Patek Philippe 2025 Rare Handcrafts Collection: 78 new métiers d’art watches

Every year, Patek Philippe sets the stage for the new horology season with a splendid ode to metiérs d’arts. Named the Rare Handcrafts Collection, it is a significant demonstration of artistry that underscores the 186-year-old house’s role as one of the most eminent guardians of traditional watchmaking crafts. 

And even as the full magnitude of novelties from the watch universe unfolds across the months, Patek Philippe’s showcase always remains top-of-mind — especially for the 2025 edition with its sheer breadth and width.

Indeed, there is no better candidate than the most prestigious manufacture in Geneva, which is the birthplace of high horology, to safeguard such centuries-old know-how and livelihoods.

Since 2008, Patek Philippe has produced an enviable collection of modern-era pieces all festooned with a plethora of time-honoured crafts. By building upon all its existing savoir-faire and keeping master artisans in its employment, Patek Philippe not only helps preserve these crafts but also allows them to flourish.

Many of these Rare Handcrafts Collection timepieces are one-of-a-kind, given how they are each adorned with rare, extraordinary, and sometimes near-extinct techniques. Needless to say, their sheer exclusivity limits access to the regular watch lover.

Fortunately, the Stern family’s love for time-honoured handcrafts is evident, as such pieces are put on annual display at the Patek Philippe Geneva Salon since 2018.

Avid collectors of enamel watches themselves, the Sterns were among the few brand owners who insisted on preserving this very art.

With a burning passion that continues to this day, and a range of technical skills growing stronger each year, Patek Philippe has unveiled its 2025 collection once again at its historic salon on Rue du Rhone, amid live demonstrations by artisan engravers, enamellers, and marquetry makers who are the very keepers of this resplendent tradition.

A glorious showcase

This year, a total of 78 métiers d’arts timepieces were released, comprising 23 dome and small dome table clocks, one desk clock, 10 pocket watches, as well as 44 wristwatches across two key models, Calatrava and Golden Ellipse. As always, the range of decorative skills and techniques runs an extensive gamut. 

Almost requisite in every Rare Handcrafts Collection today are classics like Grand Feu cloisonne enamel, miniature painting on enamel, grisaille enamel, flinque enamel, paillonne enamel, faure enamel, hand engraving, hand-executed guilloche work, and gem-setting — all executed to such perfection as to do the old masters proud.

Beyond those, Patek Philippe has also been known to incorporate decorative techniques not typically observed in contemporary haute horlogerie, such as Longwy enamel on faience and wood micromarquetry, the latter being an ultra-fine technique of marquetry which yields hyper-realistic results. 

Notably, the manufacture has also steadily produced several mixed technique pieces where two or more crafts are combined in a single artwork, for instance, cloisonne and paillonne enamel painting, or miniature painting on enamel with hand-engraving. 

Yet, demonstrating a firm grasp of these classical techniques is but one facet of the Rare Handcrafts Collection. Much more could be said about how deeply the well of creativity runs at Patek Philippe, and how its artisans continually find ever more poetic ways to bring their creative expressions to life.

Contemporary expressions

When we think of such artistic crafts, we often look back to the Belle Epoque style of the late 19th to early 20th century. And while many watches do fondly embrace this romantic era, many of Patek Philippe’s Rare Handcrafts creations espouse a resolutely modern spirit, attuned to the modern-day horology enthusiasts. 

One only has to recall the American Beauties series depicting mid-century American racecars, or Morning on the Beach featuring a surfer in California with his sun-bronzed skin patched in a panoply of browns.

This year, Patek Philippe continues to hone its delicate balance of timeless scenography and contemporary motifs, looking first towards the heavens, then into the natural world, and finally, to great moments of human endeavours. 

Perennially popular, the 12 zodiac signs lend themselves to a suite of Calatrava wristwatches Ref 5177G, encircled by a bezel covered with Clous de Paris guilloche — a beloved hallmark of the classic Calatrava.

The symbol or glyph representing each zodiac sign was derived from ancient engravings. Dials feature a backdrop of grisaille enamel au blanc de Limoges, and gold lines in grand feu cloisonne enamel, completed with paillonne enamel gold stars. 

Nature once again provides a wealth of inspiration to the artisans, who have taken full advantage of the Golden Ellipse’s expansive dial. Taking turns to grace this 1970s classic, birds like the Yellow-Crested Cockatoo, White Swan, and Bald Eagle flaunt captivating plumage in either grand feu cloisonne enamel and miniature painting or micromarquetry. 

Across a range of Calatrava wristwatches and dome clocks, foliage and wildflowers brim with life through the hands of enamel painters. Landscapes were also especially stunning, ranging from lavender fields of Provence to the Amazon Rainforest and the breathtaking vertical cliffs of China’s Zhangjiajie National Park. 

Rounding off this latest collection is a theme dedicated to human endeavours. The Geneva Harbour always has a special place in Patek Philippe’s heart, now crafted in marquetry for the first time on a dome clock.

A Chunar horse of Indian origin rears up on the dial of the Minute Repeater Ref 5278/500G-001, with a bezel and buckle engraved with a unique motif recalling a horse’s braided mane.

Tributes were also duly paid to great modern painters and authors, along with a fascinating nod given to the ancestral art of wine-growing. A Vines and Wines series debuted with a hand-engraved sapphire crystal to go with the wine-hued dials in flinque enamel.

Music and vintage funfairs make a brief appearance, and even Patek Philippe history got a shoutout via dome clock Ref 20187M-001 “The Patek Waltz”. 

Existing in an entirely different realm of luxury, even by Patek Philippe’s standards, the 78 privileged individuals around the world who will care for them for the next generation are truly fortunate.