Patek Philippe Rare Handcrafts Collection Overview

After asking on several occasions over the years I was immensely lucky this year to be rewarded with a stunning piece from the rare handcrafts collection. AD presented the piece to me on Thursday in Geneva during an amazing factory visit with a group of their most passionate Patek collectors. I can thoroughly recommend the factory visit if you ever get the chance.

The piece is amazing, 3 types of enamel work (cloisonné, paillonne and miniature painting) with an engraved hunter case back housing a 240 micro rotor movement. What really impresses is of course the dial, not just in detail and the level of workmanship but also in size.

The piece also features on the front cover of the Rare handcrafts brochure where Patek have gold foiled the cloisonné gold wires - the brochure looks spectacular.

The image is based on the 1948 poster that was produced to promote the 1948 Grand Prix des Nations that took place in Geneva (held in 1946, ‘48 and ‘50 - poster attached). Patek have then flipped the poster around, included the Lake Geneva fountain and also the Patek manufacture building of the day (now the salon) which is virtually centre of the picture - kind of neat. Having researched the race the image is as if looking back to Geneva from the hairpin between the main straights- it was of course a road circuit but all the roads can still be seen on Google maps. Circuit in red on the attached map and the salon is the red dot at the bottom with the fountain to the lower middle right.

Car 2, a Ferrari (166/f2 according to Motorsport magazine) finished 3rd and the car behind is a Maserati that went on to finish 1st or 2nd (Maserati had a one two on the day).