PATEK PHILIPPE, REF. 5101R, A FINE RECTANGULAR GOLD MANUAL-WINDING TOURBILLON WRISTWATCH WITH 10-DAY POWER RESERVE

CASE NUMBER: 4'508'549, MOVEMENT NUMBER: 5’250’090

Details

CIRCA: 2010
CASE MATERIAL: 18k pink gold
DIMENSIONS: 51.5 mm. x 30 mm.
STRAP MATERIAL: Brown leather strap
DIAL: Grey dial with applied Breguet numerals, silvered sub-dials indicating power reserve at 12 o’ clock and running seconds at 6 o’ clock
MOVEMENT: Cal. TO 28-20 REC 10J PS, manual-winding, tourbillon escapement, 29 jewels
FUNCTIONS: Time, power reserve
BUCKLE: 18k pink gold buckle
WITH: Leather folio with Patek Philippe Seal certificated dated December 15, 2010; product literature, leather folder, presentation box and outer packaging


Lot Essay

Reference 5101 is the first timepiece that combines two complications which are very difficult to accommodate in the confined space of a rectangular movement: two tandem mainspring barrels with 240 hours of energy storage capacity and a tourbillon precision regulator composed of 72 individual parts.
Characteristic for Patek Philippe, hardly any signs on the outside of the piece would reveal the complexity of its inner workings. Understated elegance has always been a hallmark of Patek Philippe but the tourbillon cage is in fact concealed for a very practical reason - the oil used to lubricate the mechanism is sensitive to ultraviolet rays and will decompose when exposed to daylight, thus losing its beneficial tribological properties. Extremely stringent standards are imposed on all Patek Philippe movements and even more so on tourbillon pieces.