Watch

This is quite possibly the most sophisticated and refined watch in the world. It’s a tourbillon, made by Patek Philippe, which is the finest watchmaker in the world. They are the Bentley to Rolex’s BMW.

If you doubt me, go read about it.

The “Sky Moon Tourbillon” Ref. 5002 is the first double-faced wristwatch that features a complete presentation of the nocturnal sky on its reverse side. The masterpiece displays the apparent movements of the stars, the orbit of the moon, the moon phases, as well as the hours and minutes in sidereal time. As was already the case with the Star Caliber 2000, Patek Philippe’s goal in the development of the “Sky Moon Tourbillon” was not so much the number of complications per se. The real objective was to accommodate the most fascinating complications in the small case of a wristwatch: a perpetual calendar with a retrograde date display, a minute repeater, a tourbillon, the display of sidereal time, and a depiction of the nocturnal sky with the motion of the stars, the orbit of the moon, and the moon phases. The acoustic indication of hours, quarter-hours, and minutes is and undoubtedly remains one of the most spectacular functions that a wristwatch can possess. When the slide on the left of the case is activated, the repeater first strikes the number of hours on a low-tone gong, followed by the quarter-hours with double strikes on the low-tone and a higher-tone gong, and finally by the number of minutes which have elapsed since the last quarter-hour on the higher-tone gong. In the “Sky Moon Tourbillon”, this chime is implemented in a rare and fascinating manner. In the comparatively small volume of a wristwatch, it is extremely difficult to generate a clear and rich-sounding tone. A few years ago, after intensive collaboration with metallurgists of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Patek Philippe succeeded in developing an alloy for gongs that create a particularly resonant sound. In the meantime, this alloy has been refined, making it possible to produce a special gong that can be more than one case circumference long. It is called “cathedral gong” because it renders the hour strike with a rich, full-bodied tone that like the bells in a cathedral reverberates for a particularly long period of time.

I do love beautiful things.