Results for Patek Philippe

Recommended Reading: John Nagayama's '96' Is An Essential Guide To The Rarest Of Patek Philippe's Quintessential Calatravas

In this week's edition of our ongoing book review column, I thought it was a good time to highlight a reference that's been sitting on my shelf for a while but was sadly out of stock by the time it arrived at my place two years ago. Well, luckily for us, John Nagayama's masterful Patek Philippe tome, simply called "96," has been reprinted, and out of the 450 copies released for sale just a few weeks ago, there are still a couple left. John Nagayama, at his old office in Tokyo, Japan. John Nagayama, known as @johnbehalf on Instagram, is the undisputed king of the reference 96. That's saying something. The long-lived, miniature (by today's standards) time-only Patek Philippe has become the framework and measuring stick for basically every dress watch that's come since, and long-time collectors have never turned a blind eye to it. But recent interest, driven by Mike Nouveau over on TikTok in particular, and acceptance of a 30.5mm watch has put it back on the map. But Japan, where Nagayama is based, became the Mecca for small watches and 96 obsessives. Nagayama has probably forgotten more than nearly anyone will ever know about time-only Patek. And he doesn't forget hardly anything. If you browse his site, you'll see some super esoteric stuff. While writing this, his homepage featured one of the 10 known ref. 433, this one in platinum and rose, with an amazing three-color dial. His personal collection (from which he pulled four amazing watches for a past story we did in Japan)...

Hands On: Patek Philippe In-Line Perpetual Ref. 5236P-011 “Gradient Silver”

Patek Philippe’s latest take on its flagship perpetual calendar is the In-Line Perpetual Calendar ref. 5236P-011 with a “gradient silver” dial. Though a cosmetic update to a model that’s only been in production since 2021, the new dial is unexpectedly appealing, giving the watch a striking different feel from its predecessors. Patek Philippe’s most advanced calendar movement, the cal. 31-260 PS QL inside the ref. 5236P is a latest-generation base movement matched with a newly-developed perpetual calendar module. The movement is now in the third generation of the reference; the ref. 5236P-011 replaces the ref. 5236P-010 with a “rose gilt” dial that was only in the catalogue for two years. Initial thoughts The ref. 5236P-011 is a new face for an existing model. Though the design remains unchanged, the dial finish that darkens towards the edges gives it a more modern feel. The composite strap adds to the modern feel, though the strap might be a bit too sporty for the watch. Paradoxically, the smoked dial finish also brings to mind aged or “tropical” dials on vintage watches. The rest of the watch stays the same, but it’s a good one. The ref. 5236P is an impressive watch in both technical and physical terms – it’s the brand’s most advanced perpetual calendar and also its largest. The size and weight are reassuring, and actually bring to mind complicated models from a rival brand from Germany. But the case is made up of lots of flat surfaces and entir...

Twelve Market Observations By Ben Clymer (August 2026)

Some version of this story has been in the back of my mind for months, maybe years. Because I see, hear, and experience so many wild things in my watch life that it's hard to really understand, I thought the best thing I could do was share them with you. Some of the below are simple opinions; others are hard and true facts. I think I have a unique position in the watch space as the president of a large media outlet (so I see traffic information and click tendencies), I'm a long time consumer of all kinds of watches (vintage, new, independent, big and small), something of a pundit on the industry for large media outlets, a participant in basically all the organizations that focus on the watch industry, and of course, an officer at one of the largest modern watch retailers in the world.  Beyond that, the amount of DMs I get from total strangers asking me watch questions is simply b-a-n-a-n-a-s  (should that be a series unto itself?). So I thought I'd take some of what's been on my mind from all of the above sources and put it on paper to be read, debated, and (dis)agreed with. So, here are five things that are happening in the watch world that make zero sense, and five more that make a ton of sense. FIVE THINGS HAPPENING IN TODAY'S WATCH MARKET THAT MAKE ZERO SENSE 1. Complicated (Vintage And New!) Patek Philippe Is Trading Below Where It Should Be Trading The 5270G is a fantastic watch, and even at retail, represents very solid value compared to what else is happening out...

SJX Podcast: Big Brands to Beat

Episode 50 of the SJX Podcast rounds up recent reviews, including a review of a new book about Universal Genève chronographs, and the latest updates to long-running platforms from Breguet and Patek Philippe. The discussion also explores the intensifying competitive landscape in high-end watchmaking as big brands like Patek Philippe, Breguet, and A. Lange & Söhne close the gap with many artisanal independent brands. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.  

Looking Through The Blinds: A Peek At The Patek Philippe Cubitus Perpetual Calendar Skeleton Ref. 5840P-001

The introduction of the distinctly different-shaped Cubitus collection in October 2024 didn’t go unnoticed. Patek Philippe stated that the Cubitus collection’s mission is “to offer a new reinterpretation of the ‘elegant, sporty’ style” through a design in which the square bezel adopts rounded corners, “blending the square, the circle, and the octagon.” When you look at the basic […] Visit Looking Through The Blinds: A Peek At The Patek Philippe Cubitus Perpetual Calendar Skeleton Ref. 5840P-001 to read the full article.

Hands On: Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5227G-015 “Rose Gilt”

Patek Philippe’s headline launches this year included the surprising Celestial ref. 6105G and Nautilus 50th anniversary editions, but also more classical, yet under-the-radar, watches, like the Calatrava ref. 5227G-015 with a “rose-gilt” dial and hinged case back. Though the Calatrava ref. 5227 with its distinctive “officer’s case” has been in the catalogue for well over a decade, the latest iteration is the best yet. The combination is somewhat formulaic – “salmon” dial and white gold case – but it is good looking and evocative of old-school Patek Philippe dress watches. At the same time, this new variant of the ref. 5227 contains a latest-generation automatic movement. Initial thoughts Ironically two of the standout launches by Patek Philippe during Watches & Wonders were fairly basic, essentially facelifts of references that have been in the catalogue for decades. One was the ref. 5396R-016 Annual Calendar, and the other is this, the Calatrava ref. 5227G-015. Though both are entirely different in function and price, they are similar in style. The designs are both restrained and evocative of vintage Patek Philippe watches; both also have dials in popular shades. “Salmon” is definitely overdone as a dial colour, but it doesn’t stop this Calatrava from being really appealing. The ref. 5227 is typical Patek Philippe in form. Even though it’s at the larger end of the range for Calatrava models, it still feels elegant. The case is thin and sits fla...

Patek Philippe 5140G vs 3940G: two ultra-thin perpetuals, one decision

Same movement, same 19mm lug width, same three-subdial layout. So why does the 3940G push over €92k while the 5140G sits closer to €51k, and which of the two is actually the smarter buy in 2026?

A Touch Of Watch Heaven: Patek Philippe 6105G-001 Celestial Sunrise And Sunset

An oversized white-gold case inspired by space modules, paired with a seamlessly integrated X-patterned composite strap and a dial depicting the sky as seen from Geneva on a sapphire-crystal dial. The Patek Philippe 6105G-001 Celestial Sunrise and Sunset is a contemporary take on the eternal celestial theme. Inside the oversized case beats the caliber 240 […] Visit A Touch Of Watch Heaven: Patek Philippe 6105G-001 Celestial Sunrise And Sunset to read the full article.

Book Review: ‘Universal People Universal Dreams’

Universal People Universal Dreams is a large-format book that explores, in great detail, a collection of 111 Universal Genève chronographs, and only chronographs. The 384-page book is also a record of the collecting journey of its author, Luca Mignini, who reflects on the lessons learnt and people encountered in his pursuit of watches across the world. A longtime watch collector who is now a professor at Milan’s Bocconi University, Mr Mignini had a long career in the consumer goods industry, culminating in a spell as chief operating officer at Campbell’s, the American food giant famous for its canned soups, after which he retired in 2019. The globe-crossing nature of his career took him from his homeland of Italy to Shanghai and New Jersey, giving him the opportunity to collect internationally, a phenomenon that professionals who travel extensively for work will find familiar. Having been interested in watches since he was a teenager, Mr Mignini made his way through the usual suspects like Rolex and Patek Philippe, before landing on Universal Genève during a trip to Tokyo in 2010. In the time since, he has accumulated the impressive collection of Universal Genève detailed in this book. I met Mr Mignini last year in Geneva and he is clearly obsessed with Universal Genève. His tremendous passion for the brand  makes it almost a given Universal People Universal Dreams will be laser focused on Universal chronographs yet exceptionally wide in scope within the narrow s...

Identifying a Watch 101: The Elliott Smith Case Study

Whether it’s shown briefly on a TV show, in a photograph, featured in an advertisement, or even programmed into a video game, as watch collectors, we’ve all had at least one time where we spotted a watch and felt almost forced to double-take. Because of the money associated with stardom, it’s often Rolex Submariners, Omega Speedmasters, and Patek Philippe’s galore that we find in popular culture productions and events. There are, of course, countless instances of this, but I find that catching a glimpse of an inexpensive and accessible watch on someone’s wrist is far more rewarding and worthwhile to the average watch collector. Few of us have the ability to spend thousands of dollars on a watch that has Hollywood provenance, so to spot and potentially own a piece of horological pop culture history for sometimes well under $100 is a dream come true for many movie and watch fans. To illustrate how identifying a watch can be quite fun and certainly approachable, we will be examining singer/songwriter Elliott Smith and his wristwatch. Its brand and model will be revealed later on as I will first walk you through each step of the process. I hope I can provide you with some pointers the next time you come across a watch you want to identify yourself. It can feel like a rather unnecessary skill at times, but it’s a good feeling to discover a popular culture tie to a wristwatch that no one else has noticed before. How to Identify and Research an Unknown Watch Using Pho...

Buying Guide - Refreshing Elegance, with Five Very Stylish Dress Watches

Compact and elegant watches can be timeless for a reason. It’s almost always a case of less is more, or offering something uniquely creative without overdoing it. Naturally, most people’s first thought will go to icons such as the Cartier Tank or the Patek Philippe Calatrava. Still, with the recent resurgence in the popularity of dress […]

In-Depth: The Patek Philippe Victorin Piguet Split-Second Wristwatch

In our first addendum to our Reference Points video and story on Patek Philippe split-second wristwatches, we looked at Patek Philippe split-second pocket watches and the brand's relationship with its supplier, Victorin Piguet. Switzerland has (and continues to have) the most robust supplier marketplace for everything from complex movements to dials and cases. In the warmer months of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, it was easy enough to just send someone on a short journey to the Vallée de Joux with a letter requesting a movement or other parts and receive one a short time later. These établisseurs all had their own specialties, but few were as important as Victorin Piguet. I'd argue it was far more unusual for Victorin Piguet not to be involved in a watch (such as their absence from the La Grosse Pièce project for Audemars Piguet) than to see their name on supplier lists. So what was their impact on wristwatches? In our video, we focused solely on serially produced models (and even then, there were a few we couldn't get our hands on), all of which started after Patek shifted its production more in-house. One thing we didn't discuss, however, was the history of the brand's first split-seconds wristwatches, which used a Victorin Piguet ébauche. It's no understatement that these watches are among the most important in Patek Philippe's history and among the most coveted for vintage-focused Patek collectors. One-off, bespoke pieces, these watches don't exactly fit...

In-Depth: The Patek Philippe Split-Seconds Pocket Watch

Just last week, we published a Reference Points video on the Patek Philippe split-seconds wristwatch. The complication itself—a.k.a. the rattrapante—is incredibly important in the brand's history, forming the backbone for some of its greatest and most coveted watches of all time. However, you can't talk about the history of the split without understanding Patek's pocket watches. It's a story that eventually led to one of the brand's most meaningful relationships with a supplier that helped it grow into a powerhouse, a relationship that would last over a century. Instead of going deep in the weeds on pocket watches in our main Reference Points, we're spinning it off into this secondary article—an addendum of sorts—for those who want a bit more background. The story won't be exhaustive; Patek continued to make split-second pocket watches long after they began making the same complication in wristwatch form, and some such watches deserve (and have had) their own standalone stories. There are also many different versions because Patek, at the time, didn't make things in batches the way they would starting in the 1930s. You could probably write 20,000 words on these pocket watches, but rather than go that deep, here's an overview of Patek's split-seconds pocket watches, with a focus on Victorin Piguet's movements. Understanding Patek's History of Split-Seconds Pocket Watches (1878 to 1970s) and the Importance of Victorin Piguet If you read the first part of our story, y...

Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5065A: A Look Back at the '90s Sport-Luxury Trailblazer

The story of the Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5065a, one of the most iconic and influential neo-vintage luxury sports watches.

Reference Points: The Patek Philippe Split-Seconds Wristwatch

You could make the argument that, among all brands, models, and complications, the Patek Philippe split-seconds wristwatch is one of the most overlooked, underappreciated, and least understood in any catalog. "That's because no one ever sees them," said Ben, when I made that very argument in the office recently. True. It's hard to call a watch underappreciated when the entry point for buying one is in the low six figures. But let me explain. The Patek Philippe ref. 5373. Think about this: the first chronograph wristwatch Patek ever made was a split-seconds. The first. Oh, and it was the first made by any brand. And while people are clamoring for perpetual calendar references like the 2497, 3448, and 3940, Patek has made at least 44 different perpetual calendar wristwatch models over the years (not counting different case materials, gems, or the 3971). How many serially-produced split-seconds references? Well, about 12 or 13, depending on how you count them.  It wasn't until recently that the reference 5004—the first modern serially produced perpetual calendar split-second watch from Patek—began to receive its due at auction, and it finally broke a 13-year-old record for the reference. A 1436, the first serially produced rattrapante, can still be had for less than an F.P. Journe Chronomètre Bleu. That, frankly, is ridiculous. They're rare birds, and it's all the more impressive that we have nine of them on the table today, all from the same owner. The Patek Philippe r...

Hands-on - The Patek Philippe Annual Calendar 5396R-016, Celebrating 30 Years of an Ingenious Complication

Introduced in 1996 with the reference 5035, Patek Philippe’s Annual Calendar was neither a simplified perpetual calendar nor an upgraded complete calendar, but an entirely new mechanism protected by a patent; we explained the full story of its creation and evolution in this article here. By automatically distinguishing between months with 30 and 31 days, […]

Owner’s Review: the Seiko Orange Monster SRP315

What is a summer watch?  It’s a question I ask myself every year around this time. It’s partly rhetorical. We all know, somehow, what a summer watch is. It conjures something in the mind’s eye of a watch enthusiast that is colorful and probably on the sporty side. It looks best when sun drenched, on the beach or a patio or a hiking trail. Or maybe even with brightly glowing dial furniture in a dark movie theater on the hottest summer afternoon, when you just need to be in an air conditioned space for a few hours.  But I also wonder, annually, if this is actually a real thing. Any watch, of course, can be worn in the summer. If it’s summer, and you’re wearing a watch, the transitive property (I think that’s the one) proves you are wearing a summer watch. It could just as easily be a Patek Philippe Ellipse as a Tudor Pelagos, even if you’re bound to sweat through the leather on the former, and even if the latter will never see a running faucet to clean a dirty dish, let alone ocean depths.  Eventually, though, I always come back to the Seiko Orange Monster. Specifically, my Orange Monster, an SRP315. As someone who normally is inclined to minimize the impact of seasonality on a watch, and insist that any watch can be worn anytime of year (they don’t actually know what season it is, after all), the Orange Monster is the one exception, the counter example that makes me question my loosely held summer watch takes. Because, frankly, I have no desire to wear th...

Krayon’s Parhelion is a Halo Watch, Literally

Krayon, the independent that nearly perfected the sunrise and sunset complication for Anywhere and Everywhere on the planet, applies its no-half-measures approach to gem-setting with the Parhelion. Set with 171 sapphires in a gradient from dark blue to colourless, a dozen of which are a unique “Krayon cut”, the Parhelion is a halo product that seeks to recreate a magical moment the brand’s founders experienced in the arctic. Initial Thoughts Given my affinity for baguette set watches and astronomical complications, I don’t stand much of a chance against the Parhelion, a chilly, high jewellery version of the Anywhere. This isn’t Krayon’s first gemset watch, which would be the Everywhere, but is the best yet. I especially appreciate the creation of a novel fancy cut “Krayon-cut” which preserves the hour marker’s original form, something that is often lost in gem-set versions of originally non gem-set watches. Of course, this only worsens the Anywhere’s only fault – other than lack of summer time adjustment – pushing the Anywhere’s already high (if justifiable) price tag over the half-million dollar mark. That is a lot of money, but it is also a lot of watch, and still well below Patek Philippe’s sapphire-set Celestial. Near-Artic Encouter Caused by sunlight passing through hexagonal ice crystals in high-altitude clouds, parhelia (more commonly, sundogs) are a type of halo that mimics a second, and usually a third sun. The effect is most common, an...

Watch Spotting: The Wild Watches Of World Cup 2026

Watch Spotting sports is hard. Unless you're trawling through Instagram accounts and wire photo feeds looking, you're not going to see a lot of watches at the World Cup. FIFA rules prohibit jewelry on the field during play. But then again, any footballer worth their salt has tens of millions of Instagram followers, so it's easier to see what they're wearing during the tournament. Erling Haaland of Norway, a Breitling ambassador, of course, was wearing his Chronomat B01 Erling Haaland Limited Edition. Getty Images. Like tens of millions of others, I've been drawn in by the World Cup. It's been massively exciting, especially this year. And through it all, yes, I've been glancing at the wrists. My first Watch Spotting during the World Cup came while watching the match between Türkiye and the US at a small-town bar in Wisconsin (where it just so happened that a lot of the bar staff were from Türkiye, so shout out to Bayside in Fish Creek and the team, Omer, Ruki, and the rest). But the first thing I noticed was that the Turkish team's Italian manager, Vincenzo Montella, was wearing a Patek 5905R. After cruising Getty, I also saw that, like any good Italian, he owns a Nautilus and a Daytona. So down the rabbit hole I went. Türkiye's manager, Vincenzo Montella, flashing his Patek Philippe 5905R. Getty Images. Unsurprisingly, the teams that have stuck around the longest give us the most chances to see some different watches. There's Kylian Mbappé, a Hublot ambassador, whose l...

Hands-On: The Temporal Works Series A 'Rambler'

Any good tailor has a house style, or a few of them. You generally don't want a tailor who says they can do everything—Neapolitan, English, sack suit—as they rarely do it all that well. Variations on a theme are key to a tailor who knows how to cover the right amount of ground and deliver a good result. The house style, as it were, for The Armoury's recently launched house brand, Temporal Works, is a Patek Philippe 565 for the modern era. And if the 565 and a Hamilton Khaki field watch had a baby, it would look something like this: Temporal Works' new Series A "Rambler." The brand, along with its inaugural model, launched last November with the Series A 'Sector' in black or blue, or the Series A "Fortune Red" in stainless steel cases with Zaratsu-polished surfaces. When I hung out with Cho last fall, a while before the launch, he pulled a watch out of his pocket and showed it to me. "Oh! A 565," I remember saying. For whatever reason, in my busy schedule, it fell through the cracks for coverage. To be honest, they didn't hit me the same way as the new "Rambler" with its stainless-steel bead-blasted monoblock case. Temporal Works Series A 'Sector' Maybe there's just something more novel about a 565 that doesn't look that much like any 565 before it. With the sector dials (less so the red one), you can imagine a world in which Patek might have done something like this, even though they never experimented with color beyond black or a sector dial quite like this. The built...

Indie-Focused IAMWATCH Returns

Singapore retailer The Hour Glass has announced the return of IAMWATCH, the retailer’s indie-focused watch fair, slated to take place November 12-15 at the Singapore Edition hotel, with public days November 13-15. The event comes two years after the successful inaugural edition, hinting at the possibility of a biennial format akin to that of Dubai Watch Week. Focused on independent watchmaking The inaugural 2024 event featured the biggest names in independent watchmaking, including foundational figures like Kari Voutilainen and Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk, as well as the leading lights of the younger generation including Rexhep Rexhepi, Raúl Pagès, and Florian Bédat and Gaël Petermann. The second edition is set to be even larger, with more makers in attendance. Attendees can expect to encounter industry executives as well — Aurel Bacs, Jean Arnault, Max Büsser, and Jean-Claude and Pierre Biver attended the first edition. It’s also sure to be one of the year’s best opportunities for watch spotting — this Patek Philippe ref. 2523 world time with a blue enamel dial and “Gobbi” signature was seen at the event in 2024. The relaxed dress code explicitly encourages double wristing, so the chances of spotting a unicorn in the wild are doubled. IAMWATCH will be held at the Singapore Edition hotel. Admission is free and open to the public daily November 13-15, however, advance registration is required and it can be done online at Iamwatch.com.  

In Depth: Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000

The Star Caliber 2000 occupies a peculiar position in the history of grand complications. It was never the most complicated watch in the world. At its debut it ranked fourth — behind Patek Philippe’s own Calibre 89 and Graves Supercomplication, and the Leroy 01 — and in the quarter-century since, the complexity record has moved further still, most notably to Vacheron Constantin. The complication arms race the Calibre 89 inadvertently triggered ran its full course, and the Star Caliber 2000 was never part of it. What it did instead was something harder to measure and, as it turns out, more durable. It demonstrated that the tradition’s inheritance of unsolved problems — the desynchronised equation, the imperfect melody, and the moon exiled from the sky — was not inevitable. That each problem had a solution. And that the solutions, taken together, produced a different kind of watch: not necessarily more complicated but more coherent; not a larger accumulation of independent mechanisms but an integrated instrument in which every display refers to a single source of truth. The arms race In early 1989, as Switzerland prepared to celebrate the most complicated portable timepiece ever made, the man who had just assembled it returned to his bench. Paul Buclin had spent years assembling and setting up the Calibre 89 by hand — 1,728 components driving 33 complications. Weighing most of a kilogram, the watch itself required its own carrying case. The watch was a monument...

Patek Philippe’s Milan Grand Exhibition Rare Handcrafts are La Dolce Vita

Patek Philippe has just offered a peek at the Rare Handcrafts collection conceived for the upcoming Watch Art Grand Exhibition Milan 2026 that begins in October at the CityOval exhibition hall in Milan. As is traditional for the exhibition collection, the watches are centred on themes local to the host country or region. Italy, unsurprisingly, offers abundant inspiration and the pair of watches revealed so far certainly evoke la dolce vita. The first is the pocket watch ref. 992/193J-001 “Burano” that features an enamel decoration modelled on the streets of the Venetian island known for its compact houses painted in bright colours. A variety of enamelling techniques were employed for this motif, including cloisonné for the buildings and figures and paillonné for the waterway. The second timepiece is the Dome Clock ref. 20179M-001 “Sicilian Oranges”. This depicts Palermo seen from a distance, with an orange grove in the foreground. As is traditional for Dome Clocks, majority of the decoration is in cloisonné enamel. Because of the size of the clock, some 15 m of gold wire was required to complete the motif. The Grand Exhibition takes places October 2-18, 2026, at CityOval in Milan. Entry is free but complimentary tickets are required and available via online registration at Watchart2026.patek.com.  

Patek Philippe: Romancing The World

Watches & Wonders Announces 2027 Dates and New Exhibitors

Watches & Wonders, the world’s most important luxury watch fair, will return in 2027 from April 5-11 in its traditional venue of Palexpo, the cavernous exhibition complex beside Geneva’s airport. The event takes place over a week, with Monday to Thursday being invite-only days open to members of the trade, while Friday and the weekend are ticketed public days. All of the major luxury brands will return for the fair, including Rolex, Patek Philippe, Tudor, and Chanel, alongside a range of independent marques. But 2027 will also see new exhibitors, including Breitling, Gallet and Universal Genève, the trio that make up the House of Brands, the entity set up to contain the three brands led by Georges Kern. Notably, niche Italian jeweller Damiani will also exhibit at W&W; 2027, joining giants like Cartier, Bulgari, and Van Cleef & Arpels.