Patek Philippe

Production of reference 5078 began in 2005, and initially featured a white enamel dial. Housed in an elegant 38 mm platinum case, the present example features a black lacquered dial, which launched later on in 2008, and contrasts perfectly with the white Roman numerals. Its beautifully finished caliber R 27 PS provides an automatic movement with a micro-rotor and empowers a minute repeating mechanism featuring cathedral gongs, activated by the slider on the band. 

The acoustic quality of Patek Philippe wristwatches with minute repeaters is undoubtedly impressive, however, because wristwatches are generally small objects, their gongs are correspondingly small, limiting the richness of the chimes. It was with this in mind that in the early 2000’s, Patek Philippe developed a new movement with cathedral gongs. While traditional gongs circle the movement once, meaning their length is almost the perimeter of the movement, cathedral gongs are nearly twice as long. The result is the production of a richer chime, with a longer reverberation, and more musicality. In addition, the minute repeater is fine tuned by hand until perfection, and as a result, no two minute repeaters sound the same. This is a wonderful opportunity to collect this reference in sealed condition, with its full suite of accessories.