Meet Patek Philippe's 'Advanced Research' Minute Repeater | British GQ

For the Ref. 5750, Patek’s boffins were commissioned, in short, to make a very loud minute repeater. Minute repeaters chime the time on demand, using a miniaturised system of hammers and gongs secluded inside a watch case that’s typically activated by a sliding mechanism on the case’s left flank.

To achieve this extra volume, the ARP separated the sound apparatus from the watch’s automatic movement, and suspended it using a system inspired by Thomas Edison’s phonograph of 1877. It works a bit like a loudspeaker, amplifying sound made when a gong hits a hammer through a vibrating plate linked to the chiming device by a lever.

In this case, Patek used platinum for the hammers because it's denser but softer than steel, and sapphire crystal for the plate because it’s transparent, light, and rigid. That leaves a novel arrangement: underneath the sapphire crystal case back, there’s a second sliver or the stuff, amplifying the watch’s chimes.

The sound escapes through four barely visible holes in the case that while fitted with dust filters, do leave the watch vulnerable to water – in fact, in a highly unusual move, Patek is advertising the watch as ‘not waterproof’. The new system is dubbed fortissimo “ff” – and Patek has registered four patents against it.

Patek isn’t the first to go down this route, note, and it’s not claiming this is the loudest chiming watch ever made. Long-time rival Audemars Piguet’s booming Supersonnerie technology is now available in a version of the Royal Oak Minute Repeater, while Ulysse Nardin recently teamed up with French audio specialists Devialet to make its Hourstriker Phantom, which it claims is the loudest striking watch ever made with an astonishing volume of 85 decibels.

No doubt, Patek’s system is clever and, although we’ve not tested this ourselves, apparently very loud (no detail about just how loud it is has been forthcoming). It’s also wrapped in a very handsome watch. The spoke aesthetic that runs through the dial and into a spinning small seconds disc gives a modern look to what is still a very traditional concept (chiming watches were originally invented so you could tell the time in the dark – ie before the invention of electricity), and the overall effect of a snailed dial under those spokes, a circular satin-finished dial exterior and ruthenium blackened white gold hour markers is imposing and memorable, without being over the top. 

The price comes in at a tinnitus-inducing £539,000, only 15 are slated for production, and it’s highly likely all are pre-sold.

NOW READ

Fancy a Tiffany Patek Philippe Nautilus? It'll cost you

The GQ Watch Guide 2021: 112 best men’s watches to buy

The seven most spectacular watches at Dubai Watch Week