Although Watches and Wonders has quickly come to an end, Patek Philippe, who was a participant, saved the best for last, waiting for the event to successfully conclude before unveiling the main course – the brand officially released the first-ever Patek Philippe watch in history with a 1/10th second chronograph function, model Ref. 5470P-001, the 1/10th Second Monopusher Chronograph watch.
As the first appearance of a carefully crafted masterpiece, this 5470P-001 chronograph is technically extremely precise. In addition to being equipped with the latest movement, it also showcases Patek Philippe’s industry status in complex function watches in the new year through its collection of 31 patented designs.
In terms of design, Ref. 5470P-001 features a platinum case with blue tones and red accents, while the dial and case back are still made of sapphire crystal, paired with a more “affordable” leather strap. On the lacquered dial, there are 4 hands – 2 leaf-shaped hour and minute hands and 2 chronograph seconds hands – the latter two: the white one is the traditional chronograph seconds hand, while the red Silinvar® seconds hand is used for 1/10 second timing. This is the first patent and the latest patent from Patek Philippe. The material Silinvar® derived from silicon is quite lightweight and can save energy. Even if the chronograph seconds hand is suddenly stopped, its robust characteristics are sufficient to resist impact, achieving precise stopping of seconds.
On the other hand, the brand connects the pipeline to the Silinvar® pointer through hard soldering, and paints it red to enhance its appearance recognition. When the watch is not in timing mode, the red and gray two chronograph second hands will overlap, just like a single hand. Then, once the short chronograph button next to the two o’clock position is pressed, the hands immediately split in two, each rotating and dancing on the dial at different speeds.
In terms of dial layout, the 3 o’clock position is the thirty-minute chronograph subdial, while the 9 o’clock position is the small seconds subdial; on the outer ring, there are two “railroad track” scales, with a total of 120 white marks for the exclusive 1/10 second chronograph scale, and the red marks on the track represent 1 second (10 white marks), so 12 red marks represent one full rotation of the red hand. As for the raised dots along the track scale, they indicate minute or second display, complementing the Arabic numeral hour markers.
Since the new 5470P is based on 1/10 second timing, how does the movement and operation work? The new watch is equipped with the CH 29-535 PS 1/10 movement, which is based on the CH 29-535 movement that was introduced in 2009 and took the watchmaking team 20 years to develop. On the new movement, when the traditional timing part is reset, you can see the structure of the chronograph hands for 1/10 second timing and traditional timing seconds hands. Starting from the escapement mechanism and oscillator, the entire new structure has been redesigned to accommodate the 1/10 second timing system.
The oscillating system used in the new movement is another patented feature of Patek Philippe, known as the Oscillomax system. Developed by the brand’s “Advanced Research” department, it was first introduced in 2011 in the “Advanced Research Project Watches” – Advanced Research Ref. 5550P, with up to 17 patents, including three innovative components that leverage the advantages of Silinvar technology, such as durability and anti-magnetic properties. The Oscillomax system includes a silicon hairspring, a silicon escapement wheel with a special tooth shape, and the most striking feature is the unusual GyromaxSi balance wheel. Made of silicon like the GyromaxSi balance wheel, it is quite different from the circular balance wheels made of Glucydur, and has a golden inertia weight. Its “butterfly” shape stands out in the new CH 29-535 PS movement. Despite its outstanding appearance and characteristics, once in the hands of Patek Philippe’s watchmakers, it can still be transformed into an adjustable GyromaxSi balance wheel device within the brand.
Although watchmakers increase the available power and power reserve of the movement by modifying the main spring, the diameter of the spring core, the number of coils, the amplitude of the balance wheel, etc., which obviously increases the energy consumption of the movement, the performance of the new movement can be said to be more stable and outstanding, effectively maintaining a maximum deviation of -3 / +2 seconds per day, and ensuring a power reserve that can provide 48 hours.
During the development of the CH 29-535 PS 1/10 movement, another key challenge was the display of one-tenth of a second. The two chronograph second displays of the watch must be perfectly synchronized, and the 1/10 second hand not only needs to rotate at high speed but also smoothly and without vibration. Therefore, the brand’s engineering team developed and applied a series of innovative solutions: driving and powering the 1/10 second chronograph device with the fourth gear of the basic movement.
Patek Philippe’s innovative layout consists of two parts, designing driving gears: the upper gear has flexible spokes, while the lower gear uses fixed spokes, the latter driven by the fourth gear. Thanks to this patented design principle that combats backlash, the driving gear is compact and power-saving, allowing its teeth to generate elasticity on the clutch gear, eliminating the chance of irregular needle swings. Once the chronograph seconds device is activated, the 1/10 second driving gear (making one revolution per minute) will engage with the ten-petal gear for one-tenth of a second, the latter making one revolution every 12 seconds, increasing the speed fivefold. In order to “speed up” in this way, the team created ten-petal gears made with a fine meshing pattern: each with a diameter of only 1.469 millimeters, equipped with 136 teeth, each tooth height being 30 microns. The pre-tension applied by the clutch gear to the ten-petal gear prevents backlash.
In addition, in order to improve the stability of the new movement, engineers have also developed two patented devices for the shock absorption device. One is the shock absorption hook, which can stabilize the clutch lever throughout the entire short-term measurement process; the other is to use the “imbalance” state of the 1/10 second timing device parts (referring to the center of gravity of the parts, not the center of rotation), so that all parts that are impacted can offset their impact or accelerate power when impacted, allowing the parts to remain in the expected position, and the watch calibration function will not be affected by the impact.
When it comes to its timing function, we have to mention the single button at the 2 o’clock position of the watch case. The watchmaker has given the button the functions of start, stop, and reset commands at the same time, turning the button into a traditional sports chronograph. For example: the first press starts the timing, the white and red chronograph hands will rotate at different speeds, with the white hand rotating at the traditional speed of 60 seconds/rotation, and the red hand rotating at a high speed of 12 rotations/second; pressing the button again will stop the timing, and the position of the two chronograph hands will display the 1/10 second timing, such as the white hand stopping at 40, and the red hand stopping at the 4th mark on the red scale, indicating a time of 40.4 seconds, and so on.
Basically, the CH 29-535 PS 1/10 movement has two independent timing mechanisms: one for 1/10 second timing, and another for standard central seconds timing and instantaneous jumping minute counter. The entire 1/10 second structure is mounted on the clutch lever, and both the basic system and the 1/10 system are traditional horizontal clutch chronographs. However, due to the complexity of the physics and mechanical operation involved, I do not intend to provide too detailed an explanation here – there may be an opportunity to introduce the system in more detail later.
Arriving here, I believe you will also be amazed by the new 5470P-001 and CH 29-535 PS 1/10 movements, which not only showcase the astonishing knowledge and craftsmanship of engineers and watchmakers, but also bring seven new patents, highlighting Patek Philippe’s watchmaking philosophy. However, what will surprise you the most is that such an amazing complex timepiece will not be limited edition or a “one-of-a-kind” special piece, but will be officially included in the brand’s regular collection as a brand new model, with a price of 380,000 Swiss francs.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of Patek Philippe
