The watch house Patek Philippe has several points of attraction in and around Geneva. The first is the flagship store on rue du Rhone, in this mansion on the embankment of the Rhone the brand has lived since 1853. The second is the Watch Museum on the Street of Old Grenadiers, the largest private collection of historic portable watches from the early 16th century to the late 19th century, as well as Patek Philippe models from the company's foundation in 1839. And finally, a complex of industrial buildings in the Geneva suburb of Plan-les-Ouates. Patek Philippe began exploring this territory in 1996. Under the leadership of the then President Philippe Stern, for the first time under one roof, ateliers of different watch specialties were united, but very soon this space was too small for the rapidly growing production.
Today, Philippe Stern's son Thierry, the current president of the manufactory, opens a new, sixth, building (its code name PP6) - it has ten floors, including four underground, and the length of the facade is approaching 200 m. Here are the workshops for working with metal, production of hulls and bracelets, Rare Handcrafts atelier of fine mechanics and rare handicrafts, R&D department, as well as administrative premises.
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The new complex, which took five years to build and cost about 600 million francs, almost doubles the production space of the watch brand. At the same time, the volume of annual production - 62 thousand models per year - is not planned to be increased: it is limited by the strictest parameters of product quality. Today, sophisticated watch models account for almost half of the entire range produced - these include the patented annual calendar, weekly calendar, watches with two time zones and world time. Experts also note the growing average number of components in Patek Philippe movements. All this necessitated a new production.
The family manufactory traditionally accompanies the key events of its corporate history with the release of limited edition watches. In 1997, for the official opening of the PP1 in Plan-les-Ouates, models were released in the original Pagoda case (Ref. 5500) and the automatic minute repeater Ref. 5029.
The brand celebrates the completion of PP6 with the premiere Calatrava Ref. 6007A-001 is the first new product in 2020. The 40mm case is made of steel, a less common material in limited editions (Ref. 6007A-001 is limited to 1000 pieces). A railroad-style minute scale with triangular markers, Arabic indexes, a carbon guilloche pattern in the central circle - all this makes the dial design very dynamic. The sporty look of the classic calatrava is given by a blue textured calfskin strap with white stitching.
The automatic in-house caliber 324 S C is responsible for the functionality of the watch, including the date display. The emblem, Calatrava cross and the New Manufacture 2019 inscription are visible on the sapphire crystal case back (construction work was completed just last year, and commissioning took place in February this year). Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 6007A-001 is 25 thousand Swiss francs (1.8 million rubles).
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