Hands-On The Patek Philippe Celestial Ref. 6105G (Plus Technical In-Depth)

While all eyes were on the Nautilus's 50th anniversary, I thought Patek Philippe had a very interesting Watches & Wonders, at least from the perspective of bold releases and brand strategy. Truthfully, they could have done just about anything with the Nautilus, and those lucky enough to get a watch would have been happy. The Celestial alone was a wristwatch with a complication only four other brands have created. But just take a look at the two watches above and the two below.

While I didn't get to see the ref. 7047G in person, it raised eyebrows for the very unusual blue tyre tread-style dial (à la ref. 6007G) and remarkably strong orange accents and luminous hands and dial placed on a minute repeater that retails north of $570,000. It was perhaps so aesthetically surprising that it distracted people from the fact that Patek was honouring its past with a Calatrava-cased minute repeater reminiscent of the unique ref. 3652 and ref. 541. And we love a good callback. The same goes for the new white gold ref. 5204, with a blue soleil dial and red accents. Now it has a tachymeter, which reminds one of several great 5004s and the first- and second-series 2499s.

But it's the colours, plus the blend of other choices and the vintage references, that suggest the releases weren't so much about pleasing the old guard who understood those references as about finding ways to reach younger potential buyers and bring them into the fold to understand those references. Sure, I'm reading the tea leaves here a bit—I'm not sitting around with Patek's President Thierry Stern kicking brand strategy back and forth—but based on hands-on experience with the new watches, I have a few thoughts about what Patek is up to and why. Yes, it was supposed to be a hands-on comparison, but for the time being, Cubitus remains waiting in the wings. Instead, we take to the stars.

In the rush to cover the anniversary Nautilus release, the Celestial ref. 6105G fell slightly to the bottom of our priorities during a late-night writing session at our Genevan estate (aka the press hotel we always stay at for Watches & Wonders). Still, I couldn't get it out of my mind. The watch was a flying saucer, itself the night's sky, and similar in many ways to the discontinued 6102 and current 6104, but with a rubber strap. And no, not a rubber strap like the Aquanaut, but a lugless, integrated bracelet version. Yet beyond the surprising look, it featured a sunrise and sunset display, a complication only done in rare instances in Patek pocket watches, never before in a wristwatch from the brand, and only achieved in a few wristwatches ever.

In fact, its lineage to the 1933 Henry Graves Supercomplication (the first Patek with sunrise/sunset), the Calibre 89, and the Star Calibre 2000 models grounds this watch firmly in heritage, even if it doesn't look like it. Even compared to the current Celestial offerings, the dial is very similar, with a clear sapphire crystal and white transfer-printed stars over a dark, smoked sapphire background layer that depicts a view of the sky in the Northern Hemisphere. The view is specifically over Geneva and all cities at the same latitude. That means if you're a Patek collector living near the Tri-Cities near Washington, D.C., or Sudbury, Ontario, this watch is for you (and for people in Milan, Portland, Oregon, New York, and many others where it's not far off).

Yes, there's a lot going on, but it's actually quite easy to understand after a quick primer. Larger, skeletonised hands show the hours and minutes, while two long, skinnier hands reach out to the sunrise and sunset track at the edge of the celestial disc. At the top, transfer-printed beneath the protective crystal, a circle highlighting the Celestial vault sits on another sapphire disc, which stays put while the sky beneath it rotates in step with sidereal time (celestial time). Unlike the aforementioned pocket watches, which hide any part of the sky, this shows everything for maximum impact. The dark sky is actually the moonphase disc, rotating with lunar time. A final T-shaped red hand points to the date on the periphery.

But actually, that's not all the peripheral date accomplishes. Looking back at the spiked scale for the sunrise/sunset complication, you can see how you'd read the respective times. By not putting the 1st of the month at the top, the sunrise/sunset now aligns with the correct hours, where the dates act as a 24-hour scale; the 4th to the 10th are 4:00 to 10:00, and the 16th to 22nd are 16:00 to 22:00. That display is also symmetrical across the middle of the watch. There's also a small red triangle that circles around the dial to indicate the annual index (not a calendar, so you need to use Patek's website to see how to set it). 

On the watch above, the time is 3:49 on the 6th of the month, with sunrise at about 5:50 am and sunset at 9:23 pm (as shown on the dial). If you look at the annual index triangle, it's near the 6 o'clock red indication, showing sunrise/sunset for June 6, which matches the times displayed.

Patek's instructions for setting the watch are pretty clear and worth a read, if you like. The crown at 2 o'clock can set the annual index, moon phase, and sky chart, while the lower crown is for the time. Correctors on the 9 o'clock side (from top to bottom) change for winter and summer time (daylight saving) and the date for the five short months of the year. 

For how busy it is, the watch seems more three-dimensional and dynamic than the 6102/6104. Yes, the sapphire crystal construction is similar, so tilting the watch at angles creates its own depth and reflections, but the unusual white gold case construction—especially the bezel—amplifies that depth. And yet, at 12.39mm thick, there's a lot going on under the hood to power all these mechanisms.

After talking a lot about the watch's functions, here's where I'd put a photograph of the movement and talk about its construction. But that's not possible with the 6105G. The automatic movement is hidden behind an unusually constructed solid caseback. A webbing-like structure reminds me of something we'd see in a watch like AP's supersonnerie, designed to keep the resonating watch off the wrist. As for the 6105G, my impression is that, in addition to removing heavy white gold from the very large case to reduce weight, it also mirrors the sporty treatment of the side of the watch.

That said, I'm going to lean on some assets from Patek's interesting video on the watch (available on its product page) to highlight a few cool achievements. First things first: the watch has a 47mm case, its calibre took more than five years to develop, and it has six pending patents. One of those patents was EP3740821B1, filed in 2019 by Marc Lemmonier and granted in 2022, but it didn't make it into a watch until seven years after filing.

The movement measures a decent 7.93mm thick, with 121 more components for the new complication, but only needs 1.12mm of vertical space. As you saw in the exploded diagram above, the base movement is relatively small, and a watch like the 6104 is only 44mm. The size increase comes from the lateral space needed for the sunrise/sunset mechanism. If you've read my story on the TAG Heuer Evergraph, the blade-spring mechanism here might look familiar. The piece below works on similar principles, using a compliant mechanism that stays under tension and flexes and deforms reliably to achieve different results. 

Nearly every example of this complication (only six, by my count), except one, uses a cam-and-lever system to convey the sunrise and sunset. Here, everything starts by taking power from the gear train and transmitting it to the sunrise/sunset mechanism through a patented eccentric finger piece (the above, furthest-right gear and the lower piece), which is also shown below, and slowly turning the annual index. Meanwhile, a step-down system also translates that power supply to two gears capped by program cams. The top cam for sunrise and the bottom cam for sunset both have 365.25 steps, showing the day in the solar cycle.

Another good example is the Krayon Everywhere and Krayon Anywhere, the third and fifth wristwatches with this complication. The cam is prominently displayed below the centre of the movement and consists of two stacked, opposing cams plus an adjustable programmer, the former two of which press on two spring-tensioned U-shaped racks. The top, most visible rack is the sunrise rack; hidden underneath is the sunset. The cam (in the Anywhere, here) is adjustable by the watchmaker to any latitude, changing the cam's overall size (smaller cams mean smaller changes through the year). 

This is why the 6105G is limited to a single latitude, though a new cam profile could theoretically be fitted for any latitude (and a new celestial vault for the Southern Hemisphere). Audemars Piguet did this with the first sunrise/sunset wristwatch, its "Equation of Time," and labelled the reference location on the dial or bezel.

The novel part of this system is the flexible spring/compliant mechanism. Patek hasn't said what it is made of, but it's a bistable part like TAG Heuer's nickel-phosphorus system in the Evergraph (snapping in and out of two formations), and it is meant to move slowly over the course of the year. The blade spring features two sets of four spring arms, each of which is parallel at rest. On each side, one set of arms is connected to an anchor point, then to a long, movable part, which is also connected via arms to a geared feeler. Given the blade spring size, you can see it would require more lateral space. 

The system is installed under tension—which is why the parts aren't parallel in the diagram—with pressure forcing the feeler tips into the program cams. As the gear train moves those cams, the feelers move forward and backward over the course of the year. The sunset feeler rides along a gear directly attached to the centre post tube that moves the sunset hand. The sunrise feeler has an intermediary gear for the vertical offset drop-down (since it can't mesh on the same level as the sunset gear). 

You can see those offsets above and how the sunrise feeler isn't perfectly vertically meshed with the intermediary gear. The photo below also shows how the blade spring is quite large in the movement but stays within a very tight tolerance of near-perfect two-dimensional movement; this is why the watch is wider than the 6102, but not much thicker.

By no means is this easy to execute, but it is impressive how simple and effective the system is. It is, essentially, a module on top of the existing Calibre 240 LU CL C, so that means it also has a Patek Philippe seal quality mark, Gyromax balance, and Spiromax balance spring. And while it's a lot of components (including those for the annual index and pusher system), it somehow seems remarkably simple. I know a few brands that like to use more parts for the sake of how impressive it looks and sounds—complexity can inherently feel like high horology—but simpler is almost always more reliable, as long as the idea is sound.

It's fun to get deep in the weeds on technical stuff sometimes, but a lot comes down to how something wears. The AP RD#5 was one of my favourite watches last year, partly because of its super-innovative horology, but also because it was technical in one of the most comfortable dimensions ever made. The 6105G is far from the thin Jumbo Royal Oak or—more aptly here—Nautilus. At 47mm by 12.39mm, it's the closest thing we have to a modern disco volante chronograph, though those go up to 55mm.

Simply put, it's the most wearable 46mm+ watch I can remember. Part of this comes from the slightly lighter case, carved out and sandblasted on the sides, plus the fact that so much of the case is empty space for the sunrise/sunset mechanism. Some more is because of the rubber strap, which shares a deployant strap type with the Aquanaut. But the 47mm measurement is deceiving for a lugless watch. Essentially, the lug-to-lug (if it existed) would be the same as an Omega Speedy Pro. Obviously, the dial size and width are far more imposing, and the flat caseback wears large, but the drop-off from the case down to the strap makes it wearable on my 7.25" wrist.

Another consideration, not necessarily how it fits but for the wearing experience, is that the watch only has a maximum of 48 hours of power reserve. This is one area where Patek struggles; the 240 C LU C base calibre from the 6102 is based on the original 240 microrotor calibre launched in 1977. The first 240 LU CL (without pointer date) came out in 2002. A lineage like this can feel admirable from an adaptability standpoint, but for a watch with a confusing display, those who might want to keep it set properly probably need a watch winder. That's not a big lift for an owner of a watch like this.

Beyond the size, the biggest hurdle for old-school collectors is probably just the form factor. I see that as the point entirely here. Call me crazy—friends have, when I said the following—but the watch immediately reminded me of the large Richard Mille RM032 and similar round watches from the brand (though that one is about 50mm, so even bigger). Carbon fibre and chronograph aside—okay, plus the RM's 300m water resistance compared to Patek's 30m—both convey that eye-catching flying saucer look. It feels like Patek is targeting a new generation of collectors who want a bold, futuristic watch but might find Richard Mille too extreme. Or maybe they have some kind of personal relationship with Patek, maybe from a parent who "never really owned a Patek Philippe," if you know what I mean. 

In this case, I am going to skip the comparisons, since I mentioned most of them (the Krayon Anywhere and the neo-vintage Audemars Piguet), and most can be had for significantly less than the A$683,450 of the 6105G. The Krayon Everywhere, on the other hand, lets the user change their reference location, but it retailed for over CHF 600,000 when it came out nine years ago. The complexity of these two is far from overlapping, however, and they accomplish different things. The more interesting question to me is: what does a watch like this mean for Patek?

I tackled part of this question above, but this is far from the first sign of things changing at Patek Philippe. The gem-set A$5,393,450 Aquanaut Luce minute repeater was so shocking that I think people quickly forgot it (though after wearing one, man, it's striking). The newest version of the 5316P was the complete opposite for me—the best of Patek Philippe's ability and history with a newly modern smoked sapphire dial. 

Maybe it's obvious, but so much about what Patek Philippe is doing today is quickly adapting to a market that's younger, bolder, and not always coming to Patek from a history-first perspective. But at the same time, they don't want or aren't comfortable with the flash of a Royal Oak or a Richard Mille. Patek Philippe has always leaned more toward "classic."

If all this digital ink spilt over a A$683,000 watch feels a bit ridiculous, I get it. The price is astronomical, no pun intended, but Patek is a profitable business, and when you see new and surprising things, even as (or maybe especially as) someone outside the client base, I think it's interesting to ask the whys. 

It's an old adage I've heard from Patek's clients and retailers: for years, their biggest competition was their own watches from a past era. I certainly liked the old era, the 3970s, 3940s, 2499s, etc. But those watches still exist, just on the secondary market. When a 3970 is still cheaper than its successor, the 5270, at retail, Patek can't battle its own (older) market. It has to go a new way. Sure, there will still be vintage callbacks like the ref. 6196. But whether it's bolder in design, bigger in size, or more complicated in its own way, I'd expect to see more of this from Patek Philippe in the coming years.

Back in a 2014 interview with Luxury Society, Patek's president Thierry Stern said the following:

"There is no way I can compete with big groups who have much more power than I do. Yes, I understand that. But I can compete in terms of quality. That's what really keeps me going, the power to be new. I will never fight about market share. I can't." He reiterated the same to Worth the next year. But retailers have told me that Patek continues to outperform expectations. Stern also said, in his 2022 interview with Hodinkee, that materials like carbon fibre and flashy technology don't impress him, nor does it feel like it will last. In that way, the 6105G is core Patek: classic, but now classic in a new way.

For more on the Patek Philippe Celestial ref. 6105G, visit the brand's website.