The sound of history
To pay tribute to its 175th anniversary, Patek Philippe created a collection of limited-edition commemorative timepieces, and one of them stands out in particular. It is the so far most complicated wristwatch of the eminent family-owned watchmaking companies and decidedly one of the world's most elaborate wristwatches.
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This is due not only to the number of complications involved but also to the horological degrees of complexity, two of which have been added to the annals of watchmaking for the first time. Moreover, the Grandmaster Chime is the first double-face wristwatch presented by Patek Philippe that can be worn with either dial facing up: the one that focuses on the time and the sonnerie, the other dedicated to the full instantaneous perpetual calendar. Changing the face is very simple thanks to the ingenious reversing mechanism in the lugs. It is amazingly easy to operate and firmly secures the case in the selected position. Incidentally, the information for which a watch is most frequently consulted – the current time and the date – is displayed on both dials. The ultimate in user-friendliness and safety is assured with intelligent mechanisms that prevent potentially damaging manipulations and thus reliably protect the highly complex movement with its intricate cosmos of tiny parts.
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Patek Philippe's
Grandmaster Chime is a wrist -format timekeeping
instrument of absolutely unprecedented complexity and ingenuity that
establishes new benchmarks in terms of technical and aesthetic elegance.
Its double-face case with a diameter of 47 mm, it accommodates four
spring barrels and no fewer than 20 complications, including coveted
functions such as a Grande and Petite Sonnerie, a minute repeater, an
instantaneous perpetual calendar with a four-digit year display, a
second time zone, and two patented global debuts in the domain of
chiming watches: an acoustic alarm that strikes the alarm time and a
date repeater that sounds the date on demand. Four additional patents
emphasize the innovative thrust behind this watch.
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The
Grandmaster Chime is a striking example of the "intelligent watch" as envisioned by
Patek Philippe's philosophy. To protect complicated timepieces against damage caused by inadvertent manipulations, the manfacture's engineers devised clever "isolators" that interrupt the flow of power between individual mechanisms or block certain functions while others are active. The engraved inscriptions and symbols on the case and the pushers are further hallmarks of convenience that make the
Grandmaster Chime a self-explanatory grand complication watch.
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The effort invested by
Patek Philippe in this unique anniversary timepiece is remarkable. More than 100,000 hours were logged for development, production, and assembly, of which 60,000 hours for the components of the movement. Each caliber consists of 1,366 parts and each case of 214 separate parts, bringing the total number of components for each
Grandmaster Chime to 1,580.
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Thus, it took 11,060 meticulously hand-finished parts to assemble the seven limited-edition exemplars of Patek Philippe's commemorative
Grandmaster Chime masterpiece. Seven watches that are making history reverberate.
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Grande and Petite Sonnerie
This
complication automatically sounds the hours and quarter-hours at each
quarter hour (in the Petite Sonnerie mode only the hours at the top of
the hour and only the quarters at each quarter hour). It ranks among the
functions that aficionados and collectors hoped to see implemented in a
Patek Philippe wristwatch. But it was always clear to the manufacture
that this would not happen unless a strike-work power reserve of at
least one entire day could be achieved. The necessary technology was not
available until just recently. But now, thanks to the double barrels
reserved for the strike-work mechanism, the sonneries can be activated
during a period of more than 30 hours before they need to be rewound by
hand. Remarkably, this was accomplished even though the quarter-hours
are sounded not on two but instead on three gongs with different tone
sequences. This requires 50 percent more energy for each quarter-hour
strike.
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Minute repeater and alarm
The
strikework double barrels also deliver the energy for the minute
repeater, which on demand strikes the hours and quarter-hours as well as
the minutes that have elapsed since the last quarter-hour. Connoisseurs
automatically associate the clarity and volume of the sounds with
Patek
Philippe. After all, it was the Genevan manufacture that orchestrated
the comeback of this queen of complications 25 years ago. The alarm
strikes the alarm time by reproducing the complete tone sequence of the
minute repeater, with exactly the same sound quality. This is a function
never before integrated in a mechanical wristwatch. And this is not the
only "striking" global premiere with which the
Grandmaster Chime
celebrates its debut.
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The date repeater
The
idea behind this patented global debut was inspired by a long-standing
Patek Philippe customer who in a discussion with the manufacture's
president Thierry Stern mentioned the possibility of a date strike. Now,
with the
Grandmaster Chime, it becomes sonorous reality when the date
repeater is triggered with a pusher. It sounds ten-day intervals with a
double high-low strike and the remaining days with a high strike: the
23rd of a month is indicated with a ding-dong ding-dong followed by
ding-ding-ding. The strikework mechanism obtains the date information
from the perpetual calendar to which one side of the double-face watch
is dedicated, and which controls the date displays on both sides of the
timepiece.
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Instantaneous perpetual calendar
The
dial of the calendar face is eminently legible. It features four
subdials with analog displays grouped around the gold-framed four-digit
year display in the middle. The month is indicated at 3 o'clock, the
date and leap-year cycle at 6 o'clock and the day of the week at 9
o'clock.
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The time of day appears at 12 o'clock on the 24-hour and
60-minute subdial. With the exception of the four-digit year, the calendar displays advance
instantaneously and at the same time. As regards the date, this is
indispensable because the date repeater must obtain precise information,
especially during the minutes before and after midnight.
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The perpetual instantaneous date is also displayed on the other face of
the watch where it frames the moonphase display at 6 o'clock. A patent
granted for the four-digit year display acknowledges the elegant
mechanical solution which allows the year to be conveniently incremented
forward or backward with two pushers.
Local time and second time zone
When
the crown of the watch points to the right, the owner sees the dial
that apart from local time also indicates the time in a second time zone
together with a useful day/night indication.
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The same dial features the power-reserve indicators for the movement and
strikework barrels, the position of the winding crown (winding, alarm
setting, handsetting), the selection of the strikework mode (Grande
Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie, or Silence) as well as a bell-shaped aperture
for the alarm ON/OFF display and a small round window for the
strikework isolator (disabled/enabled) display.
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The round double-face case
The
term grand complication is used for movements that feature several
highly elaborate complications. In analogy, the expression grande
construction is justified for watch cases that require the utmost in
creativity from master artisans specialized in design, completion, and
decoration. More than any other watch, this applies to the case of the
Grandmaster Chime. It took four years to develop. The result: the
Grandmaster Chime is a round double-face watch that can be worn either
way without compromise because it has two absolutely coequal dials.
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The
secret lies in the lugs and the ingenious reversing mechanism, which is
not only remarkably easy to operate but also firmly and dependably
secures the case in the selected orientation. In the
Grandmaster Chime,
the skills of the casemakers are ennobled by the hand of a master
engraver who invests several hundred hours of work to decorate it.
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He
adorns the rose-gold case with relief engravings of a special
anniversary laurel foliage motif and with a sharp burin chisels the
inscriptions and symbols that explain the functions of the operating
elements into the caseband, so that the complex timepiece can easily be
operated without an instruction booklet. The laurel wreath is a symbol
of triumph which since time immemorial has adorned the heads of victors
and regents. At
Patek Philippe, it is reserved for the seven
Grandmaster Chime timepieces that commemorate the manufacture's 175th
anniversary.
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The
Grandmaster Chime is delivered in a chest made of
Makassar ebony and 17 further wood species. It is decorated with
intarsia and gold inlays. Apart from the watch, it contains the
accompanying documentation and a commemorative medal in gold that
depicts milestones of the manufacture's history as well as portraits of
the company's presidents from the Stern family since
1932.
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The
Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime celebrates the
175th anniversary of the
manufacture in a limited edition of seven watches. Six of them will be
sold to long-standing collectors of
Patek Philippe timepieces. The
seventh one will find a place of honour at the
Patek Philippe Museum
where it can be admired by the public.
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Technical Specifications
Model:
Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 5175
Movement
Caliber GS AL 36-750 QIS FUS IRM.
Manually wound mechanical movement, 20 complications,
chiming mechanism with 3 gongs and 5 different time strikes
(Grande and Petite Sonnerie, minute repeater, alarm with time
strike, date repeater); second time zone with day/night indicator;
instantaneous perpetual calendar (date on both sides, day of
week, month, leap-year cycle, four-digit year display, 24-hour
and minute subdial, moon phases, strikework mode display,
strikework isolator display, alarm ON/OFF, crown position
indicator, and power reserve indicators for the movement and
the strikework
Diameter: 37 mm
Height: 10.7 mm
Number of parts: 1366
Number of jewels: 108
Number of bridges: 32
Movement power reserve: Min. 72 hours
Strikework power reserve: 30 hours
Balance: Gyromax®
Frequency: 25,200 semi-oscillations per hour (3.5 Hz)
Balance spring: Spiromax®
Functions
3-position crown
• Pushed home: To wind the movement clockwise; to wind the strikework counter clockwise
• Pulled halfway out: To set the alarm time
• Pulled all the way out: To set the time
• Strikework mode selector at 9 o'clock
Time dial displays
Local
time in hours and minutes, hours in a second time zone, alarm time,
analog perpetual date, moon phases, strikework power-reserve indicator,
movement power-reserve indicator, strikework mode display, crown
position indicator, strikework isolator display (chimes
enabled/disabled), alarm ON/OFF
Calendar dial displays
24-hour
and minute subdial, four-digit year display, three calendar subdials
with analog indications for the day, month, date, and leap-year cycle
Pushers: Pushers for the second time zone ("+" and "-"), alarm, minute repeater
Correction push pieces: Year display ("+" and "-"), date, month, day, moon phases
Hallmark: Patek Philippe Seal
Case
Round,
with patented reversing mechanism on the axis from 12 to 6 o'clock, 18K
rose gold, 214 parts, sapphire crystals on both sides, protected
against dust and moisture, not water-resistant Laurel wreath motif on
bezel, caseband and lugs relief-engraved by hand, hand-engraved function
inscriptions and symbols on caseband and pushers
Case dimensions: Diameter (10 to 4 o'clock): 47.4 mm
Thickness (crystal to crystal): 16.1 mm
Time side dial
18K
gold, silvery white opaline, center with radially undulated guilloché
pattern, applied 18K gold Roman numerals, Local time hour and minute
hands in black nickel-plated 18K white gold, hour hand for second time
zone in 18K rose goldHands for alarm time, movement and strikework
power-reserve indicators, strikework mode and crown position in 18K rose
gold
Calendar side dial
18K gold, silvery white opaline, center with polished gold frame for the four-digit year display
Subsidiary
dials for the 24-hour display, day, month, date, and leap-year cycle
with black printed scales and black nickel-plated steel hands
Strap
Alligator
with large square scales, hand-stitched, dark brown, hand-patinated,
fold-over clasp in 18K rose gold fully engraved by hand
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Patents and innovations
Patents:
Alarm mechanism with time strike
(Mechanism that acoustically indicates a preset alarm time with hour,
quarter-hour, and minute strikes using the chiming mechanism of the
minute repeater)
Isolation of the Grande Sonnerie in the Silence mode
(Mechanism
that totally uncouples the Grande Sonnerie from the movement when the
Silence mode is selected, eliminating friction and thus power
consumption)
Selection of strikework operating mode
(Mechanism that allows the automatic time strike to be selected or
disabled with a single slide switch: Grande Sonnerie, Petite Sonnerie or
Silence. Formerly, two separate switches were needed to make these
settings)
Date repeater
(Mechanism that obtains
date information from the perpetual calendar and forwards it to the
repeating mechanism. Manufacture president Thierry Stern is the
inventor)
Reversible wristwatch case
(Wristwatch
case with rotating and latching devices in the lugs, allowing it to be
turned along the axis from 12 to 6 o'clock and locked in either of 2
positions)
Mechanism for a four-digit year display
(Mechanism that automatically synchronizes the four-digit year display
with the leap-year cycle and allows convenient correction of both
displays in either direction)
Innovations: The
strikework differential:
An innovative masterpiece of micromechanical
engineering (not patented): the differential between the strikework
double barrels and the two strikework mechanisms for the Grande Sonnerie
(incl. minute repeater and alarm) and the date repeater.
It has a
diameter of 7.2 mm and consists of 19 separate parts, one of which is an
11-part ball bearing with 7 balls with a diameter of 0.3 mm each.
Despite its small size, it is robust enough to transmit the torque of
the strikework barrels which exceeds 1700 gmm.
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The 20 complications
1 Grande Sonnerie
2 Petite Sonnerie
3 Minute repeater
4 Strikework mode display (Silence/Grand Sonnerie/Petite Sonnerie)
5 Alarm with time strike
6 Date repeater
7 Movement power-reserve indicator
8 Strikework power-reserve indicator
9 Strikework isolator display
10 Second time zone
11 Second time zone day/night indicator
12 Instantaneous perpetual calendar
13 Day-of-week display
14 Month display
15 Date display (on both dials)
16 Leap year cycle
17 Four-digit year display
18 24-hour and minute subdial
19 Moon phase
20 Crown position indicator (RAH)
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