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W hen we think about what makes a watch desirable, there are a few usual suspects: rarity, small production quantities, defunct brands or deceased watchmakers, fine craftsmanship, unique design, historical provenance and so on. No surprises there. But something you won’t hear collectors talk much about is so-called “error dial” watches. Despite the numerous quality-control procedures and the extreme attention to detail that we see from most contemporary brands, fine watches are still largely handmade products, and mistakes do happen.
Sometimes those mistakes can be really special.
The watch we have here is a Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time “Advanced Research” reference 5650G. Even under normal circumstances, this would be a special piece. It was announced at Baselworld 2017 as part of Patek Philippe’s experimental watchmaking program, and only 500 pieces were made.
The 5650G took the archetype of the very popular reference 5164 and introduced a new Spiromax balance spring with a novel curve profile and a “compliant mechanism” for setting the second time zone – the advantages of which are more precise functioning and fewer possible service issues. Here Patek Philippe is truly flexing its watchmaking muscles in a sporty, wearable watch that is about as “if you know, you know” as it gets.
Look closely at this example though, and see if you notice something missing. It sometimes takes a minute to spot, but once you do you can’t look at the watch without immediately homing in.
Find it? Look at the upper-left section of the dial, where there’s a partial white line marking the 52nd minute and a full white line for the 54th. In between is just the dark blue of the sunburst Aquanaut dial. The 53rd minute marker is totally missing.
While the omission is definitely a mistake, Mikael Wallhagen, Sotheby’s Senior Director and Head of Watches EMEA, says it lends the piece a unique charm. “As a watchmaker myself, I know that throughout production every detail is checked so many times,” he says. “Finding an error in a watch from one of the best, if not the best, manufactures is remarkable, surprising and exciting.”
It’s difficult to say exactly how an error like this could occur, as Patek Philippe is famously secretive about its exact manufacturing process. However, dials like this one are often made through “pad printing,” a process in which ink is layered onto an engraved metal plate and then a rubber pad is used to transfer that ink to the dial. Possibly a bit of ink was missed, there was debris on the plate or something else obscured the pad, but that’s pure speculation; the simple reality is that a misprint occurred. What’s more notable though is the fact that the flaw evaded the rigorous quality-control procedures at Patek Philippe – and a single error-print model, unique within a limited edition of 500, was released into the world.
This 5650G was purchased in Germany in 2017, not long after the watch was launched. It’s important to note that you couldn’t simply walk into a Patek Philippe retailer and order a watch like this. Only certain Patek Philippe boutiques and authorized retailers even have access to watches this special, and only collectors with established history with the brand can apply to purchase one. This collector didn’t immediately notice the error after taking delivery, but eventually they brought it to the attention of Patek, which offered to replace the dial with a fully correct example. The collector was, after all, entitled to all 60 minutes.
However, the collector thought better of this, realizing they had a special watch on their hands. Years later, after the collector decided to part ways with the watch, it was offered publicly at Sotheby’s November 2022 Important Watches auction in Geneva, where it achieved a price of 567,000 CHF (approximately $643,000 by today’s conversion rate). As far as we can tell, this is the only error-dial Advanced Research watch, the only error-dial Aquanaut and even the only contemporary error-dial Patek Philippe ever to come to market. Likewise, this watch is believed to be totally unique and not part of a batch of error-dial watches.
In the year and change since, the new owner decided it didn’t quite fit within their collection, and so Sotheby’s has another opportunity to offer this piece, this time as a part of Sotheby’s Sealed. The auction will run online 1-7 March and the watch carries an estimate in excess of 500,000 CHF.
“I believe we can all appreciate a human mistake – ultimately that’s proof of handcraft and what watchmaking is all about.”
Error-dial watches are not part of the everyday conversation around watches for good reason: they’re exceedingly rare because of how luxury watches are made and their painstaking quality-control processes. While mistakes do happen, they’re typically rectified quickly. This is why most error dials are either small batches or unique examples – it’s basically unheard of for an entire model run to be produced incorrectly.
We can look at two different Rolex watches as examples of batch and unique mistakes, respectively. Seemingly an entire batch of reference 116520 Rolex Daytona watches were made with an extra space between “COSMOGR” and “APH” at 12 o’clock, earning that variation the nickname “APH Dial” Daytonas. On the other hand, there is the so-called “Double Nine” Air-King, a unique watch on which an applied 3 is repeated in the 9-o’clock position – a one-off mistake that made its way through quality control.
Collectible errors aren’t limited to watches, either – in fact, they’re actually found across luxury categories. Whether it’s a Louis Vuitton bag with an incorrect stamp or pattern or an Al Leiter Topps baseball card with a picture of someone else entirely, these mistakes tend to get caught quickly by the enthusiastic communities around them. In fact, the eagle eyes of collectors looking for unique things to own are what ensure these errors remain as rare as they are. Nonetheless, they’re a natural part of any luxury manufacturing process, not to mention a sign of the human hand that’s ultimately cherished by collectors.
“I think anything that stands out from the crowd is a goal for collectors today. We see more and more demand for rarity, unusual dials and unexpected pieces that someone can bring to the table,” says Wallhagen. “I believe we can all appreciate a human mistake – ultimately that’s proof of handcraft and what watchmaking is all about.”
