Patek Philippe Watch Repair – Swiss Watch Makers https://swisswatchland.com Professional Watch Repair Tue, 14 Aug 2018 15:16:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.7 https://swisswatchland.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-New-Swiss-Watchmakers-Logo-Watch-Repair-32x32.jpg Patek Philippe Watch Repair – Swiss Watch Makers https://swisswatchland.com 32 32 What Makes The Sound Of A Minute Repeater So Magical? https://swisswatchland.com/2018/08/13/what-makes-the-sound-of-a-minute-repeater-so-magical/ Mon, 13 Aug 2018 14:59:07 +0000 https://swisswatchland.com/?p=3473 When people wonder the history of the minute repeater, they do not know that it dates way back even before electric light. As oil lamps were being created, watchmakers wanted to create mechanisms that sound the time on demand. Edward Barlow and Daniel Quare claims the invention of the minute repeater but it was Quare who patented it in 1687. At first, minute repeaters used bells to chime the time, and as time went by it was replaced with wire gong. The first glance at minute repeaters were not actually minute repeaters but quarter repeaters that sounded the time closest to the quarter.

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When the transition of pocket watches to wristwatches happened, minute repeaters were barely used. In wristwatches it was very hard and expensive to add a minute repeater and it also did not have much space in the wristwatch to be added. It was not until the quartz crisis that a renewed interest emerged for the repeater mechanism. Today’s top brands use minute repeaters in their timepieces and sometimes combined with other complications.

To judge how well a minute repeater is, it has to be heard first. The clarity or loudness of the chime does not rank a minute repeater but speed that it is chiming at does. Many complications take great energy and when it is playing, it can also negatively affect the amplitude of the watch, and therefore its accuracy.

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The case of watch plays a big role in the excellence of minute repeaters. The material it is made of has great impact on the sound it plays and also the case shape changes that sound. Many great manufacturers create sound chambers in their timepieces so that gongs can perform their task at an optimum and the sound is also amplified.

 

]]> Patek Philippe 5980R case refinishing https://swisswatchland.com/2018/06/06/patek-philippe-5980r-case-refinishing/ Wed, 06 Jun 2018 13:22:32 +0000 https://swisswatchland.com/?p=3148 Below is Patrick Desbiolles, Head of Swiss Watchmakers, explaining the case refinishing for a Patek Philippe 5980R. As he explains that when working on the case refinishing you have to be very very careful. This Nautilus features a beautiful 18k solid rose gold case with a contrasting leather bracelet. Varied Price: US$69,000.

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]]> Henry Graves Pocket Watch 24 Complications/Million https://swisswatchland.com/2014/11/14/henry-graves-pocket-watch-24-complications-million/ Fri, 14 Nov 2014 14:15:02 +0000 http://clickupmedia.com/EVHOMESTATION/?p=3061 This Patek Philippe pocket watch was made for Henry Graves a famous bank during the U.S’s economic turmoil.
Henry Graves was an ardent watch collector as well as a patron for Patek Philippe.
He had a tendency to compete with James Ward Packward an automobile manufacturer, they would always attempt to have the most complicated timepiece possible. In 1933 this bickering ended when Graves received a pocket watch that could not be outmatched, The super complication was commissioned in 1927 by Graves and of course delivered in 1933.

Henry Graves Spend 60,000 Swiss Francs on the timepiece about 15,000 USD at the time.
3 years went into designing the timepiece and 5 to manufacture.
There was only one of these glorious timepieces made, and its history goes a little like this.

  • It went to Henry Graves from 1933 until his death in 1953

 

  • The time then went to his heirs until it was sold in 1968 to The Time Museum in Rockford, Illinois.

 

  • In 1999 following the closure of the Rockford Time Museum it was sold to a member of the Qatari Royal Family for a record breaking $11,002,500, the transaction was made at Sotheby’s in New York.

 

  • In July 2014 it was announced that the timepiece would again be sold at Sotheby’s Geneva and on November 11 2014 the timepiece was again sold for a record shattering $24,000,000 by Auerl Bacs a known watch collector and auctioneer as well as the former head of watches at Christies, the timepiece most likely going to an unknown client of his.

The 24 Complications at a million each

The hours, minutes and seconds of sidereal time (3)
Sunset/Sunrise time
Equation of time
Calendar
Perpetual calendar
Day of the Month
Day of the Week
Month
Star Chart (Depicting the stars in New York by Grave’s home to the exact relative distance)
Moon Phase
Chronograph
Split second
30 minute recording
12 hour recording
The Chime
Grande sonnerie (Westminster chimes) with carillon
Petite sonnerie with carillon
Minute Repeater
Alarm
The going train up-down indication
The striking train up/down indication
The twin barrel differential winding
The three-way setting system
line
This makes this the most complicated timepiece ever created without computer assisted machinery.
With 940 components this timepiece truly deserves the title of super complication everything was hand made to perfection.
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