Among the many many emblematic issues in haute horlogerie, the cut up‐seconds chronograph has at all times held a heightened resonance. It’s all without delay analytical and poetic: a mechanism created to separate moments that unfold too rapidly for the attention, but depending on a delicacy of building that borders on the unbelievable. Patek Philippe has lengthy handled the cut up‐seconds not as a technical novelty however as an indication of its deepest convictions about watchmaking. The Geneva agency’s best rattrapante watches categorical a philosophy of readability, restraint, and uncompromising craft. From the experimental wristwatch of 1923 to at present’s Ref. 5370 cut up‐ seconds chronograph and the brand new quadruple complication Ref. 5308, the rattrapante has develop into one of many clearest by way of‐ traces within the manufacture’s story.
Within the phrases that comply with, we’re about discover that very line. It begins with timepiece no. 124.824, generally thought of the primary cut up‐seconds chronograph made particularly for the wrist. It then traces the rise of the perpetual calendar chronograph with the Ref. 1518, and the parallel evolution of early cut up‐seconds wristwatches such because the references 1436 and 1563. From there, it strikes by way of the current period of in-house chronograph design, the ultra-thin CHR 27-525 PS, the patent-laden CH 29-535 PS household, and the best way these concepts attain maturity within the Ref. 5370 (learn the Cowl Watch story), Ref. 5204, Ref. 5373 and the Ref. 5308. The purpose is to inform the story of the split-seconds chronograph by way of key references.
1923: THE VERY FIRST WRIST-WORN RATTRAPANTE
When collectors and students talk about the 1923 origins of the Patek Philippe split-seconds wristwatch, they virtually at all times start with one quantity quite than a reference: 124.824. The motion inside, cased in a 33mm yellow-gold “officer” model wristwatch with an enamel dial and a 60-minute counter, is extensively thought to be Patek Philippe’s earliest split-seconds chronograph designed for the wrist.
Mechanically, the problem of constructing a rattrapante has at all times been twofold. First, it doubles the useful burden on the chronograph practice by including a second central chronograph second hand and a split-seconds wheel that have to be clamped and launched on command. Second, it forces the watchmaker to handle vitality and friction in a system that’s already parasitic by nature, because the typical chronograph attracts energy from the going practice as quickly as it’s engaged.
In a pocket watch, the split-seconds mechanism has room to breathe. Levers could be lengthy and gently curved, clamps could be beneficiant, and tolerances could be marginally extra forgiving. In a 33mm wristwatch of the early Twenties, the constraints are brutal. The motion in no. 124.824 needed to stay extraordinarily skinny whereas accommodating twin column wheels, a layered central chronograph workers, a split-seconds coronary heart and clamp, and a uncommon 60-minute counter that required extra complicated chronograph gearing than the same old 30-minute register.
“The message is evident: from the outset, Patek Philippe noticed the rattrapante as a discipline for long-term exploration quite than a passing technical show”
The watch makes use of a single-button system with the first chronograph features managed by way of the crown and a separate split-seconds pusher above. The beginning, cease and reset of the primary chronograph are ruled by one column wheel, whereas the split-seconds lever and clamp are managed by the second. The clamp should grip the split-seconds wheel with sufficient pressure to halt it immediately, but launch it with out leaving marks on the tooth or disturbing the meshing with the guts cam. Attaining that behaviour in such a compact calibre on the time required tolerances that may have been demanding even in a a lot bigger motion.
What makes 124.824 greater than a historic curiosity is the best way Patek Philippe subsequently handled it. Almost a century later, when the manufacture launched the Ref. 5959 in 2005, its calibre CHR 27-525 PS was explicitly primarily based on the structure of the 1923 motion, scaled and up to date however recognisably descended from the identical thought. The message is evident: from the outset, Patek Philippe noticed the rattrapante as a discipline for long-term exploration quite than a passing technical show.
1518: THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR CHRONOGRAPH AS A PATEK PHILIPPE LANGUAGE
If the 1923 wristwatch established Patek Philippe’s ambition in split-seconds chronographs, the Ref. 1518 outlined one other of the manufacture’s enduring signatures: the serially produced perpetual calendar chronograph. Roughly 281 examples of Ref. 1518 have been produced, with the bulk encased in yellow gold, whereas roughly 20% have been cased in pink gold. Scholarship has proven that in the course of the reference’s 14-year manufacturing run, a complete of solely 4 are publicly recognized to have been accomplished and exist at present in chrome steel. The earliest occasion of this quartet was provided by Phillips not too long ago at its Watches: Decade One (2015–2025) sale on November 8 in Geneva, the place, this rarer- than-hen’s-teeth of a timepiece, fetched an unfathomable CHF 14,190,000.
Launched in 1941, Ref. 1518 is extensively recognised as the primary wristwatch to mix a chronograph with a perpetual calendar in common manufacturing. Its motion was primarily based on a Valjoux 23 chronograph ébauche that Patek Philippe reworked extensively, together with a Victorin Piguet perpetual calendar module, and elevated the ending to a stage anticipated of a Genevois grand complication.
The watch’s true achievement, nevertheless, lies as a lot on the dial as within the calibre. The 1518 established a visible and useful template that Patek Philippe would revisit for many years: twin chronograph registers at three and 9 o’clock, a moonphase and date at six, and twin home windows for day and month at twelve.
The calendar works are constructed round a 48-month cam and a set of levers and jumpers that accumulate vitality over the course of the day and launch it in an instantaneous change at midnight. For the wearer, the impact is a clear, legible show that hides the complexity of the underlying mechanism.
This reference set the rhythm for an unbroken chain of perpetual calendar chronographs: the 2499, 3970, 5970 and, within the absolutely in-house period, the 5270 and 5204. Inside this household, the 5204 will later develop into significantly essential, as a result of it brings the split-seconds mechanism again right into a style that the 1518 first outlined.
EARLY WRIST-WORN RATTRAPANTES: 1436, 1563 AND THE IDEA OF A SERIALLY PRODUCED SPLIT-SECOND CHRONOGRAPH
Whereas the 1518 and its successors pursued the wedding of calendar and chronograph, Patek Philippe additionally continued to refine the pure split-seconds wristwatch in parallel. However earlier than the split- seconds chronograph grew to become a recognisable Patek Philippe speciality, it appeared in a number of experimental types. The earliest wrist expression of this ambition could be traced to Ref. 130, the manufacture’s first serially produced chronograph. Whereas the usual Ref. 130 was a two-pusher, twin-register chronograph powered by Patek Philippe’s reworked Valjoux 23 (calibre 13‐130), a uncommon few 130s are recognized to exist in a cut up‐seconds configuration. These watches, nevertheless, didn’t set up a real lineage.
That true lineage begins with the Ref. 1436, launched round 1938 and usually thought of as Patek Philippe’s first collection‐produced cut up‐seconds chronograph wristwatch. Utilizing a 13‐ligne rattrapante motion derived from the 13‐130 structure, the 1436 introduced the complication into business manufacturing with roughly 140 items created over three a long time. Early examples used a system wherein the crown itself managed splitting and reuniting the chronograph seconds fingers. Later executions adopted a extra strong resolution: a co‐axial pusher built-in into the crown, providing crisper engagement and improved reliability.
Housed in what is basically the Ref. 130 case, Ref. 1436 refined the mechanical logic first seen within the 1923 prototype into one thing appropriate for normal use – and common manufacturing. The place Ref. 1436 was classical, Ref. 1563 represented a uncommon and energetic variation of the theme. Produced in solely a tiny handful of examples – obtainable scholarship cites simply three recognized – Ref. 1563 is successfully a cut up‐seconds model of the Ref. 1463 “Tasti Tondi”, Patek Philippe’s first water‐resistant chronograph.
Seen collectively, references 130, 1436 and 1563 hint the earliest contours of Patek Philippe’s cut up‐seconds id. Ref. 130 rattrapante reveals the manufacture’s early ambitions; Ref. 1436 establishes the complication as a coherent catalogue reference; and Ref. 1563 reveals that the mechanism may inhabit not solely elegant mid‐century costume circumstances but additionally the extra muscular structure of the “Tasti Tondi”. These watches type the pre‐battle and mid‐century spine of the rattrapante story, a vital basis for understanding the technical and aesthetic selections that form a lot later references corresponding to 5004, 5204, 5370 and finally the 5308.
REF. 5004 — THE LAST GREAT LEMANIA‐BASED RATTRAPANTE
Launched in 1996, Ref. 5004 was essentially the most mechanically formidable wristwatch Patek Philippe had ever produced. Constructed on the blueprint of CH 27‐70 Q, Ref. 5004 added a full cut up‐seconds mechanism and perpetual calendar to an already dense chronograph calibre. The ensuing motion – typically cited by watchmakers as one of the difficult Patek Philippe ever assembled – revealed each the brilliance and the constraints of the Lemania base.
The important thing innovation was the now‐well-known “octopus” isolator mechanism, developed to deal with the amplitude drop that happens when a cut up‐seconds hand is clamped. Earlier rattrapantes, together with the 1436, 1563 and even some pre‐manufacturing 5004 prototypes, suffered from noticeable drag when the rattrapante wheel halted. The isolator in Ref. 5004 (a multi‐armed, spring‐loaded part that sits atop the cut up‐seconds column wheel, simply recognisable) disengages the cut up‐seconds wheel in the meanwhile of clamping. This prevents parasitic load on the chronograph practice and stabilises amplitude.
The system labored, nevertheless it was extraordinarily complicated to regulate. The isolator arms required cautious hand‐tensioning, and the Lemania base, which was designed lengthy earlier than Patek Philippe envisioned such a mechanism, didn’t supply excellent geometry for integration. In consequence, Ref. 5004 required intensive regulation to realize constant rattrapante efficiency.
But this reference occupies a significant place on this lineage. It represents the boundary of what may fairly be achieved on the Lemania platform and straight knowledgeable the necessities for the following period of Patek Philippe chronographs: decrease friction, optimised tooth geometry, a extra compact rattrapante layer and an isolator that now not required the frilly “octopus”.
“The important thing innovation was the now‐well-known “octopus” isolator mechanism, developed to deal with the amplitude drop that happens when a cut up‐seconds hand
is clamped”
THE FIRST FULLY IN‐HOUSE CHRONOGRAPHS — CHR 27‐525 PS
By the early 2000s, Patek Philippe moved decisively in direction of full independence in chronograph building. The primary milestone was the CHR 27‐525 PS of 2005, the manufacture’s thinnest rattrapante chronograph at simply 5.25mm. As talked about earlier, its structure intentionally referenced the 1923 wristwatch, with elegantly formed bridges, classical column‐wheel management and uncovered steelwork completed to a excessive polish.
Simply 5 years later, Patek Philippe added an instantaneous perpetual calendar, creating the CHR 27‐525 PS Q – solely 7.3mm excessive. Utilized in references such because the 5951, 5372 and now the 5373, it demonstrated that extremely‐skinny building and a full rattrapante may coexist with out sacrificing reliability. These calibres show that Patek Philippe’s curiosity in cut up‐seconds chronographs just isn’t solely historic however ongoing.
CH 29‐535 PS: PATENTS, TOOTH PROFILES AND THE PRESENT CHRONOGRAPH GRAMMAR
If the CHR 27‐525 PS household represents one department of Patek Philippe’s rattrapante pondering, the CH 29‐535 PS household represents one other. Launched in 2009, the CH 29‐535 PS was the manufacture’s first absolutely in‐home, manually wound chronograph calibre with out extra issues. It’s a conventional column‐wheel, horizontal‐clutch motion in broad conceptual phrases, however its particulars present how fastidiously Patek Philippe studied the weaknesses of classical chronographs.
The calibre incorporates six patented improvements. The primary is an optimised tooth profile for each the chronograph wheel and its driving wheel, designed to suppress hand quiver when the chronograph begins, scale back backlash and improve effectivity. The second makes use of an eccentric cap on the column wheel to permit exact adjustment of the meshing depth between the clutch and chronograph wheels, turning what was as soon as an ornamental cap into an lively regulating factor. The third synchronises the clutch and brake levers straight by way of a finger on the clutch lever, quite than counting on separate column‐wheel contacts, which makes timing their actions extra exact and simplifies future adjustment.
The fourth patent issues a slotted minute‐counter cam that enables the minute hand to leap cleanly whereas minimising the vitality impression on the practice. The fifth introduces self‐setting return‐to-zero hammers that mechanically align themselves to the guts cams, bettering reliability over time. The sixth pivots the reset hammers between jewel bearings on a standard axis, every with its personal spring, enhancing each alignment and long-term stability.
Past the patents, the CH 29-535 PS is distinguished by its structure: broad, gracefully formed bridges, a big four- armed Gyromax stability beating at 4 Hz, and an instantaneous 30-minute counter that jumps in a fraction of a second. It has develop into the bottom calibre for a household of actions, together with the CH 29-535 PS Q with perpetual calendar and, crucially for our story, the CHR 29-535 PS and CHR 29-535 PS Q, which add the split-seconds perform.
These CH 29-535-derived calibres are the mechanical language by way of which Patek Philippe expresses its present chronograph pondering. The Ref. 5370 and Ref. 5204 are two of the clearest sentences in that language; as normal with the quilt story, see the Cowl Watch phase for particulars about Ref. 5370.
REF. 5204: THE PERPETUAL CALENDAR SPLIT-SECONDS, RE-WRITTEN IN-HOUSE
If Ref. 5370 is Patek Philippe’s purest up to date expression of the split-seconds chronograph, Ref. 5204 is its most articulate. It’s the level the place the perpetual calendar chronograph lineage that started with the 1518 intersects with the in-house rattrapante vocabulary of the CH 29-535 PS.
Launched initially in platinum and provided in white gold since 2022 because the 5204G-001, the watch combines a split- seconds chronograph with a full perpetual calendar, moonphase show, day–night time indicator and leap-year indication. The motion is the CHR 29-535 PS Q, which takes the bottom CH 29- 535 PS and provides each the rattrapante mechanism and a perpetual calendar module.
The chronograph facet advantages from all six patents of the bottom calibre. The split-seconds facet features two extra technical advances: an improved isolator for the rattrapante lever and a mechanism that reduces alignment error between the chronograph and split-seconds fingers when they’re meant to take a seat straight on high of each other. Within the technical notes for Ref. 5204, Patek Philippe explains that the brand new split-seconds lever options twin flat contact surfaces which mate with corresponding flats on the guts cam recess, bettering hand superposition accuracy by roughly three quarters in contrast with the earlier technology.
The perpetual calendar is of the instantaneous-jump sort. Vitality is amassed by a cam and spring system over the course of the day; at midnight, that vitality is launched in a single, coordinated motion that advances the day, date, month, leap-year and day–night time indications collectively. The date is displayed by hand, whereas the opposite indications seem in apertures. The moonphase show is calibrated for an error of at some point in 122 years.
For the wearer, Ref. 5204 is the rational bridge between Ref. 1518 and Twenty first-century Patek Philippe. It applies the visible grammar established in 1941 to a completely in-house motion with up to date chronograph structure and a split-seconds system that displays three a long time of rattrapante refinement since Ref. 5004. Additionally it is the watch that helps contextualise Ref. 5308G (see under). The place Ref. 5204 solutions the query “How far can we take a standard perpetual calendar split- seconds chronograph in a manually wound format?”, Ref. 5308 asks a barely totally different one: “What number of of Patek Philippe’s most demanding issues could be made to coexist in an computerized wristwatch with out compromise?”
REF. 5373P: THE LEFT-HANDED DETOUR
Earlier than we attain the 5308G, another split-seconds chronograph deserves point out, as a result of it illustrates Patek Philippe’s willingness to re-think ergonomics even on the highest stage of complication.
The Ref. 5373P-001 is a split-seconds monopusher chronograph with perpetual calendar, designed with its crown and pusher set on the left of its case. Impressed by the sooner 5372P, it rotates the crown and chronograph monopusher to 9 o’clock and the split-seconds pusher to eight o’clock. The dial indications are turned by way of 180 levels in order that the date sits at 12 o’clock, seconds at 3, moonphase at 6 and 60-minute counter at 9.
Inside, the calibre is the CHR 27-525 PS Q, the ultra-thin split-seconds chronograph with perpetual calendar launched in 2010 and now reserved solely for this reference. At 27.3mm in diameter and seven.3mm thick, it stays Patek Philippe’s thinnest motion combining these features. The structure depends on twin column wheels with polished caps, a 60-minute counter quite than the extra widespread 30-minute register, a Gyromax stability at 3Hz and a perpetual calendar module that provides solely 2.05mm in top to the bottom chronograph.
As a watch, Ref. 5373P is extra extroverted and sporty than references 5370 or 5204, with its charcoal dial, crimson chronograph fingers and calfskin strap embossed to resemble technical cloth. Mechanically, nevertheless, it and Ref. 5370 are primarily two sides of the identical coin: one ultra-thin and tightly packaged, the opposite extra expansive and demonstrative in its structure. Collectively, they underscore the breadth of Patek Philippe’s present split-seconds capabilities.
REF. 5308: THE QUADRUPLE COMPLICATION AS MECHANICAL SYNTHESIS
Ref. 5308G-001, launched for Watches and Wonders Geneva 2025, is the place these threads are drawn collectively. Formally described as a “quadruple complication”, it combines a minute repeater, a split-seconds monopusher chronograph and an instantaneous perpetual calendar. It’s self-winding with a platinum micro-rotor.
The motion, calibre R CHR 27 PS QI, descends from the R 27 PS QI of Ref. 5208 however provides a full split-seconds chronograph on high of the minute repeater and instantaneous perpetual calendar. It measures 32mm in diameter and is 12.28mm thick, comprises 799 parts and is wound by the aforementioned recessed micro-rotor. The micro-rotor structure retains the general top inside wearable bounds and leaves a beneficiant view of the motion by way of the show again.
From a technical perspective, the important thing achievement of Ref. 5308 just isn’t merely that these 4 issues coexist, however that they achieve this in a manner that preserves the integrity of every. Three areas particularly deserve nearer consideration: acoustic isolation and energy administration for the repeater; friction management and isolator design for the split-seconds chronograph; and vitality storage and launch for the instantaneous perpetual calendar.
The minute repeater is pushed by a separate barrel and kit practice devoted to the chiming work. When the slide is actuated, the strike practice attracts energy from this barrel to drive the racks, snails and hammers that sound the hours, quarters and minutes on two basic gongs. To keep up constant quantity and tempo, the calibre makes use of a centrifugal governor with aerodynamically formed blades that regulate pace whereas producing minimal mechanical noise of their very own. The development ensures that neither the going practice nor the chronograph practice interferes with the move of energy to the repeater whereas it’s in motion, which is essential for each acoustic purity and fee stability.
The split-seconds chronograph in Ref. 5308 is monopusher in structure however absolutely fledged in perform. Begin, cease and reset are managed by a single pusher at 2 o’clock; the split- seconds perform is activated by a second pusher at 4 o’clock. The motion makes use of twin column wheels to coordinate the chronograph and rattrapante features and an isolator system to forestall the clamped split-seconds wheel from loading the chronograph practice. The steelwork is completed to the identical commonplace because the CHR 29-535 household – even the place a variety of these components aren’t even seen from the caseback – with black-polished column-wheel caps, straight-grained levers, rounded and bevelled edges and mirror- completed hammers.
The perpetual calendar is of the instantaneous leaping sort, with day, date and month displayed in a broad arc of apertures throughout the higher half of the dial, complemented by leap- 12 months and day–night time indications. Patek Philippe has engineered the system in order that the three major calendar discs leap in roughly 30 milliseconds, no matter whether or not the month has 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. Two opposed jumper springs of equal power act on the date, balancing one another in order that the pressure required to advance the disc stays primarily fixed from month to month. This stabilises amplitude on the exact second of switching, which is especially essential in a watch the place different energy-hungry issues are current.
On the dial facet, the 5308G wears its complexity with some restraint. The ice-blue sunburst dial, with its faceted baton markers and arched calendar home windows, reads extra like a up to date Patek Philippe perpetual calendar at first look than a four- complication assertion piece. Solely on nearer inspection do the additional pushers, repeater slide and twin chronograph registers give the sport away.
Within the context of Patek Philippe’s split-seconds story, Ref. 5308 occupies a really particular place. It’s not a laboratory prototype or a one-off particular order, however a catalogued watch that distils a lot of the model’s amassed information right into a single reference. It’s, in impact, the grand synthesis to which the 1923 wristwatch, the CHR 27-525 PS, the CH 29-535 PS and Ref. 5204 have all contributed.
REF. 5370 AS LENS, REF. 5308 AS HORIZON
Taken collectively, these watches describe a century of considered easy methods to measure the shortest intervals of time, and easy methods to reconcile that process with different demanding issues.
The 1923 no. 124.824 reveals Patek Philippe grappling with the essential query of easy methods to match a split-seconds chronograph right into a wristwatch in any respect, and doing so with such success that its structure could be revived 100 years later. The early wrist- worn rattrapantes, references 130, 1436 and 1563, exhibit that the manufacture was ready to let the complication dwell in actual and wearable circumstances. Ref. 1518 establishes a second, parallel line of enquiry by combining chronograph and perpetual calendar in a serially produced watch, a line that runs unbroken by way of references 2499, 3970 and 5970 to the absolutely in-house references 5270 and 5204.
The CHR 27-525 PS household and the CH 29-535 PS household mark the decisive transfer to in-house chronograph calibres, every embodying a unique method to thinness, structure and complication load. Their patents and refinements, from optimised tooth profiles to improved isolators, are the invisible scaffolding beneath the swish sweep of the chronograph hand.
Ref. 5370 stands on the centre of this constellation. It’s the watch that greatest permits a collector to see, by way of one open caseback, what Patek Philippe at present thinks a split-seconds chronograph ought to be. Ref. 5204 reveals how these concepts could be built-in into the long-standing Patek Philippe language of perpetual calendar chronographs. Ref. 5373 demonstrates that even on this rarefied discipline, ergonomics and playfulness nonetheless have a spot.
The Ref. 5308G-001, lastly, is the horizon. It gathers minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph, instantaneous perpetual calendar and micro-rotor computerized winding right into a single, exactly choreographed entire. In doing so, it turns the split-seconds chronograph from the protagonist into considered one of a number of lead gamers. The rattrapante is now not an remoted show of virtuosity, however a part of a broader composition about how far a wristwatch can go whereas remaining, nearly, wearable.
In that sense, the story that begins with a novel 33mm gold watch made in 1923 now continues in a white gold watch that represents one of the mechanically formidable Patek Philippe wristwatches ever positioned into common manufacturing. Between them stands Ref. 5370, the up to date rattrapante that makes clear why this complication continues to fascinate watchmakers and collectors alike: as a result of it’s, fairly merely, one of the eloquent methods to measure a human second.
PHOTOGRAPHY CHING@GREENPLASTICSOLDIERS
STYLING AND ART DIRECTION AUDREY CHAN
ADDITIONAL WATCH IMAGES COURTESY OF PATEK PHILIPPE AND PHILLIPS
This story was first seen as a part of the WOW #82 Festive 2025 Challenge
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