So I got to try on the 5196P today at Mayor's in the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton. Such an amazing watch. Size is 37mm, case and buckle are platinum. List price is slightly under 37K USD. Sorry for the lousy lighting in the store.
Newbie question.... is this a modern edition of a vintage design? (Beautiful, of course, with the Breguet numerals and two-tone dial).
I guess the answer is yes since the industry are all doing it. My problem with Patek is value for money and designs that simply don't appeal to me. I like this. A time only for 40k? Don't think so.
The 5196P is a beautiful watch. I love the Breguet numerals, and the size is perfect at 37mm. Out of my budget but one can dream! Edit: @adam78 , there's a pre-owned one currently available if you search Watchrecon
I feel like I've seen way too many crappy, undeserving watches with Breguet numerals that I now associate them with tackiness I blame TAG Heuer. Maybe a similar jeweler visit is in order for me
Stunning piece, I've got my sister's wedding coming up in August and at this point the a Seamaster Piepan is the logical choice but I've been incredibly tempted to move some things I don't wear like the 1680 sub and Cal 320 to get a 5119G used, white gold and subseconds but with romans instead of breguet and hobnail bezel at a surprisingly reasonable price pre-owned. There's something very special about a white calatrava on peeled reptile, definitely something for all the crocodiles to aspire to being.
This photo comparo says it all. If you take the back off, do you see a tiny movement surrounded by a huge metal spacer? Because that's what the dial looks like - another quick n' sloppy modern up-size with misplaced subdial because of a movement made for a much smaller watch.
That is a bit disappointing, sort of like the new larger Royal Oak with the date in the middle of the dial and tiny movement
Funnily enough it doesn't bother me too much in the 5196P. Perhaps the numerals distract me! In fact in the vintage version I think the subdial is a tad too low and too large in size vs the actual dial. But I acknowledge this sort of "high floating" subdial can be visually irksome - similar problems with many other watches that have upsized case/dials while keep the same 'old' subseconds movements. Of the high end brands, the Lange 1815 has the best proportioned dial, whether new or old, as they changed the calibre when they upsized the model.
Just goes to illustrate the difference between a dedicated upstart (at least in its modern incarnation) and a monolith who feels it to be OK to mail one in once in a while.
Mind you, if Patek had invested all their time and money in building an extra large Panerai sized hand-wound movement we'd be sitting here complaining about how terrible it is that Patek are focusing their R&D on oversized watches when thin and small is the traditional bread and butter of the brand. We're a very tough crowd to please when you think about it, the Cal 8500/9300 are frequently complained about for being too large and then Patek uses this movement and we complain its too small.
Good point, but then I doubt Patek would have Panerai'd themselves - just as Rolex in the quartz era, I think they'd stay the course - and they did! However, for a watch like this one, I think they could have gone with a center-seconds movement maybe, so as not to betray the movement's dimensions? Say what you will, and I feel emotionally neutral about this, but I think the era of <35mm watches selling in any volume is probably over... Patek should probably have developed a new movement for 36-39mm dress watches rather than fit a tiny sub-seconds movement into a 37mm case IMO. If it were Orient or Nomos or the like at their price point, no complaints. But Patek at $37k? I expect perfection.