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Introducing: Patek Philippe Revisits The Ladies First With The New Gondolo (Live Pics)
What We Know: Milan is one of the world's great fashion capitals. At the Watch Art Grand Exhibition Milano, Patek Philippe fittingly unveiled the Gondolo Ladies First, a collection that revisits a significant modern women's watch for the brand while taking a decidedly different approach to its execution. The new collection comprises six versions of the Ref. 7043, all sharing the same 31 x 34.8mm cushion-shaped case. Three feature diamond-set dials, while three Joaillerie versions take gem-setting considerably further, with the dial, case, and lugs covered in diamonds. The watches are available in rose gold, white gold, or a combination of both, with colorful straps and gemstone hour markers, offering the most obvious departure from the more restrained watches that inspired them. That inspiration is the 2009 Ladies First Chronograph Ref. 7071, a watch that marked an important moment in Patek Philippe's history with women's watches. Patek Philippe had, of course, been making women's watches for well over a century. In fact, its first wristwatch—created in 1868 for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary—was a ladies' watch. But the 2009 Ladies First watch achieved something else. It brought Patek Philippe's new in-house CH 29-535 PS chronograph movement to a watch designed specifically for a woman's wrist. At the time, the watch made something of a statement. Patek Philippe was putting serious mechanical watchmaking at the center of a watch created intentionally for women, rather ...
