sidereal time
mechanism. The equation of time is the difference in minutes between
mean time and apparent solar time. It is a conversion factor that ranges
from plus 14 minutes and 59 seconds (on or about February 12) to minus
16 minutes and 15 seconds (on or about November 3). On or about April
15, June 14, September 1 and December 24, the value of the equation of
time is zero.
Knowledge of the equation of time is necessary for navigators who
observe the altitude of the true sun at a time noted from a watch
keeping mean time.
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The sidereal time is shown on the sidereal dial by blued-steel hands in
the Breguet style against a 24-hour scale. The sidereal seconds are
indicated by a straight, small seconds-hand revolving in a subsidiary
dial at 12:00.
The 32-wheel movement for sidereal time is driven from the fourth wheel
of the main movement. The conversion of mean time to sidereal time is
made through a reduction train which results in a sidereal second equal
to 0.9972677 of a mean second in the
Calibre 89 watch. The sidereal
second recorded by the
Calibre 89 is thus slightly shorter than the true
sidereal second, which is 0.9972696 of a mean second.
The sidereal time shown by the
Calibre 89 gains on mean time at a rate
of 3.94512 minutes a day, which means that, it will have gained a full
24 hours in a year. Sidereal time may be set by pulling the winding
crown to position B and setting the slide-piece to CS. The hands of
sidereal time are advanced by turning the winding crown anti-clockwise.
Advancing the hands indicating sidereal time also causes the sun hand
and the star chart to advance proportionally.
The unit of sidereal time is the sidereal day, which is the period
between the successive transits of the observer’s meridian by the vernal
equinox, also known as the first point of Aries. The first point of
Aries, being a hypothetical point, is at an infinite distance from the
observer. As a point of reference it enables a more regular scale of
time than that afforded by using the sun as a reference. Sidereal time
is of interest to the navigator who needs to determine the hour-angle of
a star.
The hours and minutes of sunrise at Geneva (latitude 46° 11’ 59” north),
corresponding to the time of year indicated by the sun hand, are shown
on a clock face on a subsidiary dial at 16:00 on the sidereal dial. The
hours and minutes of sunset are shown on a similar clock face at 08:00.
The indication of the time of sunset and sunrise is governed by
cam-based mechanisms. The cams can be replaced for latitudes other than
that of Geneva.
The times indicated are within five minutes of true sunset or sunrise,
which is when the sun’s upper limb is on the true horizon of an observer
at sea level. True sunset or sunrise is normally corrected to allow for
the refraction of the earth’s atmosphere.
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