PATEK PHILIPPE REF. 6301P GRANDE SONNERIE
Before we start, here are a few things to note about the Ref. 6301P Grande Sonnerie. Patek Philippe’s recently unveiled sonic blockbuster costs more than a million dollars – 1.15 million Swiss francs or S$1.7 million to be exact. And
money alone isn’t enough – it’s one of those top-of-the-line timepieces one has to specially apply to purchase.
Here’s why the Ref. 6301P is so special. In the already rarefied world of chiming watches, the grande sonnerie (French for “grand strike”) – which can automatically sound the hours and quarters – is right at the top. Only a handful of manufactures and watchmakers are capable of crafting one, and the Ref. 6301P is Patek’s first “pure” grande
sonnerie wristwatch.
As with other grande sonnerie watches, it also features petite sonnerie, which automatically sounds the hours and quarters, without sounding the hours at each quarter, and minute repeater functions. Although Patek Philippe has a long history of producing chiming pocket watches and minute-repeater wristwatches, it first created a grande sonnerie in a wristwatch with the 20-complication Ref. 5175 Grandmaster Chime in 2014. That 175th-anniversary model had five acoustic functions, including grande and petite sonneries.
Housed in a platinum case measuring 44.8mm in diameter and 12mm in height, the new manually wound movement,
Calibre GS 36-750 PS IRM, powers the Ref. 6301P. Your recipient – or you – will probably not receive it by Christmas,
but great things are worth the wait.
BREGUET CLASSIQUE DOUBLE TOURBILLON 5345 QUAI D’HORLOGE
A 46mm platinum watch that’s stunning on both sides, this double-tourbillon timepiece by Breguet matches an
openworked visual spectacle on the front with an exquisite engraving on its caseback. The pair of tourbillons
are set on a moving plate that makes a full rotation every minute, enabling the bridge connecting the tourbillons
to serve as the hour hand. Stylised Bs on each of the two mainspring barrels make for further flourishes, along with
the caseback engraving of the building occupied by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the 18th century.
BVLGARI OCTO FINISSIMO TOURBILLON CHRONOGRAPH SKELETON AUTOMATIC
It was a challenge for us to narrow down our favourite Bvlgari novelty for this gift guide. We’d be thrilled to see its Gerald Genta Arena Bi-Retrograde Sport or Bvlgari Bvlgari Aluminium wrapped up and ready for us. For a statement
timepiece, however, you cannot go
wrong with the brand’s sixth record-
breaking ultra-thin Octo Finissimo
watch in six years. The Octo Finissimo
Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton
Automatic houses the complications
mentioned in its name in an octagonal
sandblasted titanium case measuring
42mm across and just 7.4mm thick.
A. LANGE & SOHNE ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER
The Zeitwerk Minute Repeater by A. Lange & Sohne might not be new – it was first released in 2015 – but a fantastic, new deep-blue dial colour gives this 2020 iteration a completely different look from its silver-dialled predecessor. Housed in a 44.2mm white gold case and powered by the hand-wound L043.5 movement, it remains one of the most distinctive watches in high horology, with a winged bridge bearing the jumping numerals of its time display. To match its digital time display, its minute repeater is actually decimal-repeating – it sounds the hours, tens of minutes and minutes.
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