Sitting simply to my proper, on a shelf close to my desk, I’ve a clock. It’s child blue, formed like a Nineteen Fifties retro-futuristic robotic, and was given to me by the ‘Tooth Fairy’ the primary time I misplaced a tooth. Whereas subsequent tooth had been by no means rewarded with something comparable — the going fee in my home was a $1 Sacagawea coin — that blue robotic triggered one thing in me, and I’ve had a little bit of a factor for clocks each since.
At this level, it’s been in all probability twenty years since I’ve stored my blue robotic clock working. Lately, the closest I get to a desk clock might be my iPhone, which sits on a charging dock in Standby mode each time I’m at my desk. Nonetheless, clocks have remained a fascination of mine, and I’m at all times right here for an ideal new clock, particularly when it’s as over-the-top and, frankly, ridiculous as the newest desk clock from Patek Philippe.
The Patek Philippe Difficult Desk Clock ref. 27000M-001 is every little thing it says it’s — that being a desk clock, and sophisticated. It’s additionally very costly, with a sticker worth sitting north of $1 million — which makes the Difficult Desk Clock extra of an attention-grabbing thought train than a sensible consideration, although contemplating {that a} very related (albeit much less inexperienced) clock hammered for $9.5 million as Patek Philippe’s submission for OnlyWatch 2021, $1.2-ish million is a comparative steal. Nonetheless, since I noticed this factor pop up just a few days in the past, I’ve had a tough time getting it out of my head, exorbitant worth be damned.
The 27000M-001, which (per Patek) is impressed by a pair of desk clocks produced for American Collectors James Ward Packard and Henry Graves Jr. within the Nineteen Twenties, is rife with complication and ornate element. The important thing-wound clock, whose footprint measures about 6.5” by 5” and is about 3” tall, is supplied with the 912-piece caliber 86-135 PEND S IRM Q SE, an up to date model of the motion discovered within the 2021 Solely Watch clock, and presents a perpetual calendar that features each moon part and week of the yr shows. To be sure you don’t want to fret about winding the watch too typically, it additionally boasts a large 31-day energy reserve, which is displayed by a small hand on the middle of the dial.
All of that is cased in a sterling silver cupboard, embellished with vibrant inexperienced guilloché Grand Feu Enamel and vermeil detailing. Once more, the brand new clock right here owes a debt to the Solely Watch model, sporting a virtually an identical format and related particulars as the sooner providing, although clearly substituting numerous the wooden particulars in favor of Grand Feu Enamel. The cupboard is humidity and dust-resistant, so ought to maintain up in your desk, however is explicitly not waterproof — so no diving along with your perpetual calendar desk clock. To wind, set, or appropriate the clock, the cupboard opens up like a e book, revealing wood inlays, a floral silver key with vermeil particulars, and a set of 5 outsized pushers to advance the person calendar features.
Aesthetically, the brand new clock has a decidedly Versailles-ian enchantment, and clearly received’t slot in with most up to date desk set-ups. However the 27000M-001 has a sure over-the-top appeal, and it makes a world of sense that Patek would wish to carry what was an enormously profitable Solely Watch entrant into their catalog in a extra everlasting means. It’s additionally an attention-grabbing counterpoint to what is going to probably be thought of their largest success of the honest, their new ref. 6196P Calatrava.
I’ll admit that, in the previous few years, my relationship (nonetheless you outline that) with Patek Philippe has ebbed. Like lots of people (Zach Kazan included), the launch of the Cubitus just a few months in the past — and the model’s messaging within the days after — left a bitter style in my mouth and I’ve had hassle escaping the sense that Patek Philippe, and the Stern household, have discovered themselves out of step with the fashionable collector. I don’t essentially imply that from a product standpoint (Cubitus apart, Patek has launched loads of watches I am keen on lately), however actually from an id one.
To try to perceive Patek Phillipe is an train in duality. It’s a model that’s, directly, central to the world of on a regular basis watch enthusiasm, and completely faraway from it. It’s a model equally as well-known for its easiest watches as its most complicated, and one which appears to hunt adoration in the identical breath because it rejects the calls for that standing creates. Items like this absurd clock are an ideal reminder of what I do love about Patek, and what manufacturers like Patek can do after they ease off the brakes. Clearly, this received’t be a clock that finally ends up on many desks, however the truth that it exists in any respect is, in my e book, fairly cool. Patek Philippe
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