Twice in my life I have been fortunate enough to hear multiple Patek Philippe minute repeaters doing their thing, and the most recent was under interesting circumstances. Patek Philippe is generally, well, you wouldn’t say uncommunicative, but they do have the natural reticence that you’d expect from a family-owned haute horlogerie firm. Let’s go with discreet. However, over the last few years, the company has also begun holding periodic educational seminars, which, though of course they focus on Patek Philippe wristwatches and history, also offer a great deal of very useful, generally-applicable information on watchmaking. The last such educational event I was part of was a full-day workshop on static and dynamic poising (which, if you’re of a similar turn of mind to mine, is pretty exciting, white-knuckle stuff, and I’m being totally serious). The most recent, however, was a workshop on minute repeaters, during which we discussed everything from manufacturing gongs, to case construction, to how repeaters are tested and validated for release at Patek – and, yes, horse urine as well; and thereby hangs a tale.
In-Depth: Hammers And Gongs – Talking Traditional Minute Repeater Magic With Patek Philippe (And That One Story About Horse Urine)
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