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Patek Philippe used the event of Watches and Wonder Geneva – the primary time the watch world assembled in a single place since 2019 – to disclose Ref. 5326G-001, a next-generation watch that mixes the annual calendar with a second time zone show. Yes, that makes this the primary watch to characteristic the signature annual calendar and Travel Time features. This 12 months was already set to be a powerful one for Patek Philippe, so far as the model’s presence in media tales is anxious. It is one in every of a handful of manufacturers that will get talked about repeatedly in no matter media you care to eat, together with this one in every of course. Ref. 5326G gained a number of consideration and gained rave critiques, regardless of Patek Philippe dropping the unimaginable Ref. 5470P proper after the honest, making a little bit of a battle for consideration between two very vital Patek Philippe references.
We hedged our bets with each references, main with Ref. 5326G in our every day experiences from Geneva, however saving the primary devoted watch characteristic from the honest for Ref. 5470P. In WOW, we lined each watches in the identical situation, however right here we take a deeper dive into what precisely makes Ref. 5326G so particular. Of course, there are eight patents working behind the scenes (except you put on your watch movement-side up) to bridge and join the annual calendar and journey time issues. We already famous what we predict is essentially the most vital ingredient on this watch so we’ll spend just a little extra time with the general feel and appear of this 41mm Calatrava in white gold.
We will get the plain out of the best way first: for all its theatrical technical complexity, the show is a examine in practicality, and the watch is straightforward to make use of. The central improvements listed here are having the date mechanism tied to native time, and having all the principle time features managed by the crown, quite than with pushers as is typical for Travel Time watches. There are separate pushers for impartial adjustment, presumably to make use of when the watch stops for a protracted interval.
According to Patek Philippe, practicality was the watchword right here, as a result of the date one sees on the dial ought to correspond to native time quite than house time. Having the date set to house time can lead to confusion and errors, as you’ll be able to simply think about. If you surprise what occurs when you’re going about enterprise at house, the central strong native time hand and the open-worked house time will be synched up in order that they transfer as one. Local time will also be adjusted forwards or backwards, with no worry. Now we’ll repeat ourselves for a bit: what makes this watch wonderful is that it’s nearly unattainable to desynchronise the indications, whether or not you progress the fingers backwards or forwards.
Indeed the self-winding calibre 31-260 PS QA LU FUS 24H is constructed to face up to operator error; we are sometimes the worst enemies of our personal watches, satirically. One fascinating level to notice right here is that the day/night time indicators are current for each house and native time, which Patek Philippe confirmed was merely a matter of getting good symmetry happening the dial. Aesthetics are overtly necessary on this watch, as a result of the absence of conventional pushers (those current are recessed) was one thing Patek Philippe needed in order that the hobnail ornament on the case flanks wouldn’t be disturbed.
There is actually an excessive amount of to say a couple of piece similar to Ref. 5326G, definitely greater than this submit can accomplish. We will end with a abstract of the data on the dial, itself new for Patek Philippe (granular gray with gradation) and made in-house (by the Patek Philippe-owned Cadrans Flückiger in Saint-Imier). The day and month are in-line at 12 o’clock; the date is at 6 o’clock; day/night time indicator for native time is at 8 o’clock; day/night time indicator for house time is at 4 o’clock; and moon part show is at 6 o’clock.
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