Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split-Seconds Chronograph 5951/500P (5951/500P-001)

WORLDTEMPUS - 6 April 2011

Yesterday in Neuchâtel, Patek Philippe announced the start of a new era: the silicon Spiromax balance spring will become the new standard for and be gradually added to all future Patek Philippe calibers according to Philippe Stern, who was one of the participants involved in the company's deluge of announcements yesterday. For the past year, it has already been integrated into all automatic Caliber 324 executions and the new chronograph CH 28-520 calibers.

The Spiromax balance spring, created in Silinvar to improve the movement's isochronism, has been used since 2008 in limited editions in conjunction with the Pulsomax escapement (escape wheel, pallet lever, pallet fork) to increase efficiency. The Spiromax was officially introduced in 2006.
Yesterday, Patek Philippe announced another new component in this critical subassembly: the GyromaxSi. The original Gyromax balance wheel patented in 1951 was developed by the company throughout the 1940s. Its four small slotted poising weights allow precision regulation of the balance spring according to the principle of variable inertia. Turning 60 years old, it is finally being replaced by a worthy successor: the GyromaxSi bucks conventional design while keeping the same principle. A Silinvar body with two equalizing sides are weighted by 24-karat gold rims and the four gold poising screws, which make individualized precision regulation of the rate possible.

The combination of all three of these components now makes for one solid subgroup warranting a total of 17 patents: Oscillomax. The object of all the research and development that has gone into Oscillomax is accuracy and dependability - characteristics achievable with the use of silicon.
Silicon research
Yesterday, Philippe Stern rightly pointed out that over the course of more than 500 years, watchmaking has evolved through continuous research. The tradition of watchmaking is in constant evolution; in the new millennium, the company justifiably asks if silicon is not the next logical step.
Thus, the company created its Advanced Research division and in 2001 entered into a cooperation with CSEM (Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology) and its IMT (Institute of Microengineering) in Neuchâtel and the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Lausanne. Though the research began jointly with other interested parties such as Rolex, the Swatch Group and Ulysse Nardin, each of these companies has continued along its own individual path in terms of production and use. The CSEM, whose goal is to develop and transfer knowledge to industrial sectors, works with up to 150 private, commercial companies each year. CSEM is located in the heart of Neuchâtel, and is now being developed as a European hub, or a "micro city," aimed at providing "a new source of innovation" according to Patrick Aebischer, president of the EPFL, who announced the integration of the collaborative entities, which have belonged to the EPFL since 2009. A new building on the Rue Jaquet Droz site will commence building next week.

In view of all this, the EPFL has created twelve chairs for the IMT dedicated to the application of new micro- and nanotechnologies in watchmaking. Yesterday, Patek Philippe and the EPFL proudly announced the first one: the Patek Philippe Chair. The objective of the chair's nominee will be to investigate research avenues, assemble a team, and train researchers and scientists to become experts in the field.

Celebration
To celebrate the announcement of all these milestones on April 5, Patek Philippe also introduces a 300-piece limited edition watch, whose Caliber 240 Q Si proudly contains the Oscillomax. Like its silicon-substantiated predecessors, the addition is eminently recognizable by the words "Advanced Research" on the dial and a view of the subassembly through the sapphire crystal case back. Reference 5550 P is an automatic perpetual calendar that boasts 70 hours of power reserve, a considerable increase over Caliber 240 Q, which has no silicon components.

"Our tradition of innovation is the heart of this family company," Stern professed yesterday. "It is a strategic decision to invest in this chair. We are here to develop watchmaking know-how and encourage research."