Patented movements and expensive enamelling techniques make for exquisite timepieces
Patek Philippe is one of the few watchmakers still to use the cloisonne enamelling tradition in watchmaking. The art is rare in the industry because of the time and costs involved, and a lack of skilled artisans.
At this year's BaselWorld, the watchmaker unveiled a new World Time Watch with a cloisonne enamel dial certain to appeal to lovers of this intricate art, while at the same time appealing to watch connoisseurs with a soft spot for the inner mechanisms of a timepiece.
The watch, which is categorised as a 'useful complication', indicates the hour in all major cities. Inside is the calibre 240 HU, patented by Patek Philippe in 1999. Watches containing this movement have fetched several hundred thousand Swiss francs at auction.
Local time is indicated by hour and minute hands applied to the location on the city disc aligned with the 12-hour marker. A push-button is used to switch from one time zone to another - when pressed, the hour hand will move forward one hour while the city ring and 24-hour ring rotate counter-clockwise by one hour, or the equivalent of one time zone.
The calibre 240 HU has been used in the World Time series since 2000, and it serves to separate the World Time mechanism containing the city and 24-hour rings from the going train of the watch.