Patek Philippe

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Ref. 5950 - a personal view

Back in 2010 Patek Philippe introduced a modest watch on the first few - with just some extravagances, e.g. a case in
steel, delicate black lacquered engravings in all four corners. Its movement was not new and already presented with
the Ref. 5959, some years ago (2005). The latter is a very classical Patek Philippe at its best. A real beauty and a treat
for the eyes, but a bit small for some.

When I detected the Ref. 5950 in the outside windows of their booth at Basel I liked a lot what I saw, an understated
manually wound split-seconds monopusher chronograph. Only the engravings on the silvery dial were too much for my
taste, at least on the first view. The cushion-shaped case with a contemporary retro style inspired by the first PP wrist
chronographs from the 1920s ticked off a lot of boxes in my head.

Source of inspiration?!

In the official instruction you find sentences like:

•  Haute horlogerie at its very finest
  
  
• The pinnacle of artisanship
  
  
• A paragon of style

Those kinds of sentences are not that special in the world of watches today, at least when marketing people did the job.
But in the case of Patek Philippe? Well, they are not known for being boastful, are they?

When we look at the evolution of the Patek Philippe chronograph (in general) it perfectly illustrates its uninterrupted,
consistent quality of watchmaking the company has practiced throughout its history, something hardly any of its rivals
can match.

First they started with pocket watches. Then they started with wristwatch chronographs in the 1920s, in 1923 they
introduced their first split-seconds chronograph wristwatch and one year later they presented their first chronograph …
So, nothing to proof when it comes to history.

Still we have to deal with the bold statements above.

The case is thinner than that of many ordinary three-hand watches and this is possible, because of the thinnest
column-wheel chronograph caliber ever made - 27 mm diameter and only 5.25 mm height.

Also there are features like e.g. patented toothing geometries for the chronograph wheels, but I am not an
expert when it gets too technical and to be honest the most important things (talking about chronographs)
for me are reliability, smoothness of the pushers and beauty (layout in general and in detail; including charm).

The first is hard to proof without owning the watch, the second is something I had the pleasure to try several
times and the third is a clear home run from my point of view. Have you ever seen the movement in real and if so,
did you use a loupe (2.5x, 5x or even 10x - no problem at all) to examine it in detail?

The finest watches, no matter how sophisticated the movement, are always incomplete until finished. Maybe the movement
works accurately and reliable when correctly engineered, but there is still something missing – soul & charm. Without a
sophisticated finish, even the most advanced and refined complications lack something. The level of finish is the factor that
truly makes the difference (at least for the real connoisseur) in order to judge the perfection of a watch. In the case of the
Ref. 5950 each movement is artisanally crafted one by one. Manually crafted in the manufacture’s haute horlogerie ateliers.

The pieces I have seen so far have almost blown me away. Nothing to compare with most of the movements from the current
PP collection and maybe (some of) the finest what I have seen so far in watchmaking.

I guess, most of you haven´t had the pleasure to examine the watch or the movement in real and from my point of view the
pictures shown (official, press, internet …) are not of big help for those who ask for more – PuristS …

So far we mainly talked about the details of the movement, but when it comes to outstanding details we should
talk about the dial, the hands and the numbers as well. The dial looks almost white on the pictures, but silvery
describes it much better. Depending on the light it is understated, sophisticated … and for sure a real beauty.

What is the colour/finish of the hands and the numbers? Grey, black, blue … matt or shiny? The numbers, are
they sitting flat on the dial? No, for example the head of the number six doesn´t touch the dial. It is “curved” and
a piece of art in its own. You can hardly see it on pictures, at least on those I have seen so far.

(Screenshot with additional loupe function)



(Screenshot with additional loupe function)

Now I would like to share some pictures of mine with more details and on my wrist, but so far I don´t have a
single picture. Either there was no camera with me or it was not allowed to take pictures :-(

Well, I would love to buy one and to cover it for you in all detail, but that is not possible – at least, at the moment or
in the near future ...

Instead I have to borrow two pictures from our dear Edwin:

It looks very good on bigger wrists, but it looked gorgeous on mine (smaller wrist) as well

Even if I could choose from that tray, it would be very easy for me to choose.

Call: If there is anybody out there who is a lucky owner of that watch, please share your experience and/or some
pictures with us. You just have better pictures on your computer? No problem, as long as you share them with us/me

For now I have to stay with an art print of the movement …

… and a slightly customized wallpaper …

The original one can be downloaded (in any size) on the Patek Philippe web site and looks like this:

Thanks for reading!

Oliver

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