Just when you thought the flood of novelties from Watches & Wonders was subsiding...bam: Patek Philippe goes and drops another showstopper.
Though it’s bursting with fascinating tech and top-level horology, the first thing you probably noticed about the new Grand Complications 5470P is its fetchingly sporty style. But its relatively unassuming looks are deceiving — that’s no steel case, but platinum. And there’s a lot more to this watch than the straightforward, manually wound, monopusher chronograph might suggest.
There are no fewer than 31 patents packed into the movement powering this handsome beast. Building on existing innovations, seven of those patents were developed for this particular watch. So what do all those inventions offer the person lucky enough to wear this on his or her wrist?
Firstly, a chronograph that measures down to 1/10th of a second. See the red hand in the center? It travels around the dial in an odd 12 seconds, while the white hand takes the usual 60 seconds to complete a rotation. This way, it’s easy to read right down to that 1/10th of a second measurement — if you have that need in your life. And all that is done with the push of a single button (why it’s called a “monopusher”) rather than the typical two found on most chronographs.
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CourtesyIt’s also notable, at least to collectors who keep track of such things, that this is Patek’s first “high-beat” chronograph, operating at 5Hz (like Zenith’s famous El Primero) rather than the common 4Hz or below.
The nature of such watches and their appeal is, in fact, extremely technical — it’s for the type of high-end collectors who like to know exactly how their watches work. For example, the movement essentially incorporates two separate chronograph mechanisms: one for the hand that counts down to 1/10th of a second and another for the more traditional chronograph. There are further solutions throughout, from the use of silicon to other developments from the brand’s famed Advanced Research Project. (If you really want to wade through the nitty-gritty of it, head over to Hodinkee.)
