Patek Philippe opens Milan Grand Exhibition with seven Italian limited editions

Patek Philippe opened its seventh Watch Art Grand Exhibition on October 2 in Milan, unveiling seven limited-edition watches reserved for the Italian market alongside 25 Rare Handcrafts models in various métiers d'art. The free exhibition, with reserved tickets, runs until October 18.

The headline piece is the reference 5978P-010, a new hand-wound perpetual calendar chronograph. Only the seventh such watch in the maison's 187 years, it follows the 1518 of 1941, the 2499 of 1951, the 3970 of 1986, the 5020 of 1994, the 5970 of 2004 and the 5270 of 2011.

Patek Philippe has no reputation for shortcuts, as our brand page on the maison makes plain, and the 5978P honors that. It is the first hand-wound perpetual chronograph with an instantaneous calendar: the day, date, month and leap year jump in about 30 milliseconds, all shown in windows along an arch across the top of the dial.

The mechanism pairs the CH 29-535 PS chronograph caliber, introduced in 2009 with six patents, and the instantaneous perpetual calendar module used in the 5207, 5308 and 5208 Grand Complications. The resulting CH 29-535 PS QI movement holds 500 components, more than the 456 in the 5270P or the 496 in the 5204.

Patek describes the watch as the first in its catalog to carry two instantaneous complications in one piece, with both the chronograph's jumping 30-minute counter and the calendar changing instantly. A. Lange & Söhne did the same in its now-discontinued Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon, which started in the high three hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The 42mm by 14.45mm platinum case takes the Calatrava style of the 5208 and 5205, with a concave bezel and incurved lugs rather than the ornate shape of earlier perpetual chronographs. A brilliant-cut diamond is at six o'clock, the discreet mark of Patek platinum cases. Water resistance is 30 meters.

The navy-blue sunburst dial carries a black gradient rim, baton markers in white gold, dauphine hands and white luminous coating. The calendar indications appear in Italian for the host city, and the moon phase is right-side up. It is on a navy composite strap with red stitching and a triple-blade platinum fold-over clasp.

The movement measures 32mm across and 8.1mm thick, runs at 28,800 vph with 33 jewels, and holds a power reserve of 55 to 65 hours with the chronograph disconnected. Just 120 pieces are being made, exclusively for this exhibition, and as of launch Patek has released no price.

The 5978P gives Patek two perpetual calendar chronographs in the catalog at once for the first time since the early 1990s, when the 3970 and 5020 shared a caliber. The new watch's 42mm case is a full millimeter larger than the 41mm 5270, which we have followed closely as it earned a cult following since 2011.

Alongside the chronograph, Patek revisited its Gondolo line with the Ladies First collection, six versions of the reference 7043 in a 31 by 34.8mm cushion case. Three carry diamond-set dials, while three Joaillerie models extend the gem-setting across the dial, case and lugs with 687 brilliant-cut diamonds.

The collection looks back to the 2009 Ladies First Chronograph, ref. 7071, which put Patek's in-house CH 29-535 PS chronograph into a watch designed for women. The new 7043 steps away from that, running on the house E15 quartz caliber, a 15 by 13mm movement just 1.8mm thick with a three-year battery life.

The Gondolo name dates to 1993, a tribute to Patek's early-20th-century relationship with the Brazilian retailer Gondolo & Labouriau. The three diamond-set models use multi-layered opaline dials with a wave pattern and a 108-diamond flange, in chestnut, blue-gray and silvery finishes with denim-pattern or grained calfskin straps.

The three Joaillerie versions set twelve trapeze-cut gemstones as hour markers: blue topaz with a peacock-blue strap, green tsavorite with green, purple amethyst with purple. Each is on a shiny alligator strap. Two Haute Joaillerie Gondolo models from 2016, with 552 diamonds and Akoya-pearl bracelets, remain in the wider family.

The exhibition also brought six further limited editions, led by two versions of the world-time minute repeater ref. 5531G with cloisonné enamel maps of Milan by day and by night, each limited to five pieces and signed by the enameller Anita Porchet. The 40.2mm white gold case holds the R 27 HU caliber with a 48-hour reserve.

A tricolor trio of Calatrava models spans the Italian flag. The red minute repeater 7047G and the green perpetual calendar 7147G, a new reference, are limited to five and 100 pieces respectively; the 200-piece white 7007G gets the 26-330 S C automatic. Each shows the italic calendar or the tricolore strap detail in white gold.

The steel ref. 5167A-014 Aquanaut rounds out the set with a blue-to-black fumé dial, red accents and a midnight blue rubber strap, in 250 pieces. A 500-piece 5167A-012 made for Singapore in 2019 became one of the most collectible modern Aquanauts, which we noted as a watch for the money in our ranking of luxury watch brands.

Milan is the brand's seventh exhibition following Tokyo in 2023, Singapore in 2019 and New York in 2017. Patek has given no pricing across the seven editions: the 5531 has traded around $875,000, and the rest are expected to surface with figures once authorized dealers open their applications. For now, the maison only says price to be confirmed.