Patek Philippe - watch movements

watch movements

are somewhat limited in size by the size of standard parts which has not changed since early wrist watches of 30mm cases. From there the goal was to go thin over the years and increase the power reserves beyond 24 hours. All this resulted in standardized parts which carry certain known loads and use only so much energy. If you look at any watch company and note the size of the movements there are mostly 27 to 31mm in size yet they are cased in 40mm plus cases with lots of dead space, in and out. Its not just PP. To increase the size of the movements means greater thickness, larger parts, shorter power reserves and accuracy compromises from increased ratios between the larger heavier parts. In addition, the whole factory would have to be retooled to make the new parts. The technology with the new silicon parts may make the task of making larger movements less expensive and less daunting, but I think the companies are quietly betting large watches are a fad which will pass.

💰1729 Marketplace Listings for Patek Philippe›

Patek movements

By: chris russell : May 6th, 2014-14:05

It occurs to me that, while Patek is updating the sizes of many of their new 3-handed watches to close to 40mm, they have not updated the movements to match. Thus their HW/small seconds models have their seconds hands snugged up close to the center, looki...

I completely agree with you. However,...

By: jimjenkins : May 7th, 2014-19:34

from PP point of view making new cases and fitting them with old movements is a sure money maker. When people snap up PP even if it has a disproportional dial, there is no reason for PP to change its mode of operation. That is why there is a group of PP e...

Pateks getting boring

By: tom2517 : May 8th, 2014-02:54

And I have basically lost all my interests for Pateks and turned my attention to independents.

I don't count Patek out yet.

By: chris russell : May 8th, 2014-08:08

Patek has a wonderfully beautiful caliber in their lineup, employed in their 980 series of hunter-style or Savonnette pocket watches. On their website they call it 'Caliber 17''' SAV PS'. At 17 lignes, it's just a hair over 38.5mm and 3.8mm thin. It would...

watch movements

By: watch-er : May 13th, 2014-13:58

you have a point...

By: sam1234 : May 13th, 2014-17:45

...but consider for a moment a comparison of 2 storied watchhouse, Patek and Vacheron. While Patek has chosen to recycle their time proved but diameter challanged cal. 215 as the powerplant for their Calatrava 5196, Vacheron has gone a different route ent...

photos

By: sam1234 : May 13th, 2014-18:46

Actually there's some excellent photos now on the Vacheron Constantin forum on this same site for anyone who's interested. Easier than a google search.

Not a bad idea to upgrade the movements...

By: patrick_y : May 16th, 2014-15:25

You propose a good idea. However, consider the consequences of your idea... When Patek Philippe does re-design their movements, they will quite likely find methods to reduce costs, especially designing parts that require less assembly and finishing time. ...