August, 2016 | Cheap Patek Philippe Replica Watches From China

What is the appeal of a Patek Philippe replica Watch?

Patek Philippe collectors aren’t like other watch collectors. They aren’t flashy; they don’t have to be. That’s because Patek Philippe’s understated elegance bespeaks confidence. Simply put, Patek owners know they have the very best in craftsmanship, heritage, and design sitting on their wrists — and once you’ve owned a Patek Philippe, nothing else will do.

1. The Scarcity

Patek Philippe, Wempe, 125th Anniversary, Ref. 5125. Platinum, 2003. $98,000.

It’s said that fewer than a million Patek Philippe watches have been made since 1839. That’s fewer than some very high-end Swiss manufacturers make in a year. Patek production is so detailed it takes nine months to make the most basic Patek Philippe watches in production and over two years to make some of the more complicated ones. That’s one big reason why the numbers are so low. Meanwhile, demand is growing around the world. Some Patek Phlippe watches are in such demand that buyers must submit to an application process to prove they are high caliber enough as collectors. (Or you can just call the Christie’s Watch Department and get one in a private sale tomorrow!)

2. The Design

Patek Philippe, Nautilus, “Jumbo,” Ref. 3700/1. Stainless Steel, 1977. $42,000
Every year Patek Philippe continues to surprise collectors with seemingly incongruous designs that soon enough become classics. Take, for example, the Gilbert Albert asymmetrical from the 1960s; the Nautilus from the 1970s; the Aquanaut from the 1990s; and the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time, which just launched at Basel a few weeks ago: All these watches caused commotion, criticism, and excitement when they debuted.
The real beauty of Patek’s design lives in, first of all, the movements. Every individual part is hand-finished, which is excessive in obsessive detail considering that only a watchmaker can truly appreciate it. And yet, even the lay admirer is struck by its unmatched beauty. Dial design is similarly unmatched. See the faceted batons, the hand-polished hands, the little tells that make a Patek Philippe a Patek Philippe — in many cases the person wearing the watch doesn’t even notice these things, but they all add up to something that just looks and feels right on the wrist.

3. The Investment Value

Patek Philippe, Retailed by Tiffany & co, Ref. 5170. 18k Yellow Gold, 2010. $76,000

It is tough to argue against the facts: Patek Philippe re-sale value trumps all others among both vintage and modern watches. Pieces completed and delivered within the last few months for Patek’s 175th anniversary collection are already trading on the secondary market for extraordinary prices. Pieces like the 5131 Cloisonné enamel immediately earned almost double their retail price at auction, straight from retail. (That they were recently discontinued in white and yellow gold may add even more value to those models already.)

From a broader, more historical perspective, you could have bought a Calatrava for $300 in the 1950s; today, they can command over $20,000. There are perpetual chronographs — namely the 2499/100 fourth series — that cost under $20,000 in the 1980s but bring well over $400,000 today. And the original Nautilus from the 1970s, which originally retailed for under $3,000, are now trading for over $50,000.

4. The Archives

Patek Philippe, Ref. 1569. 18k Yellow Gold, 1945. $18,000
Every Patek Philippe watch ever made has a searchable ‘extract’ available at thePatek Philippe archives. It instills great confidence knowing that you can have the date of production and original date of sale for every Patek Philippe made since 1839.

When you meet people who own Patek watches, it’s a safe bet they have done something extraordinary with their lives. The extracts, which meticulously detail the history of each watch, evoke historical moments in these extraordinary individuals’ lives, which they’ve marked by the purchase or gifting of a Patek Philippe. Patek doesn’t include the names of previous owners on its extracts, but most members of every royal family and countless heads-of-state and celebrities are in these archives. It’s wonderful fodder for the imagination. Perhaps the previous owner was celebrating the end of a war with your watch, or the beginning of a new life with someone, the birth of a child, or the inevitable passing of generations. Some of the most beautiful watches we see have never come up for auction before; when they do, those sorts of watches become cover lots of our auction catalogues.

5. The Patek Philippe replica DNA

Patek Philippe, Ref. 2526. 18k Yellow Gold, 1956. $37,800

The design, artistry, and workmanship balanced in Patek Philippe watch is unparalleled among fine watchmakers. The history and heritage alone is unrivaled — over 175 years of the finest watch-making in the world. Patek’s cases, for example, say it all: they appear simple in their overall execution (in most cases), but Patek takes no shortcuts. Among some other watchmakers, cases are cast and machine-finished, often at an outside shop; at Patek Philippe, cases are mostly made in-house, often forged from solid pieces of gold or platinum.

Patek uses traditional case-making techniques that hearken back to the 1800s and are forgotten by all but a few people in the entire modern watch-making industry. The cases look so simple and natural, but making one requires know-how that’s been passed along from generation to generation, just like the watches themselves. And that’s the way it should be. That’s the beauty of a Patek Philippe.

Patek Philippe replica Calatrava vs. Lange Saxonia

Two plain-faced beauties, the replica Patek Philippe Calatrava and A. Lange & Söhne Saxonia, go head to head in this comparison test from the WatchTime archives. Jens Koch gets in depth with the two timepieces and Nik Schölzel provides the original photography.

A complication is a pretty thing, but it certainly doesn’t improve the legibility of a watch’s time display. And since the time of day is the most frequently sought information on a watch’s dial, it makes perfect sense to concentrate on the bare essentials: hours, minutes and perhaps also a subdial for the seconds hand to show that the watch is still running. Even the presence of a date display can detract from the perfect harmony and clarity of a dial. The beauty of A. Lange & Söhne’s Saxonia and Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Reference 5196 resides in their simplicity. Absolutely nothing superfluous can be found on these gorgeously pure wristwatches. Both brands rank among the world’s finest manufactures. And each has roots that reach back to the 19th century. Ferdinand Adolph Lange founded the original A. Lange & Söhne in the small town of Glashütte in the Kingdom of Saxony (in what is now eastern Germany) in 1845. Lange developed the three-quarters plate and built pocket watches famous for their high quality. They were universally acknowledged as the finest timepieces made in Germany. The company was disbanded in 1945, and only in 1990 was the A. Lange & Söhne name resurrected by a new company founded, like the first, in Glashütte. The company is now owned by the Richemont Group.

Patek Philippe, which was founded in 1839, is privately owned. This manufacture has created numerous spectacular timepieces in the course of its illustrious history, including the world’s most complicated pocket replica watches, which were built on commission from the banker Henry Graves. Patek Philippe was also among the first brands to produce wristwatches. The Calibre 89 pocket watch, which debuted in 1989, has 33 functions and remains the world’s most complicated portable timepiece (roughly the size of a grapefruit, it’s so large that the term “watch” seems like a misnomer). The two timepieces we tested are a far cry from the complicated creations for which both brands are famed. Each watch displays nothing but the time; each shows the passing seconds on an off-center subdial; and each has indices rather than numerals. The bare-essentials appearance of the dial reflects the simplicity of the movements. Neither has a self-winding mechanism. Both are therefore able to fit in very slim, elegant cases. Although the movements stick strictly to the basics, both are elaborately decorated by hand. The cases and other visible components are also of the highest quality. In a nutshell, they represent pure ticking luxury.
Both watches look to the past for their design inspiration. The Calatrava reference 5196 bears the same final digits as the original Calatrava, the reference 96 from 1932. The reference 5196 borrows its precursor’s dauphine hands, seconds subdial, faceted indices and wreath of tiny dots forming the minute circle. The diameter of the 96 was significantly smaller, so the rim of its seconds subdial was tangent to the periphery of the dial at 6 o’clock. It isn’t so easy to identify the Saxonia’s precursor. A model with this name was introduced at the brand’s rebirth in 1994. Like the current model, the 1994 Saxonia eschewed both numerals and automatic winding, but its rhombic indices differed from the indices on the new Saxonia. Like all Lange models launched since the firm’s revival, the Saxonia has lancet-shaped hands. The new version debuted last year. It replaces the Lange 1815, which contained the same caliber. The other models in the Saxonia collection are the Grand Saxonia Automatic (41 mm in diameter) and the Saxonia Automatic (37 mm, with a big date display).

The Calatrava and Saxonia are both 37 mm in diameter – an appropriate size for a dress watch in this era of ever-larger cases. Each is also just 8 mm thick, which means it can vanish unobtrusively beneath a well-tailored shirt cuff. Both watches appear even slimmer than they are thanks to the satin finishing on the case sides and domed sapphire crystal. With its narrow bezel and comparatively long lugs, the Calatrava looks even flatter than the Saxonia, which has a more highly domed and significantly broader bezel.
One obvious difference between the two watches is the absence of a viewing window in the back of the Calatrava. Why did Patek Philippe omit it? The answer comes into view when one opens the case and discovers that the Caliber 215 is gorgeous, but also quite petite — slightly less than 22 mm in diameter. A similarly small viewing window might have been a disappointment. The self-winding Calatrava models, by contrast, do have exhibition casebacks, perhaps because their Caliber 315 SC, at 27 mm in diameter, is significantly larger than the 215. Even though Caliber 215 ticks unseen in the dark confines of a windowless case, Patek Philippe has given it the fine finishing and decorative flourishes associated with the best Geneva watchmaking: Geneva waves, beveled and polished edges, polished screw heads, satin-finished transmission wheel and ratchet wheel, polished flanks on the gears’ teeth, and a Gyromax balance. The movement also bears the Geneva Seal. The layout of the bridges hearkens back to the days of Patek pocket watches.

Patek Philippe replica Calatrava vs. Lange Saxonia

The Saxonia isn’t as shy; it shows off its movement through a sapphire caseback. Its movement, Caliber L941.1, doesn’t completely fill the case, either, but at 25.6 mm in diameter it is appreciably larger than the Patek caliber. The white gold rim around the window in the caseback provides room for the company name and watch serial number but isn’t unduly broad. The three-quarters plate, a tribute to the plates used in Lange’s 19-century pocket watches, is made of nickel silver and adorned with Glashütte waves. It is dotted with ruby jewels in gold settings, which are held in place by blued screws. The screw balance is affixed to a cock with hand-engraved embellishments and, on top, a swan’s neck fine adjustment mechanism. The edges are beveled and polished; the heads of the screws are polished; and the pallets, the escape wheel and the cover plate of the escape wheel are polished. Unlike the Calatrava’s movement, the Saxonia’s is equipped with a stop-seconds function, which stops its seconds hand when the crown is pulled out. This feature makes it easier to set the watch with to-the-second accuracy. Winding and setting both watches is easy. The Calatrava clicks nobly while it is being wound, whereas the Saxonia is nearly inaudible.

The crowns on both watches are fairly easy to grasp. Very little force is needed to operate them. The somewhat larger crown on the Calatrava, combined with this watch’s slimness, means the winding button lies very close to the wrist. If you like to wear your watch low on your wrist, the crown might press uncomfortably against the back of your hand. Furthermore, the domed back gives this watch a tendency to shift position. The Saxonia fits more comfortably on the wrist, not solely because its crown is smaller, but also because its back is flat and its lugs are mounted very low. All this helps to prevent slippage on the wrist.
Both watches have hand-sewn, crocodile leather straps with cut edges and are of excellent quality. The Patek Philippe strap shines with glossy clear lacquer, while the Lange one has a matte finish. Each strap has a simple prong buckle, in keeping with the watches’ overall minimalist design. A folding clasp is more elaborate and doesn’t necessarily enhance wearing comfort. Patek Philippe facets its prong very beautifully, but merely bends it around the crosspiece. The polished buckle is a good match for the watch and is instantly identifiable as being from Patek Philippe. Lange mills its prong from a solid block of precious metal and reinforces the buckle with an additional crossbar. The strap is guided through the buckle so that it scarcely needs to be bent; the clasp and strap fit closely on the wrist. The name “Lange” appears on the buckle in clear, capital letters.

Patek Philippe Nautilus replica Chronograph

A couple of years back, Patek Philippe replica presented another Ref. 5980/1A with a white dial (for laymen: that is the Nautilus Chronograph). We at Monochrome Watches were somewhat shocked to find, at Baselworld 2014, that Patek had officially stopped the steel 5980/1A demonstrate and supplanted it with a steel Nautilus Chronograph with a second time zone, similar to the one in the Aquanaut Travel Time Ref. 5164.

That implies that the 5980/1A-019 (the white-dial Nautilus Chrono) will have been underway for just two years. Since we’re discussing Patek here, preparations numbers are somewhat low, and this reference is presently an exceptionally uncommon winged animal which we hope to end up extremely collectible. In spite of the fact that the other steel 5980/1A models are not as uncommon (but rather super-uncommon contrasted with a Rolex Submariner, for example), we would not be astonished to see their costs climb now that the interest can never again be satisfied at Patek boutiques however just on the auxiliary business sector. Yet, now, how about we investigate the amateur in the Nautilus family, whose extra second-time-zone capacity works simply like the one in the previously stated Patek Philippe Aquanaut Travel Time, presented in 2011.

On the dial, we see the chronograph register at 6 o’clock, and, like that on the Aquanaut Travel Time, it highlights a pointer-date, now situated on the upper part of the dial. The date sign is associated with the neighborhood time, which is your travel destination. Whenever voyaging, it can be balanced both forward and in reverse, to take after the date of the time zone where you are. To one side and right on the dial are two little gaps, which demonstrate day and night in both the nearby time zone and the home time zone. The chronograph pushers – to begin, stop and reset to zero – are situated on the left-hand side of the case, much the same as on the Nautilus Chronograph Ref. 5980/1A. Where the old 5980/1A had a hour long and 12-hour register for measuring slipped by time, the new ref. 5990/1A has only one hour long counter. While you won’t have the capacity to quantify to what extent that intercontinental flight took any longer, the new subdial is cleaner and simpler to peruse. Also, with the extra pointer-date enlist, that is something worth being thankful for.

On the left-hand side of the case are two pushers for changing the neighborhood time zone when you’re voyaging. Plan insightful, replica Patek Philippe did extremely well here, in light of the fact that these pushers resemble the run of the mill “ears” of the Nautilus case. In any case, adding them constrained Patek to change the model’s run of the mill two-section case for a more customary three-section case. Despite the fact that the whole case development has changed, the measurement is still 40.5 mm and the case is still water-impervious to 120 meters. Likewise the general case thickness is very little more noteworthy (the official information is not gave) than the 5980’s thickness of 12.6 mm. When we saw the primary pictures, we “dreaded” the replica watches would be too thick and excessively occupied on the dial. In the wake of attempting it on the wrist, we’re persuaded that our fears were unfounded.

Patek Philippe Nautilus replica Chronograph

The development of the Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph, Caliber 28-520 C FUS, begins with the same base bore as its ancestor; in any case, now it has an extra module for the two time zones (called “FUS”) — once more, the same module utilized as a part of the Aquanaut Travel Time. The retail cost in Swiss Francs is CHF 47,000 (about $57,300), only a couple of thousand more than the steel Ref. 5980/1A. That is still a considerable measure of cash, yet we’re happy that Patek didn’t set the cost significantly higher. In spite of the way that the Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph is an incredible expansion to the Nautilus accumulation, I will miss the 5980/1A, as a result of its sportier look. Regardless I consider the 5980/1A to be the Magnum Opus of extravagance games watches.