Patek Philippe Grand Exhibition

As we started to move to the next area we noticed that a queue had started to form, other than the current collection room this area was the busiest we had seen all morning, a few steps further and it was clear why this was the case. We had almost reached the pinnacle of the exhibition and the only area that had strict controls on how many people could enter at a time, we were approaching the 175th anniversary Grandmaster Chime: a watch specifically conceived, developed and crafted for Patek Philippe's 175th anniversary. A watch that was seven years in the design and making. To this date only three of the seven commissioned have been made, two are in private collections and the remaining was tantalisingly close.

Now before we were placed face to face with this marvel we stopped at the interactive theatre, this was met with profuse apologies by the staff who were trying to fixed the stuck iPad that had crashed and was not allowing them to play the presentation. We should have been presented a fully interactive view inside the Grandmaster Chime with accompanied commentary by the staff. They were kind enough to spend some time talking to the few of us who had waited to see if the issues could be fixed and we had an almost one to one chat about the watch, its design and its complexities. In some respects I think that was far better than any interactive presentation would have been.

Rejoining the queue it was not long before we were ushered into a small but wonderfully presented room with intricate wood walls adorned with gold leaf effect and ornate detailing. Rising up from the centre of the room was a wooden plinth, equally ornate and detailed, on it sat a glass case, polished and clear who's content rotated slowly for the four occupants to gaze upon. The Grandmaster Chime, the worlds most complicated wristwatch ever made. This in itself is no small statement, it is the embodiment of the Patek Philippe philosophy that started with them producing the worlds first keyless pocket watch and has brought them to here, yes it is a grand gesture a flourish to celebrate 175 years but its one hell of a flourish.

Grandmaster Chime Front View

The watch itself is a monster, both in size and complexity, it is 47.4mm across and 16.1mm thick, it rotates between its lugs to show both faces and is each one is hand engraved over almost all of its surface. It encompasses 20 complications with the emphasis placed on the five chiming mechanism functions. This includes the Grande Sonnerie as the pièce de réistance and as a horological world debut. The watch as mentioned is double faced, both for aesthetic and practical reasons, it would be hard to imagine how you could fit as many complications in a single face and still have an elegant and usable wristwatch. Controlled and powered by the new caliber 300 movement, a mind bending 1,366 individual parts make up Patek Philippe's flagship, it is hard to understate the complexity of construction and I can understand why only seven will be made.

Grandmaster Chime Caliber 300

I wont list all of the complications here but I will link you to the official page and you may peruse at your leisure, Hodinkee also has an excellent write up on the whole anniversary range including the Grand Master Chime , they have had hands on time so I shall defer to them for those looking for a watch review.

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