Notion: Updated Requirements for the Patek Philippe Seal

Patek Philippe had an full of life 2024, not merely because of the launch of the ref. 5330G World Time with Date, a big assortment of Unusual Handcrafts, and naturally the Cubitus. Nevertheless equally notable was the announcement of updates to the Patek Philippe Seal.

Buried on the ultimate net web page of its 2024 Watches & Wonders brochure was some good print about some updates to the mannequin’s inside certification that outdated the longstanding Poinçon de Genève in 2009. The updates utilized to 2 points that watch lovers prefer to argue about: water resistance and charge accuracy.

Formally rated to 30 m and -1/+2 seconds a day

Preliminary concepts

Water resistance is not faraway from the minds of watch geeks, so it’s no shock that that’s dominated the discourse when the announcement was made earlier inside the 12 months; the considered a Nautilus rated to solely 30 m was concerning to many. Apparently even the reality that the watch itself was unchanged did little to quiet the nerves.

Perhaps because of people profit from the choice to punch up, far more consideration was paid to the issue of water resistance than the numerous updates made to timekeeping testing and certification, which cement Patek Philippe’s place as a result of the chief in high-end mechanical timekeeping at scale.

The cal. 240 PS CI J LU of the Cubitus ref. 5822P moreover features a Spiromax hairspring, clearly seen

Thirty meters

Nevertheless let’s get water resistance out of one of the simplest ways. Patek Philippe now ensures all of its water-proof watches to the similar rating of 30 m. In accordance with Patek Philippe, this was completed to make it simple for owners to understand the utility of their watch, and to duplicate real-world use. The 30 m rating encompasses “washing… fingers, showering, bathing, swimming and completely different aquatic actions, along with diving to a depth of 30 m”.

(Watches that are not waterproof, like repeaters and the Sky Moon Tourbillon, keep non-water-resistant.)

For years, confusion has swirled on watch boards and in private message groups about how quite a bit water resistance is required to take a watch underwater. In actual fact, few people actually take their watches underwater; what people want is a manner of safety, and a way that the delicate movement inside their watch is protected as quite a bit as doable.

Perhaps for that purpose, only a few tips of thumb have emerged that emphasise a sizeable margin of error. Thirty meters of water resistance is what is usually considered merely “splash resistant” whereas 50 m is taken into consideration the bare minimal for swimming in a pool.

The Nautilus ref. 5811/1G, now rated to 30 m nonetheless nonetheless a sports activities actions watches

So I understand why Patek Philippe observed the need to current readability on this matter. By opting to have switch away from the usual rating scale and undertake a minimal threshold that must exceed the requires of any real-world state of affairs, the mannequin is in the hunt for to ensure shoppers that its watches, sports activities actions or robe, are sturdy, even when rated to merely 30 m. In numerous phrases, this must be seen as Patek Philippe having various confidence in its robe watches.

Patek Philippe should not be the first mannequin to do one factor like this. Omega moreover ensures all its watches to the respective mentioned depth, even these rated to 30 m. In actuality, Omega specifies “a watch that is waterproof to 30 metres is likely to be worn for swimming at depths of as a lot as 30 metres underwater for extended durations with out restriction”. Omega has, nonetheless, caught to a graduated scale, certifying its sports activities actions watches to even larger depths.

Go ahead, take it for a swim

Minus one to plus two seconds per day

Then there’s the matter of the model new necessities for charge accuracy, which might be enterprise principal. The necessities vary by the specifics of the movement, nonetheless to take care of points straightforward, any Patek Philippe with an overcoil hairspring, tourbillon, or Spiromax (silicon) hairspring is licensed to stay inside -1 and +2 seconds per day.

For context, COSC certification requires precision of -4 to +6 seconds per day, the Grasp Chronometer commonplace (initially launched by Omega nonetheless now employed by Tudor as correctly) is 0 to +5 seconds per day, and even Rolex’s vaunted Superlative Chronometer commonplace permits for a variety of -2 to +2 seconds per day.

Only one completely different manufacturing watch is licensed to a additional stringent commonplace than that of the Patek Philippe Seal: the Omega Speedmaster Large Racing, which is rated to 0 to +2 seconds per day.

Nevertheless the Speedmaster Large Racing is just one singular reference amongst a whole lot inside the enormous Omega catalogue, and the model is produced in restricted numbers (not lower than by Omega necessities). Since Patek Philippe has moved to place in Spiromax hairsprings in most of its watches, the mannequin is certifying this stage of effectivity all through tens of a whole lot of watches per 12 months – about 72,000 consistent with Thierry Stern – a distinctive achievement.

The cal. 240 HU C inside the ref. 5330G

And whereas Patek Philippe credit score loads of this effectivity to the superior traits of silicon hairsprings, it’s worth noting that the mannequin adjusts its overcoil-equipped watches and tourbillons to the similar commonplace. Whereas these account for a comparatively small part of the mannequin’s manufacturing, it reveals an ongoing dedication to the perfect beliefs in watchmaking.

The small nonetheless mighty cal. R TO 27 PS QR in a ref. 5016, with a traditional metallic overcoil hairspring contained within the tourbillon

Rewind

The Patek Philippe Seal was launched in 2009, and shortly modified the famed Poinçon de Genève (truly the “Geneva Seal”) on the mannequin’s actions. Patek Philippe had been a steadfast proponent of the Poinçon de Genève as a result of it was launched in 1886, so this modification was obtained with some concern on the time. Given the battle of curiosity inherent in any sort of self-certification course of, there was apprehension that prime high quality necessities would shortly fall.

The well-known Geneva seal on a Nineteen Twenties Patek Philippe pocket watch

Fortunately, these points had been overblown. For one issue, the Poinçon de Genève should not be all that troublesome to comprehend; its most stringent requirement is geographic, notably the need to make the watch contained in the canton of Geneva.

Every earlier to and after the adoption of the Patek Philippe Seal, the usual of the mannequin’s watches far exceeded the necessities required by the Poinçon de Genève. Many enterprise insiders believed  Patek Philippe scrapped its use of the seal for the opposite trigger: because of the usual and reliability of Poinçon de Genève-certified watches made by completely different producers was noticeably subpar.

The cal. R 27 PS of the ref. 3979 that bearing the Poinçon de Genève on the soundness cock

Historically, only a few producers might apply for the Poinçon de Genève, which was dominated by Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. Nevertheless points started to differ inside the Nineteen Nineties, when Gerald Genta, Roger Dubuis, and Chopard began making watches that licensed for the seal.

Inside the years that adopted, considerably inside the exuberant interval sooner than the 2008 financial catastrophe, producers that had been traditionally positioned faraway from Geneva acquired into the mix. Amongst the entrants on the time was Cartier, which licensed for the seal by having its tourbillon watches produced in a nook of the Roger Dubuis manufacture in Geneva. Further currently, Louis Vuitton has utilized the seal to its highest-end fashions on account of its La Fabrique du Temps manufacture inside the metropolis’s suburbs.

The GS 36‑750 PS IRM inside the ref. 6301P grande sonnerie, displaying off the Patek Philippe Seal.

Differentiating

In my view, it was compulsory for Patek Philippe to abandon the Poinçon de Genève. The mannequin has on a regular basis tried to care for its principal place inside the enterprise, and by adopting its private commonplace it distanced itself from associates and prevented the notion of a false equivalency between a Patek Philippe and one different bearer of the Poinçon de Genève. Making an attempt once more at a number of of the atrocious gadgets which have licensed for the Geneva hallmark, I think about Patek Philippe’s option to undertake its private commonplace has been vindicated.

This substitute to the Patek Philippe Seal does quite a bit the similar issue. The model new unified water-resistance rating says that the mannequin should not be all in favour of competing inside the spec sheet, nonetheless stays ready to face by its watches to their mentioned depth. Furthermore, the model new requirements for charge accuracy are a testament to the mannequin’s mastery of chronometry, developed over a very long time of observatory competitions and enhanced by its early embrace of silicon.

Once more to excessive.