Reference 5275P-001 features a jumping digital hours display, jumping seconds and minutes, and an acoustic chime for the hour.
This time, let's start from the inside out by first taking a look at the caliber inside this reference: four years of development, 438 parts, jumping seconds, minutes, and digital hour displays, and a striking mechanism that chimes at the top of each hour. That's a lot of engineering. In fact, it's enough engineering to produce a total of four new patents. Patek Philippe presents this new movement, Caliber 32-650 HGS PS, inside the Chiming Jump Hour Reference 5275P-001 – one of six new references recently released by the brand for its 175th anniversary.
The new Reference 5275P-001 (r.) is based on Reference 3969 (l.), a limited edition model with a jumping hours display released in 1989. The example pictured here recently sold at Antiquorum for $35,000, under the high estimate of $38,000. Image courtesy Antiquorum Auctioneers.
Reference 5275P pays homage to Reference 3969, which featured a jumping hour display and a conventional minutes mechanism, but no seconds display or acoustic elements. Reference 3969 was released in 1989 in an edition of 450 examples to celebrate Patek Philippe's 150th Anniversary.
The new Caliber 32-650 HGS PS took four years to develop and resulted in four patents, three of which relate to the jumping mechanisms.
Twenty-five years later, it's safe to say that the Swiss manufacture sought to display a bit of engineering prowess. Developing the jumping mechanisms within the manually-wound Caliber 32-650 HGS PS wasn't an easy task. In order to cause each indication of time to "jump", energy from the balance must be accumulated, stored, and then transferred with absolute precision.
The same process of energy accumulation must occur for the hours, minutes, and seconds, and it's quite a feat to have any of these displays change simultaneously, as do the seconds and minutes displays in this model. And it's even more of a feat of energy engineering to channel enough power to the striking mechanism that goes off at each hour. (Hence the new patents listed at the end of this post.)
Then, of course, the process starts all over again. Compare this to a normal movement, in which the movements of the hour, minute, and second hands occurs continuously via a direct, unfettered transfer of energy from the balance.
With all the relatively energy-draining mechanisms inside Reference 5275P, the overall power reserve is said to be a minimum of 48 hours when fully-wound, which isn't too bad.
The tonneau-shaped polished platinum case features engravings on the side, complementing the highly decorated dial. A slider at 10 o'clock, engraved with "On" and "Off", controls the hour chime mechanism.
For the case, Patek has chosen to stay consistent with the design language established in Reference 3969, the progenitor of this new model. Reference 5275P features a tonneau-shaped polished platinum case measuring 39.8 mm in width and 47.4 from lug to lug. Overall thickness is 11.3 mm. There is a slide at 10 o'clock to enable and disable the hour striking mechanism.
The solid platinum case back features commemorative engraving.
The case back is in solid platinum with the same engraving as the other limited edition Anniversary releases: "PATEK PHILIPPE GENEVE 175e Anniversaire 1839 - 2014".
The tightly organized dial is a visual indicator of the relatively sophisticated energy dynamics at work inside this reference.
This is one instance in which you can really see how the configuration of a movement impacts the design of a dial. To transfer energy effectively across all aspects of the timekeeping mechanisms, it's important to keep these mechanisms relatively close to each other, resulting a tightly organized display.
That is to say, if the minutes track extended all the way to the outer perimeter of the dial, more energy would have been required to move a longer (and potentially heavier) minute hand, affecting the efficiency of energy distribution. So, a balance between function and aesthetics was achieved by creating a smaller minutes track. The same can be said for the seconds, which are displayed in a small sub-dial at 6 o'clock.
The 18k solid gold dial features ornate embossed floral decoration and a contrasting satin finish on the minutes track.
Bearing in mind that the movement itself, with all of the necessary parts, measures 32.6 mm in diameter, there was bound to be a fair amount of negative space on the dial. Rather than produce an austere dial (as in Reference 3969), Patek decided to decorate the 18k solid gold dial with an embossed floral decoration. In contrast, the minutes track features satin finishing and the white seconds sub-dial is decorated with a railway track scale around striped detailing in the center.
Like the seconds, and minutes, the hours are rendered in black Arabic numerals, albeit in a larger size for clear delineation from the adjacent minute numerals.
Reference 5275P-001 will be released in a limited edition of 175 pieces, each priced at CHF 310,000.
For more information, visit Patek Philippe online.
Four New Patents
The Patek Philippe Caliber 32-650 HGS PS includes no less than four patents:
1. Isolation of the hour strike mechanism (allowing for both disabling and disconnection of the striking mechanism from the movement).
2. Jumping mechanism with coaxial wheels (for the jumping seconds – controls the movements of the seconds via a wheel train instead of the standard springs and levers).
3. Jumping mechanism with coaxial wheels (for the jumping hours – similar to the patent above, but applied to the hours).
4. Mechanism for synchronizing two jumping indications (allowing the seconds and minute displays to change simultaneously, without any lag time).