Generations and hours of jumping.
Patek Philippe’s long-standing complication is sometimes called “dual time zone” or “travel time” by the brand, and a second hour hand is added to the dial to show the time in another time zone. The added hands are usually presented in a different way from the local hour hand, and can be hidden under the local hour hand when not in use, and replica Patek Philippe has installed a pair of buttons on the side of the left case to move forward or backward the extra hour hand.
For Patek Philippe, the original goal of this complication was to make the process of updating to the new time zone as easy as possible. In the case of previous travel watches that often relied on multiple movements, Patek Philippe turned to Louis Cottier to design a solution suitable for rapid growth in air travel. Those who love world time watches will recognize Cottier’s name because he is the root of Patek Philippe’s first world timepiece in the late 1930s.
By the mid-1950s, Patek Philippe hoped to provide travelers with more choices, and called on Cottier to design time zone jumping watches that could be updated without stopping the minutes or seconds and without removing the watch from the wrist. It is not Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or a world timer, but a watch designed to quickly and easily update to a new time zone with a skipping function operated by a button.
Today, nearly 60 years later, Patek Philippe copy still offers this feature on a few watches, and it has even been improved to better understand your second time zone (more on this). For brands that do not provide traditional GMT models, the reference number 2597 is the source of Patek Philippe’s most travel-designed watch, and it is also another innovation of the brand that originated from Cottier in its long-term work.
And, although this article will focus on some of Patek Philippe’s dual hour hands, this is Cottier’s first design, a breathtakingly lovely reference. 2597, originally a “cross country” born in 1958, a single hour hand with a jumping hour hand, the price is 1,000 US dollars (in the United States). By 1961, Cottier and Patek Philippe updated the 2597 to the second series, with a dual hour hand function (the auxiliary hour hand is made of blue steel, as shown in the picture above), which can be jumped by a micro button on the side of the case Setting (much like the local hour hand of the original specification). As mentioned above, this operation can be done without stopping the watch and without removing the watch from the wrist, and if you are not on the road, the auxiliary hour hand can be hidden under the local hour hand.
This function is derived from Patek Philippe’s 12”’400 HS movement, where “HS” stands for Heures Sautantes, which translates as “jump time”. 12”’400 HS manual winding movement 18 jewels, which form the basis of the brand’s 1959 Swiss patent (#340191), which represents the “time zone watch”. In the modern environment, the legacy of 12”’400 continues in the current most advanced 324 S C FUS movement, which may be in the Aquanaut Travel Time Ref. A. Ref. The best use in. 5164.
As Ben stated in the previous reference, from the earliest 2597, this watch is essentially a reference to 570 Calatrava, and its case is 35.5 mm yellow or rose gold (produced by Antoine Gerlach for Patek Philippe), And made some adjustments. The new movement and its control. To reiterate, Series 1 is roughly limited to the period from 1958 to 1961, while the Double-Hour Hand Series 2 appeared in 1962. I learned that by the 1970s, Patek Philippe sold upgrade kits to retailers so that the single hour hand series 1 could be updated to the double hour hand series 2.
Although it is sometimes argued over the years (record keeping is now), this is a loose understanding between the collector community and a warning. If you come across 2597 with a double hour hand and a production date before 1961, please dig as much as possible before investing any cash, because Patek Philippe has modified this exact replica watches, but the watch was not originally composed of two The hour hand is made. The retailer sometime later.
All in all, 2597 is a very cool, very rare watch. Tiffany, Gubelin and others can also double sign. The value is high and rising, and an A+ example like this (provided by Phillips in November 2017) is sold at a high price – 540,500 Swiss francs before the premium. Those who are curious can check out these lots, including this two-signature series 1 example bracelet provided by Bonhams in 2019, or this more quaint series 2 example (from the Phillips series) sold in May 2018.
Although the functions of the 2597 are widely regarded by collectors as one of the most ideal travel cheapest replica watches of its era, the ability to expand to other models has been very slow. In the following 50 years, Patek Philippe had very little travel time to enter the market. , And succeeded to varying degrees. In 1997, Patek Philippe launched the 5034 Travel Time, which provided similar features in the Patek Philippe wrappers in the 90s (you can see a platinum example here), and the company also produced the ladies reference number 4864 (here Example). Both references use the Caliber 215 PS version, which adds sub-second display and 24-hour display in the second time zone (helpful for AM/PM, but ultimately not helpful for the brand’s format).
In 2001, 5034 was replaced with 5134, which is an example of 37mm travel time, also using 215 PS with manual winding, but providing a more modern feel in terms of case and dial execution. Although the 5034 and 5134 (with the appearance of the 2597) are very aesthetically different, these examples still use the basic two-button jump second hand function. Those who are interested should know that 5134 is made after many iterations (including platinum and white gold, gold and rose gold), can be found to be dual-signed, and has not yet developed a product usually attributed to the Patek Philippe collector market. That is to say, their price is much lower than 2597. To further look at 5134, please check the following auction list, such as the Phillips auction in November 2019, the Bonhams auction in June 2019 (it feels like a very low number, Isn’t it?), and an example of a platinum and black dial sold by Phillips in November 2017.
Until 2008, when the model was discontinued, Patek Philippe continued to manufacture the 5134 in a certain shape, so the brand also used this elegant travel time. Fortunately, this situation has changed in 2011 with the advent of Aquanaut Travel Time 5164A. This is the first time that Patek Philippe has equipped Aquanaut with any complications, and I certainly think it is a good choice. Relying on the comprehensive capabilities of Aquanaut’s sports and leisure design and the functions originally established by 2597 (although improved through a more specific way of managing AM/PM), 5164 has become a very ideal modern reference. If you want to know more, please read Ben’s In-Depth by 5164A or “Hands-on” by 5164R (this article is the spiritual successor to this article).
Since 2011, Patek Philippe has applied its travel time function to several watches, including the giant Nautilus 5990 (with chronograph), the cool Calatrava pilot travel time (reference numbers 5524 and 7234), and the big boy 5520P , And even the 6300 Grandmaster Chime (at the same time it was accompanied by 19 other complications).
Although the understanding of Patek Philippe Travel Time watches is not exhaustive, I hope it can provide some background for my favorite complications of the brand. The 2597 is easily one of my favorite vintage watches, and the 5164 is easily my favorite modern Patek Philippe reference. As a loyal supporter of travel complications, I admire the elegance and ordinaryness of the 12”’400 developed by Cottier, and how Patek Philippe (especially in the past ten years) has passed new models and additional features. Representative money.
Finally, I do hope that Patek Philippe will continue to make full use of this feature, and hope that one day we can add it to the Calatrava series. The modern 2597 may be a killer specification, I must think that today’s 37mm 5196R will be a good starting point. Before that, I just dreamed of a world with more jumping time travel watches.