New Ref. 6007A also celebrates the opening of a new Swiss watchmaking factory for watchmakers.
Back in April, when the world had just begun to master its new normal in the shadow of Covid-19, Patek Philippe replica and Rolex announced that they would postpone the release of new products indefinitely this year. Other brands have started to roll out their new watches digitally, so I was a little shocked when the two most important companies in the watch industry decided to suspend for a period of time (undisclosed time). But today, Patek Philippe released its first watch in 2020-a few months after it will show its new timepiece at the Basel Watch Fair, the world has not become chaotic (now, both Patek Philippe and Rolex have withdrawn from the exhibition , Permanently left on the watch. Effective death).
The new Calatrava Ref. 6007A-001 is a commemorative limited edition timepiece with a total of 1,000 pieces to commemorate the opening of Patek Philippe’s new factory in Plan-les-Ouates, Switzerland. The big news here is that it is made of steel. Although people have been very enthusiastic about this material recently, it is still considered rare in the collection of traditional watchmakers. Except for the extremely hot Nautilus and Aquanaut models, very few Patek Philippe are made of ordinary alloys. The only steel model available in the current catalog is Ref last year. 5212 Weekly Calendar (Robb Report Best of the Best 2019 winners), this is an unusual example of the brand’s entry point Calatrava, and its off-white dial with handwritten numerals.
This latest 40mm x 10.34mm stainless steel Calatrava has a handsome gray-blue hue, with a round satin finish and a checkered center, which the brand calls a “carbon style” texture. The background highlights the applied white gold Arabic numerals (coated with rubies) and pierced baton hands, reminiscent of Ref. 6006 Calatrava launched in 2017. The movement is equipped with a self-winding movement 324 SC, which is visible through the sapphire crystal back cover. The watch cover is marked with “New Manufacture 2019”, which corresponds to entering a new production facility when the first batch of workers moved last year.
However, work on the new building dates back to 2015. The huge new space has 10 floors. Starting from the underground, there are four underground floors, which are used to accommodate the technical facilities of the building and a parking lot. The first and second floors are dedicated to the production and finishing of movement parts, while the second floor is dedicated to machining, manual polishing, gem setting, customer service, and the assembly of watch cases and bracelets. Moreover, if you are a collector who is ready to visit, the second floor can also accommodate the most interesting part of the entire joint venture-the repair workshop of Patek Philippe’s historical antiques. The third floor is reserved for secret R&D projects, advanced clocks and prototype design, and the fourth floor is reserved for rare handicrafts and a training hall for 299 people.
Introduction of Patek Philippe. 6007A-001 Calatrava, celebrating new production in Geneva
Patek Philippe (Patek) launched the first new watch in 2020 is the steel celebration of the new headquarters.
In this extremely unusual, difficult and unpredictable year, one of the most unusual features (for watch enthusiasts) is the dissatisfaction with the new version of the normal calendar. This is my most vivid experience in two decades. even more. About watches. In this regard, the most obvious news may actually be the lack of news from the two companies. These are Rolex and Patek Philippe. In any situation close to normal, it is usually the top of everyone’s must-see attractions in Baselworld. Indeed, the competition between watchmakers is fierce, so the story of the new watch from the two brands must first be published.
Usually at Baselworld, the first day is a frantic fight for information, not only from Rolex and Patek, but also from Omega and other major players information. But this year, although we saw new releases from other “Basel One Day” brands, Rolex and Patek Philippe remained silent. However, today, with the release of the new Calatrava, this situation has changed, and the same is true of steel.
Patek Philippe broke ground on new products in 2015 as part of a continuous effort to concentrate all aspects of production in a factory. According to Patek Philippe, the plan was originally led by Philippe Stern in 1996 and aimed to increase efficiency and improve all aspects of manufacturing and design. The company said that in the period immediately before, Patek Philippe had more than a dozen important production bases distributed throughout the city and the Canton of Geneva. For centuries, this has been a common feature of Swiss watchmaking. Various suppliers and experts working in different locations, from escapement devices to copy watches for men cases, springs and other parts, are basically manufactured independently. Interestingly (and predictably), not everyone likes modernization. Nick Foulkes, writing for the Financial Times in April this year, pointed out that even within the Stern family there are some objections.
“Change,” Fox wrote, “marked between the old work style and the new style; I remember visiting Patek Philippe on Rue du Rhône above the flagship store in the early 1990s )’S old headquarters, the lingering aroma of the Borkum Riff pipe smoked by Henri Stern, the father of Philippe, enhances a comfortable historical atmosphere .
“But after celebrating the company’s 150th anniversary in 1989, Philippe Stern predicted in advance that the interest in mechanical watches (especially complex watches) would increase, and he realized that this was essentially a secondary of the 19th century Supplier systems and companies need to change in the times. Not everyone welcomes this idea. Philip’s father Henri was the company’s patriarch at the time.
Philip said with a smile: “He has been here once and never again. This is too big for him.”
If this is how Henri Stern feels about the 1996 factory, I can’t help wondering what he thinks about the new headquarters that opens this year. For the watch industry, this may be a challenging year, but Patek Philippe will never know. When we reported that construction began in 2015, the total investment in the new plant was estimated at 450 million Swiss francs, which ultimately resulted in a final bill of 600 million Swiss francs. According to the standard of watchmaking, this building is huge -10 floors (4 floors underground). You can imagine almost every aspect of the watch manufacturing facilities, from basic machining to manual finishing and assembly movement studios, to advanced workshops such as engraving and engraving, guillochage and enamel. The building has what Patek Philippe calls the “New York fire escape style” staircase, and has huge wrap-around windows to ensure that sufficient natural light is essential to the watch industry.
There is even a restaurant on the top floor, which can accommodate 880 (!) guests, and the underground garage can accommodate nearly 700 vehicles. For most brands, it has been good for a year, because most brands are nervously watching this news and want to know when the cash flow needed to maintain the continued development of the business will start to appear again. According to Joe Thompson, the executive editor of HODINKEE, don’t hold your breath. But at Patek Philippe, everyone still seems to breathe easily, even in this unusual year of business.
The watch released to celebrate the new facility is also very new in design and represents a continuation of innovation in its basic design language, which has increasingly become a symbol of its release in recent years-not only that, it is still being released In stainless steel.
For Patek Philippe, this may be the most primitive observation, but the fact is that in addition to various Nautilus and Aquanaut models, steel models are still rare. Of the 28 steel or steel and gold models in the current catalog, 21 are in these two ranges, and 6 are in the Twenty-4 series. The only current catalog steel model not in these three families is the 5212A Calatrava weekly calendar, which is also an unusual watch in many ways. In fact, to me, the “Weekly Calendar” looks like it was made on the same basic design book as the new 6007A-001 – of course, they have a common round steel case, only this one They are closer to relatives than any other watches in the current catalog, but they have some other things in common.
For example, the dial layouts of the two are also somewhat similar. The dial composition in both cases is basically composed of two concentric circles-in terms of the day of the week, in the weekly calendar, and in 6007A-001, the inside of the dial The hour scale is not necessary to display information, but is only used as an element to set off the pattern on the internal dial. Patek Philippe describes it as a “carbon” pattern relief. (I’m not sure why carbon is specifically specified. It may be simple because it is just a stylized carbon fiber design, although carbon atoms can form cubic crystals in diamonds, which may give me too much understanding of the design.) This This cross-hatched model has actually appeared twice-seven years ago, the only part referenced to the 5004T second hand perpetual calendar, made of titanium, was made exclusively for Only Watch; in 2017, it was titanium 5208-101, This is also a part of Only Watch (also titanium).
Considering the existence of Arabic, the internal time scale may be a little redundant, but compared to the separate hour and minute scales, Patek Philippe provides a more interesting composition for the watch than the absence of the time scale. Of course, for Patek Philippe collectors, steel is coveted – the company’s status as a traditional watch fortress means that in most of its history, its watches have used precious metal cases, so any type of Patek Philippe steel Tables are rare. Every audiophile knows (for example, this is the case with steel 1518), and they can get a considerable premium at the auction. American industrialist and car fanatic Briggs Cunningham was not uncommon among Patek Philippe customers in the mid-20th century. He actually owned three Patek Philippe, all special orders, and all steel cases.
For non-sports models, 6007A-001 is also unusual, with luminescent materials on its hands and Arabic numerals. The luminescent material seems to be substantially different from the watches of the Calatrava series-in fact, none of the other 19 current models seem to have luminous hands and dials, including the steel “weekly calendar”. At least so far, making 6007A-001 unique in this series of products.
To be precise, the theme of “formal watches” is something I have always wanted to mine (my archivist would like to know what the first proof of the phrase was used in English), but historically, if I can Using the term with an understanding of its history, there has been an industry trend since the invention of luminous paints, that is, to avoid using them in watches that are not in the category of tool watches or sports watches. I’m not sure why it must be so-after all, the role of the watch is basically to tell the time, and almost no watch can be pointed to, its low light readability will not be improved a little bit of radium, tri or LumiNova.
Maybe this is basically a character problem-the luminescent material has a tool, in a sense, it does not match the character of the formal watch (in any case), nothing was said before Super-LumiNova came out, the paint is always the watch Temporary features of the model require a good replacement for the typical owner’s entire service life. However, in this case, I think Patek Philippe has found a way to make it work on Calatrava, this part is related to the case material-after all, the characteristic of steel does not make its nose salivate, but part of it Related. A double ring ring creates a slightly instrumental atmosphere. Blue calfskin strap with embossed woven pattern,
In terms of proportions, it is fortunate that this is still the size of Calatrava, and the size is not very public, and on the purist’s 37mm-38mm diameter, it is slightly enough to produce Pav in some aspects. Love-style anger (and date window – you know who you are)) can still be easily managed at 40mm x 9.07mm. I may hope that the water resistance is slightly higher than 30 meters, but this is sufficient for this replica watches usa after all, because this watch’s greatest harm to aquatic is easily caused by excessively enthusiastic hand-washing wine or water (now, we can hardly wash hands Enthusiastic). The movement is also a classic-the self-winding Patek Philippe movement 324 SC, measuring 27mm x 3.3mm, and advancing at 28,800 vph.
My only question about this watch is the text and logo on the back cover, but after all, this watch is designed to celebrate a specific time of the company, which is by no means a fatal flaw. Personally, I prefer to see the movements on the fine watches, but the narrow classic Swiss fine watchmaking technology on the front and the parties on the back are not the characteristics of this watch. At first glance, I have reservations about the dial design – the internal time scale seems to be easily omitted at best, at least additional design elements that will not damage the overall design. However, in terms of readability, it does not seem to be absolutely essential in a short time, at least it plays an important role in the characteristics of the entire design, and it does act as a steel bridge cousin with its overall design. Weekly calendar.
Relatively speaking, although it arrived in the second half of this year, we still have more than half a year, and there are sporadic but promising signs of opening between the factory and the retailer. I hope Patek Philippe can give us in the next few In weeks and months, there will be more and more topics. At the same time, this is a fascinating first step, and I’m sure that with the passage of this year, Patek Philippe can still reserve for us, I believe it will provide a lot of feed. The closely related visual language between the limited edition and the Calatrava weekly calendar definitely made me think. As we all know, the regular production of Patek Philippe is different, but the total of the two, the weekly calendar and the new 6007A-001 are almost like the seeds of Patek Philippe’s new buy watches online: steel, non-sports day-to-day drivers,
Patek Philippe ref. 6007A-001 Limited Edition: case, stainless steel, water resistant to 30 meters, 40mm x 9.07mm; grey-blue dial with embossed carbon pattern; coated with white gold Arabic numerals and white gold hands, both with luminous coating. Movement, movement 324 SC center seconds, automatic winding gold dial; time and date, maximum 45 hours power reserve.