Rose gold Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime

The prime minister of Cambodia since 1985 Hun Sen wears the seven pieces limited 47mm rose gold Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, by many regarded as the ultimate wristwatch. The double-faced masterpiece took more than 100,000 hours over eight years to develop, produce, and assembly. Just the movement itself required 60,000 hours to perfect.

About the Watch

The Grandmaster Chime is Patek Philippe’s most intricate watch. There are twenty complexities, a reversible casing, two separate dials, and six unique features in this timepiece. The entire development, manufacturing, and assembly process took 100,000 hours in eight years. It also took 60,000 hours to develop the movement alone.

The Grandmaster Chime is Patek Philippe’s first double-face watch, which may be put on with either dial pointing up. The casing is 47 mm in diameter and 16.1 mm in height, and is intricately engraved in 18k rose gold.

The time dial, as well as the calendar dial, are both used to show all of the complexities. A solid 18k gold disk was used to create every dial. The most commonly requested detail – the current time or date – is shown on both dials since this timepiece may be used with any dial pointing up.

The calendar face’s dial is highly readable. The gold-framed four-digit year display in the middle is surrounded by four subdials, featuring analog displays. At 3 o’clock, the month is displayed, at 6 o’clock, the date and leap-year cycle are shown, and at 9 o’clock, the day of the week is stated. On the 24-hour and 60-minute subdials, the time of day is displayed at 12 o’clock. The calendar shows advance instantly and at the same time, excluding the four-digit year. In terms of the date, this is critical since the date repeater requires precise data, particularly in the minutes leading up to and after midnight.

There are 20 complexities and 1,366 components in the manual wound movement, comprising 32 bridges and 108 gems. It has a strange rate of 25,200 vph (3.5 Hz). Every one of these complexity are incorporated within a 37 mm x 10.7 mm movement. That is an incredible micro-engineering achievement.

The movement features several patented components in addition to the proprietary case-reverser system, including an alarm system with time strike. This is a system that uses the minute repeater’s chiming technique to audibly signal a predetermined alarm time with hour, quarter-hour, and minute strikes. The date repeater collects date info from the perpetual calendar and passes it on to the recurring mechanism.

The Patek Philippe wristwatch uses both large and small sonneries. The grand sonnerie is frequently recognized as the most challenging watchmaking complexity. On three gongs, the grand sonnerie automatically chimes the hours and quarters. It sounds the equivalent number with low-pitched tones at the top of each hour. It marks the hours first, then the number of quarters with triple knocks on three gongs, each with its own tune.

When the grande sonnerie is not necessary, the timepiece can be turned to “petite sonnerie” or “quiet” using the slider at 9 o’clock. The sonneries and the minute repeater each require a twin-barrel system with a 30-hour power reserve.

Price tag: $2,700,000.00 USD

Photo: Hun Sen