PATEK PHILIPPE REF 5531R-001 WORLD TIME MINUTE REPEATER
News of Patek Philippe’s release of the Ref 5531R-001 World Time Minute Repeater is music to our ears, literally, as it’s the first minute repeater that chimes the local time in any of the 24 reference time zones displayed at 12 o’clock. Released last year as a select 10-piece Ref 5531 New York Special Edition at Patek Philippe’s The Art of Watches Grand Exhibition New York, we’re honestly thrilled that the iconic watchmaker has decided to extend the grand complication piece to its regular collection. In order to allow for the minute repeater to chime at local time – wherever in the world – instead of home time, Patek Philippe engineered a new Calibre R 27 HU self-winding movement that gives the 24- hour display of the world time mechanism autonomy over the hour strike. In fact, this construction is so rare that the brand has already filed a patent for the 462-part movement equipped with a totally recessed 22K gold minirotor. Another inventive facet of the Ref 5531R-001 is the placement of the minute repeater’s classic gongs on the caseband instead of the movement, an adjustment that improves the acoustic tone of the chimes. Moving to the visuals, the Ref 5531R- 001 is unequivocally Patek Philippe, with a classy 40.2mm rose gold case that bears the manufacture’s characteristic hand-guillochéd hobnail pattern on the caseband and the repeater slide. However, the 18K gold dial plate steals all the attention, with an exquisite cloisonné enamel centre depicting a dreamy panorama of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Lavaux vineyard terrace region perched on the shores of Lake Geneva.
