Patek Philippe Grand Complications Blue Split-Seconds Chronograph 5372P-001

First of all, the size of the watch with a diameter of 39.4 mm is very suitable for a modern gentleman's dress chronograph watch. Then there's the style of the case, which is very smooth, like the water-worn pebbles found on riverbeds. This watch is designed to slip easily under a gentleman's shirt cuff. Gone are the aggressively stepped lugs and bezel of its predecessor, the 5070. It's Zen reductionism, or minimalist perfection. The crown and square pushers have the same balanced proportions as the ref. 130, while the dial features a beautiful, distinctly vintage-style typography that is also reminiscent of the ref. 130. Even the finish of the dial remains uniform throughout the watch, making it the apex of calm, meditative serenity, with softly sunken subdials.

Of course, Patek Philippe did bring us the exquisite decals of the Breguet numerals that take center stage in the most collectible version of the Reference 130. For the most part, I'm a fan of the various scales on tachymeters and chronographs. I'm still waiting for a brand to make a watch with a Negroni gauge to time how long it takes me to finish my favorite drink. But somehow, in reference 5170, my favorite versions of the watch are the ones without scales, especially the black dial Breguet numerals in white gold case. Of course, there is also the mesmerizing platinum version, with a blue dial and diamond indexes, but somehow still manages to keep it charmingly understated.

2013-2016, white gold with silver dial, Breguet numerals and pulsating indexes
2016-2018, pink gold with Breguet numerals
2017-2019, platinum, blue gradient dial and diamond indexes

Today, the 5170 has been replaced by the exciting and sporty reference 5172, and the secondary price of these watches makes them quite accessible, especially the white dial version. For me, at the moment, this is an exceptional value and a great way to get into the world of Patek Philippe chronographs, lest we forget, this watch is equipped with the greatest achievement of a hand-wound chronograph movement . market.

referee. 52.7 million perpetual calendar chronograph
In 2011, Patek Philippe underwent an important transformation. It bid farewell to the much-loved CH 27-70-powered 5970 and introduced 5270, the first Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph powered by an in-house movement in the brand's history. There are two factors behind this.

First, Nicolas G. Hayek, the owner of the Swatch Group, has long publicly stated his intention to stop supplying movements to brands outside the group. The second was Philip Stern's long-term goal of achieving complete independence of manufacturing. The latter is clearly the impetus behind his creation of Patek Philippe's incredible manufactory in Plan-les-Ouates, which has undergone a major expansion since 2020.

This is why he moved into silicon escapement components, which freed him from his reliance on Nivarox, part of the Swatch Group. This was the motivation behind the in-house developed transversely coupled column-wheel chronograph movement CH 29-535 PS. Thierry Stern said: “The beauty of the CH 29 is that it was designed from the ground up to be used with a perpetual calendar function, like the 5270, and even with a perpetual calendar function, and also with a split-seconds function, like our 5204 as provided. In contrast, we had to reverse engineer these functions of the CH 27-70."

Gen 3 - 2020, Gold, with Tachymeter Scale and Seconds Track

But technical factors aside, the Reference 5270 is a fascinating watch, first and foremost because of its design. Ref. 5170 Chronograph exemplifies restrained elegance and understated beauty, while Ref. 5270 is the exact opposite. It’s maximalist at its core, and exuberantly exuberant—think young Monica Bellucci, smoldering like a freshly erupted Vesuvius, in all its collarless glory; think Think Raquel Welch in a fur bikini in 20,000 BC. For starters, at 41mm in diameter, it is the largest perpetual calendar chronograph ever produced by Patek Philippe, within a millimeter of the Reference 5070, the largest mass-produced chronograph Patek Philippe has ever produced. One of the reasons for this is pragmatic.

Thierry Stern said: "I love perpetual calendars, but the irony is that when you get to the stage in life where you can have a perpetual calendar, sometimes your eyesight isn't the best." During the design process of the 5970 , I even tried using a magnifying glass or a magnifying glass on some of the displays. So when it came to the 5270, I wanted to create a design that was as clearly visible as possible.” The larger case size and more open dial clearly It embodies this. This is part of the reason why the subdials of the CH 29-535 PS are located below the dial, clearly below the horizontal line formed by the crown.

Philip Barat, Head of Watch Development at Patek Philippe, said: "When Thierry worked with us to develop the movement, he explained that he wanted to enlarge the month and date display at 12 o'clock, so we moved the subdial a little lower. A little. The movement could allow more space in the upper half of the dial.” Another reason the 5270’s subdials are located below the dial has to do with the precise jumping minutes counter. Since this counter requires additional mechanisms, specifically the minute counter stem and spring, the subdials need to be moved lower or higher on the dial to make room for this mechanism, depending on the orientation of the movement. If you check the subdial positions of the Lange Datograph, the only hand-wound chronograph with precise jumping minute counters,

Back to the design of the Patek Philippe 5270. One of the most intriguing elements of Thierry Stern's design for the hallowed 5970 involved the flared and faceted lugs, which added a provocative and alluring dimension to the case. For the 5270, Stern upped the ante on the lug design, combining more exaggerated flare and lug faceting with extra steps. The result is the most dynamically styled lugs on a Patek Philippe chronograph since the famous Spider-Lug Chronograph (Ref. 1579). Looking at the watch, you can't miss the lugs, the difference between them and the lugs of the 5170 is as dramatic as the difference between the lugs of the 5170. The wheel arches are between the standard Porsche Carrera and the Akira Nakai Rauh-Welt Begriff (or "Rough World” Concept) between the wheel arches on a Porsche 930 Turbo. Thanks to them, the 5270 has an aggressive and almost predatory stance that I associate with the trapezoid of Mike Tyson in his prime. These lugs are complemented by thicker, more sloped bezels, in contrast to the thinner, more concave bezels on the 5970.

On the dial, all indications designed by Thierry Stern are significantly enlarged for better visibility. Most notably, the AM/PM and leap year sub-coaxial indications in the 5970 subdials have been replaced by apertures. The day/night indicator is the circular window to the left of the moon phase that turns blue at night, with the four-year cycle window on the right. During leap years it turns blue and is followed by 1, 2 and 3 to show what year you are in. Incidentally, this leap year indication first appeared on 244 reference 34.5 million perpetual calendar watches produced between 1981 and 1985. If you want to read the story about the watch, click here.

In the decade-long history of the 5270, we have seen an interesting design evolution for this watch. The first watches produced between 2011 and 2013 had the cleanest dial design, no tachymeter scale, and a beautiful chemin de fer seconds scale around the circumference of the dial. While they are lovely watches, to me the aggressive sporty style of the 5270 works better with the tachymeter. A second series of watches, produced between 2013 and 2015, now feature a tachymeter (but no seconds) and feature what collectors call a "chin". In these watches, the date indication protrudes visibly into the tachymeter to create a chin-like effect. In 2015, Patek Philippe launched the third series 5270; this time, with the most beautiful and balanced dial,

In 2018, the 5270 achieved two major design achievements. The first is what is universally acclaimed as one of the most stunning perpetual calendar chronographs ever made – a platinum model with a salmon-coloured dial and Arabic indices called 5270P-001. It’s interesting, especially because of the Arabic indices This complication is rarely used, most notably in some configurations of the 5004 Split Seconds Perpetual Calendar, 2499 First Series and 1518. Plus, the rarity of the salmon says this watch will be a future collectible, which would be an understatement.

But that same year, Patek Philippe also released a rose gold black dial version of the 5270, equipped with one of the most desirable elements of Patek Philippe’s collecting culture – the integrated factory bracelet. Wearing a Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph/split-seconds chronograph on a bracelet has become popular with Eric Clapton, who regularly orders his unique 5970s and 5004s, in matching metal tiles Breguet's iconic "12" is engraved on the bracelet. Here's a picture of a Platinum 5970 in the same configuration as the guitar hero once owned, nicknamed "Slowhand." The thing is, the integrated bracelet perpetual calendar chronograph is something that Patek Philippe only offers to very special customers. Until Thierry Stern introduced the 5270/1R, not only did it come with the coveted rose gold bracelet, but the calendar correction pusher was also integrated into the end links of the bracelet for the first time in Patek Philippe history. In my opinion, these two watches represent the most brilliant, charming and collectible Patek Philippe watches of modern times.

referee. 5204 Perpetual Calendar Chronograph with Double Rattrapante
In many ways, the 5204 is my favorite watch with a CH 29-535 PS. Because every time I see it, I am reminded of Patek Philippe's retrospective exhibition on the history of chronographs held in Singapore in 2012. It was an extraordinary event and I had the pleasure of hearing the repeaters in each material activated by Thierry Stern. At the press conference, I had the great honor of sitting next to what is to me the greatest leader of modern watchmaking – Philippe Stern.

It was during this lunch that he described all the challenges Patek Philippe faced in creating the split-seconds CH 27-70. If you think about it, there has never been a split-seconds version of the Lemania 2310 ébauche used by any other watch in history. This is for good reason, as the Movement was never intended to incorporate this feature. Of course, Breguet later came out with its own version of a split-seconds chronograph based on the 2310, but only after Patek Philippe had made the 5004, and in doing so exposed a weakness of the movement and showed a way to overcome it. .

OK, here's the thing. A transversely coupled chronograph is already a parasitic device, meaning that when activated, it consumes power from the base movement. However, when you add a split-seconds mechanism and activate the split-seconds function, the power drops even further and the balance wheel amplitude decreases due to resistance from the mechanism that allows the split-seconds hand to catch up to the running seconds hand. It consists of a ruby roller attached to a lever under spring tension. In order to eliminate this resistance, Patek Philippe created a special isolation system, which is nicknamed "octopus" by collectors because of its resemblance to the multi-tentacled sea creature. This mechanism lifts the reset lever from the split-seconds heart-shaped cam mounted on the chronograph wheel. As Philip Stern explained over lunch,

Thierry Stern said: "When we needed to create our own movements, the Lemania ébauche experience gave us great insight into where we could improve. The work on the 5004 in particular showed us Where we could do better. The Lemania movement was not inherently capable of this, so in many ways we had to reverse engineer a way to make it happen. So, with great enthusiasm, we grabbed The opportunity to create an entirely new chronograph, from the ground up, that could power any complication we wanted."

One thing I've always suspected about the CH 29-535 is knowing Patek I wouldn't be surprised if the movement had enough torque to power the 5204's perpetual calendar display and split seconds function with negligible impact The amplitude of the balance wheel, especially in windy conditions. But I like the fact that they decided to create an isolator mechanism for the rattrapante function anyway. To me, this is an example of Patek Philippe's dedication to ensure the perfect function of the watch, while also largely paying homage to the octopus, which has become a symbol of Patek Philippe's technical innovation and ingenuity.

Now, it's important to understand that when the 5004 was introduced in 1994, the Octopus was a breakthrough technology. There are two main springs in the isolator system of the Octopus. The first is the spring of the double rattrapante brake, which enables the clamping function. The second is the spacer wheel spring, which sits on top of the double rattrapante wheel and requires considerable extra height. Now, this is the important part. The spring of the spacer wheel acts in the opposite direction to the spring of the rattrapante brake. This is because the octopus only spins in one direction. When the caliper of the double rattrapante brake is opened, the octopus wheel must rotate to its original position, which is done by the isolation wheel spring. That means it has to overcome the force of the dual-second brake spring.

Therefore, when designing the isolator of the new 5204, Patek Philippe started from scratch. The first thing they did was to remove the spacer spring that mounted on the double rattrapante wheel. Instead, they cleverly integrated this spring into part of the double rattrapante column wheel cover. The second thing they did was design an isolator that can move back and forth in both directions so it doesn't have to overcome the force of the brake spring, which is much better for long term reliability. Awesome, right?