Patek Philippe

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The “Cobra”

The Patek Philippe Ref. 3414 is nicknamed the “Cobra” because it was the main source of inspiration for the modern Urwerk UR-CC1 King Cobra.



This wristwatch, with its dual linear display of hours (at the bottom) and minutes (at the top), wad designed by legendary designer Gilbert Albert.

credit: Bibliothèque de Genève (Gilbert Albert), @art_of_horology_ (watch) & kids.nationalgeographic (cobra)


The yellow gold case measures 27.3 x 43.8 x 15.8 mm and the total length of the yellow gold bracelet is about 190 mm.


credit: @wow.sg


The watch is on display at the Patek Philippe Museum, Inv. P-110, in the window no. 73, dedicated to the Gilbert Albert timepieces.

credit: personal photo


However, the mechanism was invented and engineered in 1958 by Louis Cottier, best known for his World Time complication.


credit: Oracle Time


It involves two synthetic superimposed cylinders, half white and half black: 

• one for the hours (making one rotation every 12 hours)

• and the other for the minutes (making one rotation every 60 minutes)

Surprisingly, the superimposed cylinders are linked to and powered by the legendary hand-wound caliber 9-90, which equips most of the Patek Philippe shaped watches from the 1940s and 1950s.

credit: Swisswatches Magazine

The watch is presented in detail on page 234 of the book by Martin Huber & Alan Banbery, Patek Philippe Genève Wristwatches (second edition, 1998).

As you can read, a patent on the mechanism was filed in 1959 but the watch never went into serial production (probably because the mechanism wasn't efficient enough) and the prototype remains a piece unique.

The watch is also described on page 353 of Volume II of the Patek Philippe Museum catalog:


credit: personal photos of my own copy of each book

Here are three more photos of the “Cobra” (stupidly I only photographed the Gilbert Albert display window as a whole): 

credit: Tony Traina (Unpolished), cool hunting, @robengstrom1832 & @r.m.s.1675


And, finally, here are some photos of a rare so-called "albino" version of the main successor to the Patek Philippe “Cobra” ref. 3414: the Urwerk UR-CC1 King Cobra:








credit: Watch Guru

Of course, it's not a watch I would personally want to wear, but it remains a fascinating piece of watchmaking history.