BaselWorld 2011: Patek Philippe Ref. 7000R and 7059R

Firsts. BaselWorld 2011 is over, but there are still a lot of watches to cover. One area we do not cover much is women's watches. Well, actually there are a lot of noteworthy watches that we do not cover. The reason for that is this is really a hobby blog, so I cover things which interest me personally. The tendency to use we do describe myself is a habit a picked up when writing letters from my firm. Somehow saying we several times in a post, sound better than saying I. 

Ref. 7000R. Unfortunately, we do leave plenty of noteworthy creations out, without a scant mention of their existence, and that is something we will try to remedy this year. At BaselWorld 2011, Patek Philippe unveiled their first ladies minute repeater watch, the Ref. 7000R.

A minute repeater is a complication in a mechanical watch that audibly chimes the hours and minutes at the press of a button. This complication originated to allow the time to be determined in the dark, and were also used by the visually impaired. The minute repeater chimes the time down to the minute, using separate tones for hours, quarter hours, and minutes, usually with low tones for the hours, a sequence of two tones for the quarter hour and high tones for minutes.

Ref. 7059R. Patek Philippe also unveiled this year, its first ever ladies splits second chronograph watch, the Ref. 7059R.  A splits seconds chronograph is one with two center second hands, the extra hand moves together with the main chronograph hand but can be stopped independently. Because the hands literally split, it is called "Split Seconds hand" which refers to two hands - a flyback (Rattrapante) hand and a regular chronograph hand. Both hands run concurrently with the ability to time laps or multiple finishing times, the wearer can stop the flyback hand while the chronograph hand continues. This, splits the hand in two. This allows one interval of time to be measured, while allowing the chronograph to continue measuring a second event.

While these complications are not new, placing them in ladies watches adds a large degree of difficulty in their creation. Putting a minute repeater mechanism in the small 33.7 mm case of the Ref. 7000R and a splits seconds chronograph in 33.2 mm case of the Ref. 7059R required new efforts at miniaturization.  

Making the smallest slimmest movements, is something which is not something greatly desired today. With the more than decade old trend towards larger watches, what was extremely difficult to built into a 36 mm watch, is not as hard to do in a 43 mm case. In that sense, Patek Philippe's expertise at making the smallest complication movements is not as big an advantage as it use to be. Focusing some of its effort on the ladies watches can put the company in territory where other watch manufacturers are not quite as ready to thread.

About Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe & Co. was founded in Switzerland in 1851. The company's 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.