EXPLOSIVE STUFF

It is not often that one of my books starts a war, but if you believe Hodinkee, the widely followed horological website, my Authorized Biography of Patek Philippe caused something of a stir among collectors of the hallowed watch marque: “The book may have, in fact, dropped the equivalent of an atom bomb on the vintage Patek market — does a 1518 in platinum exist??”

This rhetorical question was quickly answered. “According to this book, it does. On page 465, within what is a lengthy, 26- page reference table of all watches made in the modern era, including year of introduction, calibre, and metal types, we see what is hard-to-argue-with proof that in fact a 1518 — the world’s first perpetual calendar chronograph made in series — was not only made in ‘mixed metals’, as we already believed… but also in platinum.”

I leave it to you to decide how atomic this news is, and to calculate its megaton yield. But what it does show is that Patek inspires