How did you mark/ plan to mark, your father’s 85th birthday?

Patek Philippe president Thierry Stern decided to create a Minute Repeater Alarm in a special edition of thirty pieces with a new movement created for and restricted to, this watch. The Reference 1938P-001, named for Philipppe Stern’s year of birth, is a minute repeater because it is his favourite complication, and for ‘his’ watch, it has been combined with a new alarm chiming a programmed time on the repeater’s gongs.

Fittingly, given the decade of his birth, an Officer’s case has been chosen for this model, but rather than a yellow or rose gold (if we are looking at historical notes), it is platinum. With a diametre of 41mm and thickness of 14.2mm, it has a brilliant-cut diamond (0.02ct) set into the case between the bottom lugs as per all Patek platinum pieces and of course, a sapphire open case back under a hinged cover which has a hand-engraved inscription –“A mon père, 85 ans de passion horlogère”.

The crown has three positions – for winding, the middle for the setting of the alarm (in fifteen minute increments), and when fully pulled out, setting the time. The pusher for the selection of chiming mode is set into the crown. The slide piece to activate the minute repeater and alarm is on the left side of the case.

It is impossible to miss the reason for this new piece – the 18k gold dial plate with black Grand Feu enamel is dominated by a grey and white painted portrait of Philippe Stern. The dial also features 18k white gold applied Breguet-style numerals and hour and minute hands, and an alarm hand in 18k rose gold. There is a small seconds at 6 o’clock with an 18k white gold hand and a small bell-shaped aperture at 3 o’clock which is the chiming mode indicator – black for minute repeater, red for alarm, and white when the alarm is actuated.

The white railway track minute scale is transfer-printed in white and the small seconds dial and Patek Philippe logo are transfer-printed in gray. The scale for the alarm time is rose-gilt powdered.

Patek Philippe say that part of the influence for this piece lies in the 175th brand birthday Grandmaster Chime Reference 5175 (2014) which became the Reference 6300, with a grande sonnerie, petite sonnerie, minute repeater, on-demand date repeater chime, and an alarm that chimes the programmed time.

For the new Reference 1938P-001, Patek Philippe developed the new automatic Calibre R AL 27 PS, incorporating minute repeater and alarm mechanisms which chime both functions on the same two gongs into the Calibre R 27 minute repeater movement. This means that when actuating the slide, the movement can strike the current time when in repeater mode, or put the strike on hold until the time displayed is the programmed (alarm mode) time. This additional alarm system made it necessary to be able to disengage the strike-work barrel from the strike train.

What does this mean? Well an additional 227 parts for starters (a total of 561 parts in the movement), including a lever and column wheel for selection of the chiming mode and a fusée with a strike-work detent mechanism that temporarily disconnects the power source (the strike-work barrel drum) from the striking mechanism.

The new one-time only automatic Calibre R AL 27 PS has four new patents covering the switching from one strike (chiming) mode to another, the alarm ‘delay’ switch, a unidirectional coupling mobile system, and to guarantee that the strike-work barrel is always fully powered with each actuation of the slide –so that the watch can always, if necessary, sound up to 31 strikes for the alarm (12:58). The slide piece always travels the same distance when actuated (in both mode options). This final point can also bring us back to the previous post.

Helpfully, Patek Philippe have provided the numbers for each of these new patents, so you can look them up if you wish –

1. Unidirectional coupling mobile (European patent EP4058853A1)
2. Timepiece incorporating a minute repeater and an alarm, with reversible selection by the user (European patent EP4071560)
3. Timepiece with repeater and constant-travel slide piece (European patent EP4071561)
4. Striking mechanism equipped with a delaying device (European patent EP4071562)

As mentioned, the integrated pusher is where you select the chiming mode, which itself is displayed at 3 o’clock. When the watch is in minute-repeater mode (black bell) the wearer can actuate the repeater slide to hear the chimes of the hours, quarters and minutes. When the watch is in alarm mode the slide must be actuated again to wind the alarm (the bell changes from red to white). When the alarm has been actuated but the time has not been reached (white bell), you can return to minute repeater mode by pressing on the push-piece without affecting the alarm.

One thing that is important for each of the thirty potential owners to know is that the alarm strikes two minutes before the programmed time. This isn’t so much to give you a heads-up but rather, a deliberate acoustic decision so the wearer won’t inadvertently not hear or feel the strike if a time on the hour and low in number, has been selected – that is, rather than a couple of low pitched repeater strikes, there will be a combination of multiple low pitched strikes, high-low strikes and high-pitched strikes, depending on the time selectrion.

Inadvertent actuation and getting things wrong being of legitimate concern when it comes to complications such as this, there is a built-in safety system to deal with things such as accidentally trying to do an actuation or trying to make adjustments when the repeater is striking.

With gilded chamfered edges on the bridges and hammers and a rhodium-plated 22K yellow-gold mini-rotor that is decorated with a black-lacquered hand-engaved depiction of Philippe Stern’s signature, the Calibre R AL 27 PS has a minimum power reserve of 43 hours (maximum of 48 hours).

Coming on a black alligator leather strap with a platinum fold-over clasp, with the distinctive portrait on the dial it would be impossible to mistaken this as anything other than an homage to Philippe Stern, but it will probably be the movement that will play a major part in the decision-making process for those who decide they want one.

[Photo credit: Patek Philippe]

Categories: Limited Editions, Minute Repeaters, Patek Philippe, Watch movements, Watch Profile, watches