The Patek Philippe Calibre 89 is a

commemorative A commemorative is an object made to memorialize something. Commemorative may refer to: * Commemorative coin, coins that issued to commemorate something * Commemorative medal, a medal to commemorate something * Commemorative plaque, a plate typic ...

pocket watch A pocket watch (or pocketwatch) is a watch that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwa ...

created in 1989, to celebrate the company's 150th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints ...

. Declared by

Patek Philippe Patek Philippe SA is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company ...

as ''"the most complicated watch in the world"'' at the time of creation, it has 33 complications, weighs 1.1 kg, exhibits 24 hands and has 1,728 components in total, including a

thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...

, and a star chart. Before Calibre 89,

Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication The Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication (no. 198.385) is one of the most complicated mechanical pocket watches ever created. The 18-karat gold watch has 24 complications and was assembled by Patek Philippe. It was named after banker ...

(created in 1933) had been the world’s most complicated timepiece ever assembled with a total of 24 different functions. Patek Philippe Calibre 89 was made from 18 carat (75%) gold or platinum, with an estimated value of $6 million. It took five years of research and development, and four years to manufacture. Four watches were made: one in white gold, one in yellow gold, one in rose gold and one in platinum. The yellow-gold and the white-gold Calibre 89 were sold at auction by

Antiquorum Antiquorum is an auctioneer of modern and vintage timepieces. Established in Geneva in 1974, Antiquorum was the first auction house to auction fine watches over the Internet in the 1990s. The company was founded in Geneva in 1974 by Osvaldo Patriz ...

in 2009 and 2004, respectively, and both watches currently rank among the top 10 most expensive watches ever sold at auction, with final prices over 5 million US dollars. The one in yellow gold was later offered at

Sotheby’s Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

in 2017, but remained unsold due to disappointing biddings, less than $6.4 million, excluding

buyer's premium In auctions, the buyer's premium is a charge in addition to the hammer price (i.e. the winning bid announced) of an auction item, or lot. The winning bidder is required to pay both the hammer price and the percentage of that price called for by the ...

. Approximately 27 years later, on 17 September 2015,

Vacheron Constantin Vacheron Constantin SA () is a Swiss luxury watch and clock manufacturer founded in 1755. Since 1996, it has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group. Vacheron Constantin is the second oldest Swiss manufacturer and one of the oldest wat ...

introduced the Reference 57260 which took over the title of 'most complicated watch in the world' with a total of 57 complications.

Complications (features)

* Grand sonnerie * Petite sonnerie * Trip

minute repeater A repeater is a complication in a mechanical watch or clock that chimes the hours and often minutes at the press of a button. There are many types of repeater, from the simple repeater which merely strikes the number of hours, to the minute rep ...

(westminster on 4 gongs) * Alarm * Day of the month * 12-hour recorder * Day of the week * Hour of second

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because it ...

* Moon phase display * Winding crown position indicator * Century decade and year displays *

Leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year or ...

indicator *

Power reserve A power reserve indicator (originally called ) is a complication of the watch, which is designed to show the amount of remaining stored energy. The power reserve indicator indicates the tension on the mainspring at any particular moment. Overvi ...

* Month *

Thermometer A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer ...

* Date of

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

* Time of

sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

Equation of time In mathematics, an equation is a formula that expresses the equality of two expressions, by connecting them with the equals sign . The word ''equation'' and its cognates in other languages may have subtly different meanings; for example, in F ...

* Star chart * Sun hand * Time of

sunset Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spr ...

* Split second hand

Specifications

* Total diameter 89 mm * Total thickness 41 mm * Total weight 1100 grams

References

External links

The Patek Philippe MuseumThe 9 Most Important Watches in the World
John Biggs, Popular Mechanics {{Patek Philippe Watch models Individual watches

Complications (features)

Specifications

See also

References

External links