Watchlords

In 1916, Patek Philippe, which already had a rich history of complicated pocket watch designs to its name, sold its first minute repeater wristwatch in New York. It was a ladies’ watch: a gold-plated five-minute repeater with two gongs, 27.1 mm in diameter with a depth of 9.3 mm. More than one hundred years ago, this was the Geneva watchmaker’s first foray into mechanical complications for women. It was far from being the last.

Over the following decades, the manufacture would continue to make watch for women. In the 1950s it set up a specialised workshop dedicated to decorating, embellishing and gem-setting the cases and bracelets of women’s watches. But it was not until 1997 that Patek Philippe decided to invest in what has now become a comprehensive range of complicated watches created specifically for women:
• Dual time zone Travel Time (1997)
• Moon Phase (1998)
• Annual Calendar and Moon Phase (2005)
• Chronograph (2010)
• Flyback Chronograph (2011)
• Minute Repeater (2011)
• Universal Time (2011)
• Perpetual Calendar and Moon Phase (2012)
• Multi-Scale Chronograph (2014)
• Universal Time and Moon Phase (2014)

And these are just the original models – there have been countless variants and improvements since they were first released.

As of today, Patek Philippe offers what is probably the most complete range of mechanical complications for women of any watch brand. The undeniable success of these women’s timepieces relies on maintaining a vital and particularly delicate balance: behind the classically elegant styling and understated chic lies a wealth of mechanical virtuosity. The result is complications that are useful, extremely easy to use, and the perfect response to female clients’ burgeoning interest in technically sophisticated and timeless watches.


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