SuitbertW
2411
*Basel2007* New Ref. 4949
New Ref. 4949
Press release
Gondolo
Patek Philippe Geneva
April 2007
The Gondolo Ref. 4949: a totally new jeweled watch design with an unusual relief pattern.
Time is precious: that is the theme of the new Ref. 4949 ladies’ timepiece, the latest and most
striking addition to Patek Philippe’s collection of Gondolo watches. It displays its diamonds
not outside on the case but inside along the bezel, protected by the crystal. They frame
attention to where life takes place: in the course of time.
But there are more facets that make this watch a paragon of refined timepiece design. Its flanks are
decorated with a reliefed, braided tress pattern that will make every woman’s heart skip a beat. The
Ref. 4949 wouldn’t be a Patek Philippe watch if there were not something very special about this
decorative braiding.
The remarkable art of casemaking
The amazing braided pattern is not engraved or milled into the finished case. Instead, it is
embossed into the flanks during the cold-forming process that converts a solid block of white gold
into a stunning case. During the casemaking process, a coarse case blank is first punched out of an
18K white-gold bar and then, in several consecutive steps, pressed into its ultimate shape in a dieand-
punch pair compressed with a force of several tons. This not only forms the gold but also
makes it denser for added stability. Between the individual steps, the workpiece must be repeatedly
heated and slowly cooled to continuously relieve the stress that builds up in the press. One of the
special aspects of the case of the Gondolo Ref. 4949 is that the die is engraved with a negative
image of the elegant braiding pattern to impart the positive pattern to the caseband when the
pressure in the swaging die reaches its apex. Patek Philippe is one of the last watchmaking
companies that produces its cases in-house with this traditional manufacturing technology. It has its
own tooling department staffed with specialists who manually build, mill and polish the highprecision
dies in countless time-consuming steps. The result is that even the raw cases exhibit
smooth, high-definition surfaces.
Nonetheless, after it has been die-formed, the case must be finished in numerous manual steps to
give it the inimitable Patek Philippe character. Many grinding and polishing passes are needed to
complete the case of the Gondolo: the braided relief must be carefully sandblasted, also by hand, to
impart the incomparable matte sheen.
A window on time illuminated by the fire of diamonds
The time is indicated by two white-gold hands over a champagne dial whose hour-marker periphery
is decorated with a radiant guilloché pattern. At 12 and 6 o’clock, it has two applied Roman
numerals in 18K white gold. The date aperture is at 3 o’clock. Two rows of diamonds, 13 flawless
Top Wesselton stones on each side, totaling about 0.18 carats, frame the dial. Extraordinarily, these
gems are not set in the bezel. Instead, they are aligned along the bezel beneath the crystal,
lavishing their fire upon the stage of time while creating a fantastic contrast to the champagne hue of
the dial and the chocolate-colored satin strap. Fourteen Top Wesselton diamonds totaling about
0.07 carats also adorn the 18K white-gold crown. Patek Philippe’s new Gondolo Ref. 4949 is worn
on a chocolate satin strap with an 18K white-gold prong buckle.
The Ref. 4949 enriches the Gondolo collection for ladies with a novel, eye-catching design and
unique features.
Timekeeping with extreme precision
Patek Philippe’s caliber E19 C quartz movement is responsible for the accuracy of the Gondolo Ref.
4949. Its battery has a life of at least two years. Crafted in-house, it has a going train that is
manufactured with the same care and quality as the components of the company’s legendary
mechanical movements. It consists of 80 individual parts, including seven jewels, and is controlled
by a quartz crystal with a frequency of 32,768 hertz. A tiny stepper motor drives the hour and minute
hands as well as the date disc. The watch is operated with a crown that has a halfway position for
rapid date adjustments and an outermost battery-saver position to interrupt the power circuit in case
the watch will not be used for an extended period of time.
Greetings from Basel
Suitbert
This message has been edited by SuitbertW on 2007-04-11 02:55:43
