Event – Patek Philippe To Showcase the 2018 Rare Handcrafts Timepieces at its Geneva Salons (April 19 to 21)
If Patek Philippe is known for its super-complicated watches and its iconic luxury sports timepieces, we often forget that there something else, something simply exquisite, that the brand masters: métiers d’art or rare handcrafts. Enamelling, micro-painting, micro-wood-marquetry, hand-guilloche… Few manufactures can compete with Patek in terms of such artistic work. From April 19 to April 21, the entire 2018 Rare Handcrafts collection, something that you don’t have the opportunity to see anywhere than at Baselworld, will be showcased to the public in the Salons on Rue du Rhône, Geneva.
Since the launch of the Defy 21 last year, and the shockingly innovative Defy Lab later in 2017, it wasn’t a matter of speculation that more releases for the new collection were coming to Baselworld in 2018. The new Zero G is this year’s Halo watch from the brand as we wait for the groundbreaking new escapement to trickle down to series production. Though this is a new execution, the Zero G’s clever gyroscopic escapement — said to have been based on the concept of the gimbals used in old marine chronometers — is nothing new. Oddly enough, the first execution of the Zero-G was also a Defy, known as the Defy Xtreme Zero-G Tourbillon. Since that massive half-million dollar beast’s launch, Zenith have further refined the mechanism, scaling it down to a more modest size that no longer requires a large dome in the crystal to accommodate its freewheeling functionality. Vital statistics Regardless of how new the innovation is, there’s much to love about the new Zero G. At its heart, a high-beat El Primero caliber delivers a 50-hour power reserve to its indication of time and running seconds, with a subtle power reserve display to the right of…
There was a lot of mystery surrounding this piece when it was pulled out of a large green box during our appointment with Rolex at Baselworld. And, to be honest, we were too caught up in the moment, too dazzled by the gemstones, to take it all in at the time. It’s formally known as the Submariner Date ref. 116659 SABR, a variant on the white gold, blue-dialled ‘Smurf’ (ref. 116659 LB), but while at first glance it might look like the stones are the only addition, the dial is completely different. Not only is it darker, and has a sunray effect, but there’s a notable omission. Look closer. Have you spotted it yet? That’s right, there’s no depth rating. On a typical sub, there’s a line underneath the ‘Submariner’ text that says the watch is good to ‘1000ft = 300m’; not so here. And there’s also no specific mention of depth rating on the press release, though it does specify an Oyster case and Triplock crown. But it bears the Submariner name, so you’d expect it to be 300m, though it’s not made explicit, perhaps something to do with all those diamonds. Speaking of stones, the bezel is set, in Rolex’s…
