A few hours ago, I watched Patek Philippe’s special “Advanced Research” lecture. I must admit that it made me quite nostalgic. I remember a few years ago at the Baselworld, when you had to request a special press kit for Patek Philippe’s booth (get it in advance) on the first day of the show, and then you would continue to view more than 20 pages (in some cases, ) A printed press kit about the new Patek Philippe watches. This is usually an exercise in reviewing loose information that is sometimes related to information that is truly important to consumers.
Patek Philippe’s style of writing the release is to maximize technicality and importance, while it sounds as if they are just talking to an elite group (a small group of dedicated people) who are continuously following each of its new releases. In other words, Patek Philippe’s product introductions are often rich in content, but the context is also very short. But there are rewards too. If you can browse the technical terms and filter the details, you can actually come up with the actual new content of the product and a lot of background information about how the brand actually views its products. I have always admired the little brain teasers of Patek Philippe-too many watch brands make it too tedious to learn about their new products.
Now let’s talk about the latest Patek Philippe watch that you may not have the opportunity to own (let alone wear), a limited edition Advanced Research reference 5750 “Fortissimo” (5750P/001) You can actually come up with actual new content about the product , And a lot of background about how brands actually view their own products.
The Patek Philippe Advanced Research 5750 is a new type of automatic minute repeater watch, designed to present a new and louder minute repeater mechanism. Indeed, Patek Philippe (and colleagues) often like to try new and interesting ways to make and assemble one of the world’s most impractical mechanical watch complications-an on-demand system that uses a series of bells produced by a small company. Tell the time. The hammer hits the gong. Patek Philippe is a master of minute repeater timekeeping. Indeed, among the extremely elite collectors, they appreciate music timekeeping watches very much. There is also a strong analogy with wine appreciation, because appreciating a good minute repeater requires experience in many minute repeaters, and then cultivates a taste for nuances, separating simple good from truly great. Although many of us hope that an advanced department like Patek Philippe that sounds like “advanced research” will work on some easier-to-understand concepts, the team there is working hard to make the company’s top customers happy and enthusiastic.
To introduce the 5750 watch, Patek Philippe’s video presentation Patek Philippe President Thierry Stern (Thierry Stern) introduced the main points of this watch. I like him doing this because Mr. Stern is a bit like Walt Disney in this respect. He didn’t conduct the entire demonstration, but he did provide valuable background on the full content of the watch, why Patek Philippe made it, and a refreshing real view of the watch’s design and technical merits.
For example, you would never think that Mr. Stern would mention in his speech why his father (who ran Patek Philippe before him and still domineering in the brand) would never approve such a watch. why? Because senior Mr. Stern would feel that the design is too wild, and he would never allow a whimsical rather than functional second hand to be placed on the dial. This is very enlightening company information, but also very honest and charming. This may not stop him from persuading the main supporters of the brand that this is a cool watch worth considering.
According to Mr. Stern, the design of the 40 mm wide platinum case dial was inspired by the iconic car wheels of the 1960s. In fact, the spoke-like pattern of the dial, the auxiliary seconds dial, and even the automatic 3/4 micro-rotor pattern are all homages to the intersection between classic watches and classic cars. It is true that legibility is affected, and it is true that Advanced Stern will never allow it. But Thierry is right that the design is attractive. He does have good taste, and obviously he has personally checked the sound quality of all the minute repeaters. Therefore, every 5750 watch sent to the customer needs to be inspected in person.
I agree that Patek Philippe’s fake watches and dials need to be more artistic and interesting. They have its history, and they do all the “rare crafts” very well. When companies innovated design and tried new things in the 1920s, why did they need to be trapped in history? Why not in the 2020s 100 years from now? I’m not sure if I can stare at the dial of Patek Philippe 5750 all day long, but it does represent a very interesting view of car wheels and guilloche carvings at Art Deco dance parties.
The 950 platinum 5750 case is 40 mm wide and 11.1 mm thick (very slim for the automatic minute repeater with a beautiful magnification system). The choice of platinum as the case material is only for the impact value. Minute repeater and platinum case can’t mix well (even if there was a platinum minute repeater in the past), because the soft platinum metal absorbs sound vibrations and reduces resonance. So Patek Philippe chose platinum not because it can be used well for this purpose, but because “they said it shouldn’t be done…and we showed you it can.”
The good news for Patek Philippe is that their minute repeater sound amplification system does not use the housing itself as a resonance chamber, so it has little to do with the volume of the bell. This is the focus of the “fortissimo” system, which completely separates the minute repeater mechanism from the case and includes the small amplifier invented by Patek Philippe. If you want a more comprehensive technical explanation of how the system works, you may find the video I mentioned above. It is quite clever, and it accomplishes the task of building a miniature reverberation amplifier in a watch in a new way. It takes advantage of the hardness of the sapphire crystal and the design of the case that allows sound to pass through it.
Patek Philippe’s method of making loud minute repeaters is very special to them, but the concept they apply is not completely new. For example, one of the reasons why many modern minute repeaters can barely hear the sound is that the brand chooses to make the case waterproof. The sound trapped in the waterproof case is not easy to come out. The loudest minute repeater is largely non-waterproof. Nor is Patek Philippe 5750. On the contrary, the watch has a “moisture-proof and dust-proof” function because it has a “breathing space” that allows the sound of the minute repeater system to be discharged from the case. Patek Philippe does seem to have created a new system that uses a small film to prevent dust from entering the case, but the watch case needs to be more “open” to make the minute repeater more loud. The core idea is the common knowledge of clocks. best replica watches
Where Patek Philippe can be more admired, in my opinion, is the novel system of creating bells and the details and care that Patek Philippe takes in ensuring that the minute repeater sounds attractive. This is what I am most looking forward to-just to hear how the 5750 is running. I don’t need to own it, but I really want to hear it. Getting the right sound from the system of hammers and gongs is one of the most studied art in the watchmaking industry, probably because there are so many designs on how to do this. Here, Patek Philippe uses a polymer ring to “separate” the movement from the main case, which is an important part of making the sound as reverberant as possible. The gongs are connected to a system that transmits their sound to an amplification device, which is a round sapphire crystal wafer mounted on a steel rod. An ingenious detail is that Patek Philippe replaced the steel hammer with a hammer made of platinum. They do this to actually soften the sound while deepening it. Doing this alone doesn’t make much sense, but when you hear it in person, a slightly softer sound mixed with an amplification device may produce a more attractive tone. Patek Philippe goes further. They adjusted the movement to make the minute repeater run more slowly. This way you can better hear each complete accompaniment note-due to the increased resonance duration, the playing time is longer. It’s very cool, they like to call it “exquisite” near Geneva.
The basic movement itself is mainly inherited from Patek Philippe’s long-standing calibre R 27. In Advanced Research 5750, the movement is called caliber R 27 PS. Part of the adjustment system components of this movement use all the best silicon technology of Patek Philippe, run at 3Hz, and have a power reserve of about 45 hours. The fortissimo system in the movement replaces the traditional minute repeater system with a new system, which covers the movement like an umbrella with a sapphire crystal glass watch. The entire movement is equipped with platinum miniature oscillating weight automatic oscillating weight and fortissimo magnification system. The thickness is only 6.05 mm and consists of 342 parts.
Between the 21 mm wide spaced lugs at the bottom of the case, you will see diamonds inlaid. This is an iconic feature that Patek Philippe has added to some of its more limited or elite watch creations. Attached to the platinum case is a “shiny orange” alligator leather strap (I also admit that this is a bit unreasonable). Patek Philippe is definitely to show off, in a watch with a real theme of “listen to me”, so the bold styling makes sense. For Patek Philippe, “as controversial as the dial” is also a wise move, because this may only help increase the enthusiasm of those who like the appearance of the Advanced Research ref. 5750 (5750P / 001). online shop for watch