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Results for Patek Philippe Ellipse

1,565 articles · 13 videos found · page 1 of 53

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Is The Latest Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738G-001 The Greatest? Fratello
Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref 5738G-001 May 18, 2026

Is The Latest Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738G-001 The Greatest?

When the dress code says, “casual chic,” what do you wear? “Not an eggplant-colored suit” is my first thought. I saw it once during an opening cocktail of a grandiose watch event, and the combination with white sneakers didn’t make it any better. Would an elegant, slim dress watch have saved the overall look? It […] Visit Is The Latest Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738G-001 The Greatest? to read the full article.

Hands On: Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738/1R with Chain-Link Bracelet SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref 5738/1R Sep 30, 2024

Hands On: Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738/1R with Chain-Link Bracelet

Patek Philippe’s new launches for 2024 included novel complications like the World Time Date ref. 5330G and a “salmon” face for the flagship perpetual calendar ref. 5236P, and also a watch that exemplifies formal simplicity, the Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738/1R-001. The new Golden Ellipse is a two-hander in the model’s largest size, but stands out for its bracelet. The only men’s watch in the current catalogue with an integrated bracelet that isn’t a Nautilus, the ref. 5738/1R has a “chain-style” bracelet made by Wellendorff, a German jeweller that has long supplied bracelets to a variety of watch brands. Initial thoughts The Ellipse is one of Patek Philippe’s trademark models but relatively under the radar, especially compared with its famous integrated-bracelet sports watch cousin designed in the same era. But the Ellipse has its appeal, particularly as a no-frills formal watch. Most commonly seen on a strap, the Ellipse feels strikingly different on a bracelet, although it is still easily recognisable. The gold bracelet evokes the mesh bracelets popular in the 1970s and gives the ref. 5738/1R a pronounced retro feel. The bracelet is finely wrought and supple. Up close, the bracelet also reveals a surprisingly intricate design that contrasts with the simplicity of the case. The fact that the bracelet is made by Wellendorff is both a strength and weakness. It has the flexibility of fine jewellery but also the open-ended clasp typical of a jewellery, instead o...

Patek Philippe Shows Off Its 2021 Rare Handcrafts Featuring Sky Moon Tourbillon, Minute Repeater QP, Golden Ellipse, Ladies First, And Nautilus Watches – Reprise Quill & Pad
Patek Philippe Shows Off Aug 7, 2022

Patek Philippe Shows Off Its 2021 Rare Handcrafts Featuring Sky Moon Tourbillon, Minute Repeater QP, Golden Ellipse, Ladies First, And Nautilus Watches – Reprise

In 2021, Patek Philippe drew attention to the decorative arts that help make its watches so exceptional, further staking claim in the preservation of many of the traditional skills and techniques that date to the manufacture’s roots. The manufacture introduced six versions of familiar watch models that highlight Patek Philippe's Rare Handcrafts.

Patek Philippe’s Gondolo Serata Zebra Debuts New Dial Technique SJX Watches
Patek Philippe s Gondolo Serata Zebra Oct 20, 2025

Patek Philippe’s Gondolo Serata Zebra Debuts New Dial Technique

Patek Philippe surprises with an off-season launch, the Gondolo Serata Zebra Ref. 4962/200R-010. Based on the curvaceous model launched in 2006, the Zebra features a sapphire crystal dial framed by garnets on the bezel and lugs. The dial motif replicates the cloisonné enamel dial of the Golden Ellipse ref. 5738/50G-023 from the Rare Handcrafts collection of 2022, but here the technique and material are decidedly modern. Despite the radically different look, this is an evolution of the Retrograde Perpetual Calendar ref. 6159G that has a smoked sapphire dial. Here the dial is also clear sapphire, but engraved, varnished, and then metallised to create the striking zebra motif. Initial thoughts The Gondolo Serata has been in Patek Philippe’s catalogue for almost 20 years but it never really gained prominence. Though the case shape is elegant, the dials on the earlier versions were quite plain. The Zebra is the opposite – vivid and striking – and it instantly stands out amongst Patek Philippe’s ladies offerings. The fact that the dial motif is based on the Rare Handcrafts Ellipse is a nice touch, though watch enthusiasts may be disappointed the movement is quartz. Patek Philippe presumably understands its clients and those clients probably want the convenience of a quartz movement. The sapphire dial technique, however, is interesting enough that it is likely to make its way into other models, which will be a good thing. Savannah sapphire The Gondolo Serata is a longsta...

The Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years of the Nautilus SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years Yesterday

The Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years of the Nautilus

The Patek Philippe Museum turns 25 this year, but the Geneva institution has bigger things on its mind. Open now through early next year, 1976 – 2026 Nautilus 50th Anniversary is a thematic exhibition that explores the history of the brand’s emblematic sports watch. The exhibit will showcase key references that have defined the trajectory of the Nautilus, which was designed by Gérald Genta and launched in 1976, at a time when the idea of a steel watch was generally thought to be beneath a brand like Patek Philippe. The success of the Nautilus would ultimately validate the brand’s belief that design and craftsmanship could transcend mere material, and helped accelerate Genta’s storied career as a designer. Naturally, the exhibition will feature each of the four 50th anniversary references released this year including the ref. 5610P. Past visitors will observe the exhibit is located on the museum’s top floor, which has been transformed with a temporary 1970s-inspired makeover to give the Nautilus its proper setting. Exhibition details The exhibition is included with general admission to the Patek Philippe Museum, which is open Tuesday through Friday, 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and Sunday from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The anniversary exhibit is scheduled to run until early 2027. Timed tickets can be purchased online, and advance reservation is recommended.  

Happenings: The Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years Of The Nautilus With A Special Museum Exhibition Hodinkee
Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years 2 days ago

Happenings: The Patek Philippe Museum Celebrates 50 Years Of The Nautilus With A Special Museum Exhibition

If you have ever been through Geneva but missed visiting the Patek Philippe Museum, you have missed the full horological experience. We should be thankful to the recently departed Mr. Philippe Stern, who passed away earlier this week, for leaving a legacy that extends not just to the work he did at Patek Philippe (of which his family has been caretakers of for generations) but also for providing a beautiful and robust celebration of watchmaking history through the Patek Philippe Museum. The space on Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers houses some of the most historically significant watches, not only from the storied brand's past but also from the broader history of watchmaking in Switzerland and abroad. And from June 2026 to early 2027, the museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of their most important, influential, and coveted models: the Nautilus. Photo courtesy Patek Philippe. I've been to the museum a number of times, and the Nautilus has never taken a particularly prominent place in any display. With hundreds, if not thousands, of Patek Philippe watches on display, many of them unique, many of them complicated or artistically oriented, the Nautilus is truly only a small part of the brand's history. But it's also been the avenue through which the brand has reached its broadest audience, and the watch has made a massive impact on popular culture at large. So it's a watch worth celebrating. Patek is doing so in the way that feels most "them," with a very historically mi...

Obituary: Philippe Stern, Pivotal Leader of Patek Philippe SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Philippe Stern who served 4 days ago

Obituary: Philippe Stern, Pivotal Leader of Patek Philippe

Philippe Stern, who served as general director and later president of Patek Philippe from 1977 to 2009, died yesterday at the age of 88. Under his stewardship, the Geneva manufacture was transformed from a small, workshop-scattered operation into the global benchmark for fine watchmaking, a position it holds to this day. He was the third generation of the Stern family to lead the company. His grandfather Charles, alongside his brother Jean, had acquired Patek Philippe from insolvency in 1932 from their position as the firm’s trusted dial supplier. His father Henri had built the company’s modern international distribution network and established the Henri Stern Watch Agency in New York, laying the commercial foundations on which Philippe would build. Father and son, Henri and Philippe Stern. Image – Patek Philippe Philippe Stern became managing director in 1977, at the height of the quartz crisis. The timing could not have been more demanding. Swiss watch industry employment was collapsing, from roughly 90,000 workers to a fraction of that figure within a few years, as electronic timekeeping rendered the mechanical watch commercially marginal almost overnight. Many established manufacturers collapsed, merged, or abandoned mechanical production entirely. Stern’s response defined his presidency. He kept the tooling, retained his engineers, and committed Patek Philippe irrevocably to mechanical watchmaking at the precise moment the industry consensus ran in the opposit...

Honorary Patek Philippe President Philippe Stern Passes Away: 1938-2026 Hodinkee
Patek Philippe President Philippe Stern Passes 4 days ago

Honorary Patek Philippe President Philippe Stern Passes Away: 1938-2026

Philippe Stern, the visionary executive who led Patek Philippe through the end of the quartz crisis, kept the family company independent and secured its position at the top of Swiss mechanical high horology, died on June 14th at the age of 88. The Geneva-based company announced Philippe Stern's passing in a statement calling the Patek Philippe Honorary President a "pioneering and visionary spirit" who "left an indelible mark on the history of the family manufacture, preserving its independence and establishing its global stature." Philippe Stern. Photo courtesy Patek Philippe. Stern led Patek Philippe as President from 1993 to 2009. During his tenure, he consolidated Patek Philippe's manufacturing at a new flagship manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva. He integrated its production capabilities to bring as much as possible in-house. He also oversaw the launch of the Nautilus sport watch in the 1970s, the multi-year project to build the Caliber 89, the most complicated portable mechanical watch at the time, boasting 33 complications. In 2001, he inaugurated the Patek Philippe museum in Geneva, an unparalleled exhibition of not only Patek Philippe but of the entire history of horology. Philippe Stern was born in 1938 into a family already at the center of Swiss watchmaking: his grandfather, Charles Stern, had recently acquired the Patek Philippe manufacture in 1932, and his father, Henri Stern, had just joined the company. After studying economics and commerce, Philippe Ste...

In-Depth: Patek Philippe Calibre 89 SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Calibre 89 Jun 12, 2026

In-Depth: Patek Philippe Calibre 89

In 1989, Geneva’s storied watchmaker unveiled the most complicated watch ever made – the Patek Philippe Calibre 89. The genesis of the Calibre 89 arguably started almost a century before with a watch made in Besançon, the historical heart of French watchmaking. In 1977, the Association Française des Amateurs d’Horlogerie Ancienne (AFAHA) published the first issue of its journal Horlogerie Ancienne. The watch on the cover was the Leroy 01. The caption on the inside front page read, “Montre Leroy 01, la plus compliquée du monde” – “The most complicated watch in the world”. Inside, on page 15, a short article made the case: the Leroy 01, completed in 1904 by the Parisian firm of Louis Leroy for the Portuguese collector António Augusto de Carvalho Monteiro, held a title that no other timepiece had successfully disputed. In Geneva, the claim was noted. The first issue of Horlogerie Ancienne of 1977. Image – SJX composite/AFAHA Two years later, in early June 1979, Philippe Stern was at his desk in Patek Philippe’s offices on the rue du Rhône when Max Studer, the firm’s technical director, came in for what the records describe as a routine meeting. The 150th anniversary of the manufacture was a decade away. Among the ideas being considered to celebrate the occasion was a reproduction of the Henry Graves Jr. Supercomplication, the watch Patek had built in 1932, with its twenty-four complications, that had served as the benchmark of mechanical ambition ev...

Insight: the Compliant Mechanism Inside the Patek Philippe Celestial 6105G SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Celestial 6105G Jun 2, 2026

Insight: the Compliant Mechanism Inside the Patek Philippe Celestial 6105G

The standout piece from Patek Philippe at Watches & Wonders 2026 was certainly the Celestial Sunrise and Sunset Ref. 6105G-001. The astronomy-oriented watch was a decade in the making and compared to its more conservative predecessor, the ref. 6102, the new model benefits from a complete makeover, both aesthetically and mechanically.  Hidden within the 47 mm white gold case is an unusual component that didn’t get the attention it deserved at launch: a butterfly-shaped compliant cam-and-rack mechanism. The system is used for the sunrise/sunset indicators and proves Patek Philippe’s almost savant-like mastery of compliant micro-mechanics.  The Celestial ref. 6105 is pictured showing a sunrise of around 8 AM, and a sunset time of about 7 PM. Note the date ring pulls double duty as the sunrise/sunset scale. Fixing something that may be broken Although still quite rare compared to other complications, there are more sunrise/sunset watches on the market than seemingly ever before. They mostly follow the same basic construction: a cam that works with a follower. As the year progresses, the cam slowly turns, displacing the follower. In pairs, such systems are used to show both the sunrise and sunset times, which synchronously vary throughout the year.  So why fix something that doesn’t appear to be broken? Or more specifically, why use an elaborate compliant system when a basic cam and follower is a fixture in classical watchmaking? European patent EP3740821B1 granted to ...

Highlights: Patek Philippe Complications at Phillips Hong Kong SJX Watches
Patek Philippe Complications May 25, 2026

Highlights: Patek Philippe Complications at Phillips Hong Kong

Phillips’ spring auction season goes east for The Hong Kong Watch Auction: XXII on May 30 – 31. As usual, Phillips has put together a very strong lineup, and, as is often the case at watch auctions, Patek Philippe watches — both vintage and modern — have an outsized share of the catalogue. Lot 940 – Patek Philippe Bailey Banks & Biddle Triple Complication Patek Philippe produced this watch for Philadelphian jeweler Bailey Banks & Biddle around 1895, and it bears only the retailer’s name on the dial, which was not unusual. While the company came to a rather undignified end in the 21st century, it was once a manufacturing jeweller, medalist, and major Patek Philippe retailer. The dial is in rather rough condition by the standards of enamel dials, and while the dial may the most important thing to many wristwatch collectors, here the triple-complication movement is what matters. It features a minute repeater, chronograph, and perpetual calendar — which is presumably instantaneous. Note the lack of a minutes counter for the chronograph. While taken for granted on modern chronographs, most Patek Philippe triple complications did without it. In fact, the most common upgrade path for triple complications was a rattrapante, not minutes counter. The counterweighted pallet fork is also worth mention — this refinement disappeared as the Swiss lever matured and watchmakers realised a lighter pallet fork was better than a balanced one. The movement is fully functional, ...

Video: Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern Sits Down With Ben Clymer To Discuss The 2026 Novelties Hodinkee
Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern Sits May 19, 2026

Video: Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern Sits Down With Ben Clymer To Discuss The 2026 Novelties

Thierry Stern sat down with Ben Clymer at Watches & Wonders 2026 to walk through Patek Philippe's novelties, and his passion for the product comes through immediately. Nowhere is that more evident than with the Nautilus's 50th anniversary pieces. Compared to the 40th, this is an exercise in restraint. "My idea is to do the counter-steps," Stern said. The three limited-edition anniversary Nautiluses are stripped to hours and minutes only—no date, no seconds—perhaps the most compelling of which is a 38mm platinum case recalling the medium-size Nautilus models of the 1980s, powered by the 2.53mm Calibre 240, its micro-rotor engraved with "50 1976–2026". The wildcard—a personal highlight for Ben—was something genuinely unexpected: Patek's first-ever Nautilus desk clock, the ref. 958G, limited to just 100 pieces. Its white gold case translates the porthole-inspired Nautilus design to 50.65mm, with a hinged caseback that doubles as a stand. Technically a pocket watch, yet perhaps it's better suited to the table. Mr. Stern gives us a peek behind the curtain on how it came to be—and the story behind it is one you'll definitely want to hear. Thierry also walked Ben through the 5840P—the Cubitus's first grand complication, a skeletonized perpetual calendar he'd conceived early in the collection's development but deliberately held back, wanting the design language to land before the mechanics got complicated. The vintage Patek market is certainly booming, with the ref. ...

Hands-on – The Patek Philippe Calatrava Alarm 5322G, Technically Impressive, Genuinely Usable Monochrome
Patek Philippe Calatrava Alarm 5322G Technically May 15, 2026

Hands-on – The Patek Philippe Calatrava Alarm 5322G, Technically Impressive, Genuinely Usable

Over the past few years, Patek Philippe has been continuously reshaping the Calatrava. What was once the ultimate ultra-classical dress watch – well, it still is with the 6196P – has evolved into something more textured, more casual, and, importantly, more practical. References like the 5326 Annual Calendar Travel Time and the 5328 8-Day introduced […]

Hands-On With The Stylish And Practical Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5396R-016 Annual Calendar Moon Phase Fratello
Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref 5396R-016 Annual May 14, 2026

Hands-On With The Stylish And Practical Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5396R-016 Annual Calendar Moon Phase

In 1996, Patek Philippe launched a watch to bridge the gap between its dress watches and perpetual calendars. The brand needed more sales; the Nautilus was not a hype watch yet, so what did Patek do? It launched a classic calendar watch that looked like a perpetual calendar, but it actually was a watch with […] Visit Hands-On With The Stylish And Practical Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 5396R-016 Annual Calendar Moon Phase to read the full article.

Hands-On With The Patek Philippe Ref. 5236P-011 In-Line Perpetual Calendar With A New Warm Silver-Gray Dial Fratello
Patek Philippe Ref 5236P-011 In-Line Perpetual May 4, 2026

Hands-On With The Patek Philippe Ref. 5236P-011 In-Line Perpetual Calendar With A New Warm Silver-Gray Dial

History (almost) repeats itself. One of my favorite releases from Watches and Wonders 2021 was the Patek Philippe ref. 5236P-001 In-Line Perpetual Calendar. One of my favorite releases from this year’s edition is the Patek Philippe ref. 5236P-011 In-Line Perpetual Calendar. The difference is a single number and a different dial color. The complicated yet […] Visit Hands-On With The Patek Philippe Ref. 5236P-011 In-Line Perpetual Calendar With A New Warm Silver-Gray Dial to read the full article.