The New Patek Philippe ref. 5200G – Gondolo 8 Days with Day & Date Indication

Patek Philippe just introduced a new reference in their collection, which might easily become a future classic. The new ref. 5200G (the G refers to its white gold case) is part of the Gondolo collection and features an 8-Days manually wound movement with a day and date indicator. Albeit ref. 5200G is an entirely new model, it shares some similarities with two other Gondolo models, both the ref.5124 and the legendary ref. 5100 10-Day Power Reserve Millennium Edition, nicknamed “Manta Ray.”

The Gondolo collection finds its inspiration in Art Deco and offers less common case shapes, like tonneau, rectangular, square and cushion shaped cases. Launched in 1993, this collection was named after the “Chronometro Gondolo” watches that Patek Philippe designed for the renowned Brazilian retailer Gondolo & Labouriau in the early 1900’s. Just look at the side of the new 5200G’s case and you’ll immediately recognize the Art Deco influences.

Its case design comes pretty close to the current Gondolo ref. 5124, which also features a reasonably large, masculine, rectangular case with the double-ridged sides. The case is slightly curved, so it fits the anatomy of the wrist. The white gold case measures 46.90 mm from lug to lug, 32.40 mm from left to right (without crown) and 10.40 mm in height. The watch comes on a hand-stitched alligator strap with large scales, either in shiny blue or matt black, with a 16-mm prong buckle in 18K white gold.

The other resemblance that we mentioned, is that the newly developed movement of ref. 5200G features bridges similar to those of the highly collectible ref. 5100 “Manta Ray,” which was introduced in the year 2000 to celebrate a new millennium. The ref. 5100 features a 10-Day manually wound movement, caliber 28-20 REC 10J PS IRM. The movement of the new ref. 5200 is caliber 28-20 REC 8J PS IRM C J, which is built on the same main plate and uses the same gear train. Ref. 5200G’s movement includes an additional day and date indicator, which cost roughly 2 days of the power reserve that ref. 5100’s movement had.

On the photo (above) you can see the four bridges of caliber 28-20 REC 10J PS IRM (yes, that’s the movement of ref. 5100 “Manta Ray.”) One large bridge covers the upper half of the movement, and three smaller bridges hold the gear train.

Ref. 5200’s caliber 28-20 REC 8J PS IRM C J (C stands for “Calendar,” meaning the date indication, and J stands for “Joure,” or in English, the Day indication) actually features just two bridges: the large bridge covering the entire upper half of the movement, and a second bridge, which has been milled to look like three bridges. This way the movement shows a visual resemblance to its ancestor, while the single bridge is more rigid and easier to service.

The new caliber 28-20 REC 8J PS IRM C J features the Spiromax balance spring and Pulsomax escapement and it is Patek’s first 4-hertz movement with these silicon-based materials. The Pulsomax escapement with a Silinvar lever and escape wheel requires no lubrication and yet is practically friction-free, which saves energy each time the lever contacts the escape wheel. And that is something that happens 5.53 million times during the eight days of power reserve. Additionally, the extremely hard, totally antimagnetic and corrosion-resistant Silinvar material is two-thirds lighter than steel, which further optimizes the energy balance. Depending on the angle, the balance spring, lever, and escape wheel can be recognized by their purple-to-bluish hue in the lower right corner of the rectangular movement, which beautifully fits the rectangular case.

The calendar mechanism is a so-called instantaneous calendar, meaning that both the day and the date change within three milliseconds at midnight. The calendar mechanism costs roughly two days of the initial 10 days power reserve. And even with the addition of the instantaneous calendar mechanism, the beautifully finished movement measures just 5.05 mm in height, just like the movement of the Ref. 5100.

An 8-Day power reserve indicator is placed at the upper half of the dial and the instantaneous day and date indications are positioned at the lower half of the dial. The small seconds hand is integrated into the date circle, which also includes an aperture for the day of the week.

The faceted white-gold hour markers are mirror-polished for the blue dial and blackened for the silvery opaline dial. The faceted Dauphine-style hour and minute hands in white gold are either mirror-polished or matt-blackened to match the hour markers. The date hand with the red tip and the hands for the subsidiary seconds and power-reserve indicator are finished in white lacquer to contrast against the blue dial, and blackened to contrast against the silvery white dial. Surrounding the dial (whether blue or opaline) is a white perimeter with a black railway-track minute scale.

Suggested retail price in Euro is € 44.800.- including tax/VAT.

Which one would you prefer? The blue dial ref. 5200G-001 or the white opaline dial ref. 5200G-010?

The photo of the ref. 5100’s movement is borrowed from Rolexforum member Mosco, who put his Patek ref. 5100R up for sale (a rare opportunity by the way!). Click here for the sales post.

For more info about the new ref. 5200G, please visit the Patek Philippe website (click here) or one of their retailers.