Patek Philippe is the almighty ultra-luxury brand that is known by every human who knows anything about Swiss luxury timepiece. This is a manufacturer that has powered through time (no pun intended) to build their reputation and maintain their track record as one of the best watchmakers in history.
Size/Specs/Design
Patek Philippe’s 37mm Minute Repeater Men’s Mechanical White Gold Watch is a stunning reminder of the ultra-luxury artistry and engineering that goes into making some of the world’s best quality timepieces. This Minute Repeater (5016G) model features a gorgeous, round 37mm case made from solid 18K White Gold. With stunning complications and dial features, this mechanical timepiece has the best calibre movement, the most advanced engineering in its design, and a construction that is ultra-luxury.
Power Source
The 37mm, 18K White Gold case houses an exquisite automatic calibre R 27 PS QR, which is made in-house by Patek Philippe. With a power reserve of approximately 48 hours, this manual winding movement is extremely high quality — when you consider the addition of a minute repeater complication, a tourbillon, and the range of additional complications that reside within the stunning black dial, it is clear that this sleek 37mm case has been uniquely crafted to fit all of these high-precision functions.
The Good
Since our readers probably wouldn’t appreciate us saying what is true (that everything about this timepiece is good) and leave it at that, we’ll try to illustrate the details of this fine ultra-luxury Patek a bit further. First off, let’s talk about the design. Gold, gold, everywhere. Constructed of solid 18K White Gold, the 37mm case is just perfect. Polished and gorgeous, this luxury watch maintains its masculine richness in dimension and design. The similarly polished 18K White Gold fixed bezel offers the perfect circular ring around the main attraction — the dial.
Regardless of your own choice of white or black bezel, it’s simple — the white dial utilizes black stylized Arabic numerals for the inner-concentric calendar on the dial. The main hour positions use 18K White Gold stylized Arabic numerals which stand in complement to the casing. They match the three main dial hands (hour, minute, and second), as well as the sub dial hand, which are also 18K White Gold. The black dial option obviously inverts the colour theme and uses white stylized Arabic numerals for the perpetual calendar and markings on the dial, while the rest remains in 18K White Gold.
Complete with a Tourbillon, Perpetual Calendar with a Retrograde Date Hand, Small Seconds, the Moon Phase, a Minute Repeater, and multiple calendar windows that indicate the leap year, the month, the day of the week, and more — this timepiece from the Grand Complications series certainly lives up to its name.
The Bad
This ultra-luxury timepiece has no obvious flaws or shortcomings. On the contrary, the Patek Philippe Minute Repeater (5016G) is a masterclass in watchmaking from this fine Swiss manufacturer.
Functionality
From the minute repeater; the perpetual calendar with a retrograde date hand; a moon phase display; a tourbillon at 6 o’clock; a range of calendar windows; the hour, day, minute, and seconds; as well as small seconds and a leap year indicator — this 5016G model has all of the functions one could imagine wanting, and more. The automatic mechanical, manual wind movement is exceptional and perfect for quality precision timekeeping. With a 48-hour power reserve (which is very decent for a manual wind timepiece), this watch will always run with precision in every display and complication. It also has a water resistance of 65 meters (214 feet), which, as a rather odd number for water resistance (water resistance is typically 10 meters, 30 meters, 50 meters, 100 meters, and so forth) leads me to believe that Patek Philippe went above and beyond in order to improve on the 50 meter resistance they reached and they opted to give this timepiece the best resistance to water as they could.
Overall, the functionality of the 5016G model is beyond reproach. There are no mistakes in a timepiece like this. As an ultra-luxury watch, you are guaranteed the best in this model and you will get it. Patek Philippe has a great knack for making watch dials with multiple complications on them look simple and easy to read. This is a huge asset since this model has a grand array of complications that you do not typically find in luxury watches.
The Highlights
The real highlight of this watch — the main complication that really shines — is the minute repeater. The main complication and highlight of this timepiece is the minute repeater. This is a complex mechanism that showcases the art of watchmaking. It makes it possible to tell the time by listening rather than looking.
Actuated by a repeating slide, a minute repeater complication announces the time musically using three separate sounds. A low note is struck for the hour, then two notes (one high and one low for each quarter-hour), and last is a single high note for each minute elapsed since the last quarter-hour has struck. The heart of a minute repeater are two gongs that are struck by hammers and a complex mechanical memory that ensures this timepiece is consistent and accurate. Patek Philippe uses over 100 unique components that are combined to create a minute repeating mechanism — it’s already difficult enough putting one in a pocket watch, but a wrist watch? That takes intricate miniaturization and a skill that Patek Philippe has in spades. It can take a watchmaker between 200 to 300 hours of work just to create Philippe’s incredible minute repeater complication.
Pricing
The Patek Philippe (5016G) Minute Repeater Men’s 37mm Mechanical White Gold timepiece is not a cheap timepiece. This model transcends luxury altogether and belongs in the ultra-luxury category. You wont find this sitting next to fashion brands like Gucci, Lacoste or Emporio Armani watches in a traditional watch retailer. This is an ultra luxury piece and will only be found in the most discerning of places. If you have $765,000 for this outstanding piece, then take a look on their website, or you can purchase the white dial model for $695,000 if you want a lighter look.