Watchmaker breaks new ground in power saving

A first in watchmaking: Patek Philippe's latest timepiece has a 10-day power reserve. Patek Philippe

The Patek Philippe watch company of Geneva is celebrating the year 2000 with a world first - a new rectangular chronometer movement with a ten-day power reserve.

The new movement is to be housed in an exclusive rectangular case, which will be issued in a limited series of only 3,000 pieces.

To ensure the 10-day power reserve capacity, both the barrels have to develop high power, which creates tension and therefore friction in the movement. To reduce the friction, 29 rubies are placed at critical pivoting points in the movement.

Patek Philippe says that prolonging the running capacity of the watch to 240 hours, when all other power reserves achieve 100 to 192 hours, required “shrewd mechanical solutions”.

The precision of the movement is certified by its individual official rating certificate exclusively reserved for movements bearing the Geneva Seal hallmark.

This is issued after three weeks of testing to guarantee the performance of the watch in five positions and at different temperatures.

Patek Philippe says that to guarantee the exclusivity of the limited edition, the case production tools will never be used again.

swissinfo