The best for 2010. Our favorite release at Baselworld 2010, is the Patek Philippe Ref. 5170J. The worlds finest maker of complications watches, gives us an excellent example of excellence in simplicity. Patek Philippe Ref. 5170J is a basic chronograph, with the usual start, stop and reset buttons. Nothing special about its functionality.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5170J. The excellence is in the execution of this basic chronograph. The watch resides in an elegant 39-mm round case in 18K yellow gold. The chronograph is operated with pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock with the rectangular shape has been a typical attribute of Patek Philippe wrist chronographs for seventy years. The classic dial, is just that, a classic.
The dial has two sub-dials. Continuous seconds on the left, a 30-minute counter for the chronograph on the right. The logarithmic pulsimeter scale on the outermost perimeter is calibrated to 15 heartbeats, revisiting the traditional doctor’s watch. The railway track minute scale features slightly compressed Breguet numerals. The hour, minute, and seconds hands are crafted from yellow gold to match the hour markers and Roman numerals, while the chronograph seconds and minute hands are black. The dial of this watch is simply elegant and beautiful. But we are biased, we just love this watch.
CH 29-535 PS calibre. The movement is the manually wound CH 29-535 PS calibre which produces 28,800 vibrations per hour and a better than average 65 hour power reserve. However, this movement has a series of innovations:
Even though the CH 29-535 PS caliber is based on the classic column wheel and horizontal clutch architecture, it stands out with six patented innovations that manifest the unfaltering ingenuity of the Geneva-based manufacture.
1. Optimized tooth profile
Suppression of hand bounce or rebound when starting. Vibration-free chronograph hand movement. Improved efficiency and reduction of mechanical wear.
2. Precision adjustment of wheel mesh at the column wheel
The large eccentric polished column wheel cap allows the very precise adjustment of mesh depth of the chronograph wheels at the outer end of the clutch lever.
3. Optimized synchronization of the clutch and brake levers
The clutch lever and the brake lever are directly synchronized with a finger at the clutch lever. The complicated involvement of the column wheel is not necessary.
4. Slotted minute-counter cam
Thanks to a slot in the minute-counter cam, the chronograph counter can gently come to a standstill when reset.
5. Self-setting hammers
Self-setting return to zero hammers improve functional reliability and dependability.
6. Hammers pivoted between jewel bearings
The two hammers that reset the chronograph hand and the minute counter are independently and coaxially suspended between jewel bearings. Each hammer is pressed against its respective heart cam with its own spring. This system optimizes the precise alignment of the hammers and the kinetics of the mechanism.
Further ingenious features
The CH 29-535 PS movement has a number of additional features that improve reliability and performance. For example, the instantaneous 30-minute counter is much more complicated than a semi-instantaneous or continuous counter. Its elaborate construction assures that the small hand jumps within a fraction of a second, enhancing precision and legibility. The driving wheel of the chronograph is another example: it is directly integrated in the wheel train and does not need to be subsequently assembled by the watchmaker.
In the end, Patek has released far more complicated watches. Save for the Ref. 5159, I do not know if they have ever released a watch as pleasing to the eye as this. In our opinion, the best of Basel 2010.
A note on the Ref. 5070. The Ref. 5170 appears to have replaced the older Ref. 5070 chronograph on the Patek Philippe line-up as it no longer appears on the website.
About Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe & Co. was founded in Switzerland in 1851. The companies emblem, the Calatrava Cross, was adopted by it at the end of the 19th Century. It is acknowledged as one of the finest, if not the finest, watchmaker in the world.
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