Ladies First Chronograph

Therefore, the warm welcome bestowed on Patek Philippe’s new manually wound chronograph movement – fully designed and crafted in-house – comes as no surprise.

With the CH 29-535 PS movement, the company’s engineers and watchmakers have yet again demonstrated peerless passion and expertise. In the past, numerous wrist chronographs have evolved from this competence. For connoisseurs and collectors, they have ranked among the most coveted timepieces ever made.

As an expression of this heritage, the new CH 29-535 PS combines the ultimate in technology with aesthetic appeal. It initiates a new legend in wrist chronographs with and without additional complications.

But Patek Philippe also intends to leverage this debut in a very special direction. As a tribute to the growing interest of women in complicated watches, the workshops decided to first integrate the new movement into a wrist chronograph for ladies. The name of the timepiece reveals everything : Ladies First Chronograph.

More and more women are discovering a penchant for beautiful mechanical watches. And many of them feel attracted to a chronograph that tells the time with technical flair and the casual grace that reflects their active lifestyle – without foregoing elegance, finesse, and sophistication.

For ladies, the new wrist chronograph is a sneak preview of true fusion, the best in technology and style that Patek Philippe has to offer. Of course, this will engender some jealousy among those who have to wait longer to admire this new chronograph with the stunning manufacture movement on their wrists. But as the saying goes :

Ladies First…

THIERRY STERN
Patek Philippe, President

EMINENCE IN CHRONOGRAPHS

Within the extensive portfolio of complications that demonstrate Patek Philippe’s virtuosity in timekeeping, the chronograph has always played a pivotal role. With many patented technical innovations to its credit as well as its ability to combine performance with timeless designs, the Geneva-based manufacture is among the most respected chronograph makers. Dating back to the 1820s, these technically challenging instruments emulate modern times with perfection.

In the second half of the 19th century, Patek Philippe stood out with pocket chronometers of exceptional quality – both with and without split-seconds hands. The mechanisms for the measurement of short time spans are often linked with other refined complications such as a perpetual calendar or a minute repeater. This was the case in two watches presented in 1878 at the Paris Universal Exposition, for which the manufacture was awarded a gold medal. In 1893, the company received a patent for a minute-counter isolator mechanism. In 1902, the workshops filed a patent application for a “double chronograph” with two mechanisms that allowed the concurrent recording of a series of time measurements of different durations. In 1904, Patek Philippe was granted a patent for an instantaneously advancing minute-counter mechanism.

When the wristwatch gained popularity during the 1920s, Patek Philippe was a trendsetter in the miniaturization of the chronograph.

For Patek Philippe, the 1930s were the golden age of wrist chronographs. The collection included ten references for simple chronographs, among them the famous Ref. 130 introduced in 1934, as well as three split-seconds chronographs. In the community of collectors, these pre-war chronographs are highly coveted Patek Philippe timepieces and regularly fetch record prices at international auctions.

During the 1940s and 1950s, this exquisite collection continued to evolve. Often, the watches were endowed with additional complications such as perpetual calendars, and many timelessly classic models were presented, such as the Ref. 1463 in a waterresistant case.

In 1986, Patek Philippe opened a new chapter in its legacy of chronographs by presenting the famous manually wound caliber CH 27-70 based on a Nouvelle Lémania movement blank produced exclusively for Patek Philippe and completely reworked in the manufacture. In the eyes of connoisseurs, it quickly gained a reputation as the most beautiful chronograph movement of traditional design available on the market. In 1996, the workshops received a patent for a split-seconds chronograph mechanism with an isolator catch that totally eliminated rate accuracy deviations when lap times were stopped.

In 2005, Patek Philippe attracted global attention with the thinnest split-seconds column-wheel chronograph movement ever made. The hand-wound caliber CHR 27-525 PS of which only a few are produced each year, was the first chronograph movement developed and manufactured entirely in-house.

Only one year later, the manufacture delighted waiting enthusiasts with the launch of its first totally proprietary self-winding chronograph movement : the CH 28-520 IRM QA 24H with Patek Philippe’s patented Annual Calendar.

The year 2009 marks a decisive step forward. Patek Philippe’s CH 29-535 PS movement enriches the manufacture’s repertoire with a totally new manually wound chronograph movement that has also been developed entirely in-house. The company’s portfolio now encompasses 21 basic calibers with a total of 45 different versions.

The CH 29-535 PS is an exceptional caliber for which Patek Philippe had to mobilize the full breadth of skills and experience of its team. After all, the new movement will replace the legendary CH 27-70, so far considered by aficionados to be the most beautiful traditionally designed chronograph movement. And indeed, the new CH 29-535 PS is a worthy successor, surpassing it in many respects, and opening the door for exciting variations.

CALIBER CH 29-535 PS
A MECHANICAL MARVEL

With its caliber CH 29-535 PS, Patek Philippe has yet again redefined the benchmark in chronograph architecture. Over a period of five years, the new manually wound chronograph movement was developed entirely in-house on the basis of traditional principles. But at the same time, it embodies a number of patented innovations and technical refinements that improve the functionality and dependability of the chronograph. As a shining example of the pursuit of excellence for which Patek Philippe is known, it also epitomizes technical perfection and the pinnacle of micromechanical craftsmanship

PURE PERFORMANCE

The CH 29-535 PS is a movement based on the principle of the column wheel, no doubt the defining hallmark of the most beautiful mechanical chronographs. Needless to say, Patek Philippe’s column wheel is crowned with a polished cap. The watch has a large chronograph hand, a seconds sub-dial, and an instantaneously jumping 30-minute counter. Its large four-spoke Gyromax balance wheel with four poising weights beats at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 semi-oscillations/hour). The caliber has a guaranteed power reserve of 65 hours (58 hours when the chronograph is activated). The clutch lever exhibits the classic “S” shape. The remarkably aesthetic design vocabulary also extends to the two characteristic bridges in these types of watches, the chronograph wheel bridge and the minute-counter bridge. The movement also has a stop-seconds feature that makes it very convenient to accurately synchronize the watch with an official time signal when the crown is pulled.

A PERFECT REFLECTION OF THE PATEK PHILIPPE SEAL

Down to the very last detail, the new CH 29-535 PS is a perfect example of what compliance with the criteria of the Patek Philippe Seal means. In the development phase, its engineers focused on exemplary user convenience, giving top priority to functionality and long-term reliability. The idea behind the ingenious shapes and configuration of the bridges is to minimize friction and maximize energy transmission efficiency from the mainspring barrel to the escapement in the interest of amplitude stability and rate accuracy. The engineers spared no effort to minimize the size of the highly complex movement, which has a height of only 5.35 millimeters and a diameter of 29.6 millimeters. In the course of the development process, every movement part was submitted to the Comité de surveillance (Supervisory Authority) of the Patek Philippe Seal to make sure all components comply with the manufacture’s extremely strict technical and aesthetic specifications.

THE QUEST FOR AESTHETIC GRACE

As befits Patek Philippe’s tradition, the CH 29-535 PS presents itself as a new point of reference for aesthetic appeal and artisanal workmanship. Its salient features include captivatingly elegant components and old-style bridges that are meticulously chamfered, polished, and decorated with Geneva striping. Every surface, no matter how small, is beautifully finished in numerous consecutive steps, most of them manually executed. And in compliance with the criteria of the Patek Philippe Seal, none of the movement embellishments interfere in any way with the caliber’s functional integrity.

THE HERITAGE OF INNOVATION

The CH 29-535 PS movement is based on the classic architecture of column-wheel control and a geared clutch system. However, it is a brilliant masterpiece that unites six patented innovations – each one is a manifestation of the workshops’ inventive spirit. The caliber engineers examined all of the essential components of the chronograph mechanism and embarked on the quest for new solutions that would improve precision, reliability, longevity, and convenience. Their focus always remained on functionality and user-friendliness as stipulated by the principles of horological artistry and by the Patek Philippe Seal.

THE SIX PATENTS BEHIND THE CH 29-535 PS MOVEMENT

The development of the CH 29-535 PS movement culminated in six patents and patent applications that represent the latest advances in chronograph technology

REFERENCE 7071R
« LADIES FIRST CHRONOGRAPH »

THE FIRST PATEK PHILIPPE WRIST CHRONOGRAPH TO DEBUT AS A MODEL FOR LADIES

Over recent years, more and more women have discovered a penchant for complicated wristwatches, especially those designed and crafted by Patek Philippe according to the finest traditions of horological artistry. They are attracted to the functionality and seductive beauty of chronographs that once appealed mainly to men. That is why Patek Philippe decided – for the very first time – to launch its latest complicated caliber in a woman’s format. The reference 7071R “Ladies First Chronograph” joins the manufacture’s collection of elegant and intricate watches explicitly designed for feminine wrists.