The exceptional pieces presented on the occasion of the grand exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023 also make room for a fine display of the rare handcrafts, painstakingly preserved by Patek Philippe. A feast for the eyes of the Japanese connoisseur. The manufacture is unveiling a lavish collection of 40 creations (8 dome clocks, 5 table clocks, 9 pocket watches and 18 wristwatches) each uniting technical virtuosity with artistic creativity. These one-of-a-kind or limited-edition pieces are tributes to the main skills associated for some five centuries with the adornment of timepieces: hand engraving, hand-executed guilloché work, gemsetting and the various ancestral forms of enameling: Grand Feu cloisonné enamel, miniature painting on enamel, paillonné enamel, flinqué enamel and grisaille enamel; and more recently, the innovative use of wood marquetry. Patek Philippe is also displaying its mastery of these precious crafts in a wealth of mixed-technique pieces, combining, for example, cloisonné enamel and hand engraving.
Dome Table Clocks Tokyo 2023
With their rounded side panels and cupola, the dome table clocks provide a choice setting for the Grand Feu cloisonné enamel decorations with their enduringly brilliant colors, often enriched with miniature painting on enamel and with gold or silver leaf embedded beneath the translucent enamel (paillonné enamel). Patek Philippe is continuing this tradition with a splendid array of unique pieces inspired by Japanese culture. The dome table clock 20140M-001 “Calligraphy” honors that refined art in a floral decoration that called for 33 m of very fine gold wire, cut into tiny segments and shaped by hand.
The dome table clock 20137M-001 “Hanami” (named for the Japanese custom of going out to admire the trees in bloom, particularly the flowering cherry) celebrates this natural spectacle with a sumptuous palette of 100 mainly translucent enamel colors. On the dome table clock 20141M-001 “Japanese Stamps” the images on the old stamps were engraved by hand in line engraving and then coated with translucent brown enamels to create an effect of shadows and patina.
Three other dome table clocks depict respectively a seascape inspired by a Japanese print, the magical atmosphere of Tokyo by night, and the grace of the blue Asian peacock. Two small dome table clocks pay tribute, one to the custom of making origami cranes, which are symbols of prosperity, and the other to the elegance of the traditional Japanese parasol.
Table Clocks Tokyo 2023
In honor of the city that is hosting its Grand Exhibition “Watch Art 2023”, Patek Philippe has created a table clock in Grand Feu cloisonné enamel entitled “Tokyo as the Crow Flies” (25014M-001). Endowed with an original design inspired by a table clock made in the 1950s, this unique piece presents a stylized plan of the center of Japan’s capital city, extending over the dial and the rounded silver side panels. The outlines of the picture required 12.4 m of gold wire measuring 0.2 x 0.6 mm in cross-section.
All the areas to be enameled were first adorned with a guilloche “barleycorn” motif that would remain visible beneath the translucent enamel. The manufacture also pays tribute to Japan’s great cities with four other pieces that are one of a kind, their dials embellished with maps of Tokyo, Osaka, Hakata and Nagoya.
Pocket Watches Tokyo 2023
Creativity flourishes on the pocket watches, unique pieces whose decorations adorn not only the case backs and the dials, but sometimes the bezels, hands and bows. On the back of the pocket watch 995/134G-001 “Shizuoka and Mount Fuji”, a magnificent example of mixed techniques, the tea plantations in cloisonné enamel and the sky, illuminated by a hand-guilloched sunburst beneath translucent enamel (flinqué enamel) combine with hand engraving in relief for the mountain and the train.
Pocket watch 992/178J-001 “Katagami” was inspired by the art of stenciling used to decorate fabric –with a hand-engraved motif beneath translucent enamel suggesting textile fibers. Delicately engraved gold appliques representing vine leaves enrich the effect.
The “Eagle” pocket watch 995/135G-001 presents a portrait of the bird built up in small, deft touches in miniature painting on enamel, on a background of branches in cloisonné and paillonné enamel.
The back of pocket watch 992/158J-001 “Kyudo” pays tribute to this martial art with an archer portrayed in miniature painting on enamel. The hand-engraved, hand-guilloched background, coated with translucent and opalescent enamels (flinqué enamel) represents a Japanese garden.
Several pieces give center stage to Japanese tutelary figures (warriors, for example, or a geisha musician), such as pocket watch 995/131G-001 “Portrait of a Samurai” – one of the most complex wood-marquetry decorations ever created by Patek Philippe. For this piece, the marquetry-maker cut out and assembled 800 tiny veneer parts and 200 inlays, together spanning 53 species of wood of different colors, textures and veining. Another sophisticated technique, grisaille enamel au blanc de Limoges, enabled the artist to conjure up all the poetry of a Japanese carp by moonlight. All these pocket watches are accompanied by handcrafted stands of exclusive design, embellished with gemstones selected for their precise nuance of color.
Wristwatches Tokyo 2023
The limited-edition wristwatches feature dials presenting a wide variety of themes related to Japanese culture. Patek Philippe unites rare handcraftsmanship and fine watchmaking in two Grand Complication chiming watches: the Calatrava with minute repeater and tourbillon 5538G-016 “Tiger”, with a cloisonné enamel dial recreating all the beauty of a Japanese print; and the ladies’ self-winding minute repeater 7000/50G-011 “Bird on a Red Maple” with a dial in cloisonné enamel enriched with miniature painting on enamel.
Another print inspired the Golden Ellipse wristwatch 5738/50G-025 “Snow-covered Landscape”, whose cloisonné enamel dial called for some 75 cm of gold wire and is enriched with miniature painting on enamel. Several Calatrava wristwatches with hand-engraved dials, such as References 5089G-124 and 5089G-125 “Tsuba – Oranges and Flowers”, reinterpret the decorations on the hand guards of traditional Japanese swords. Other watches give center stage to a portrait of a kabuki actor in wood marquetry; pictures of Japanese cranes in grisaille enamel au blanc de Limoges; patterns inspired by kimonos, in cloisonné enamel; samurai fighting, in cloisonné and paillonné enamel; and a seascape depicting a fisherman in his boat, inspired by a print and rendered in wood-marquetry.
