Cover Patek Philippe 5322G-010 launched at Watches and Wonders 2026 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 5322G-010 launched at Watches and Wonders 2026 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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Behind every well-executed milestone is everything else the brand made that year. Patek Philippe's everything else is worth your time
The Nautilus celebration is impeccably staged. The commemorative rotors are engraved, the blue dials are photographed, and the press materials have been distributed with Patek Philippe’s characteristic mixture of quiet luxury and self-satisfaction. Nobody is begrudging Gerald Genta’s icon its moment. But an anniversary, however well-executed, is also a very effective curtain—and behind this one, the watchmaker has released some of the most interesting work in its current collection. Five pieces, specifically, that reward a second look.
In case you missed it: Opinion: Rolex just launched a new Jubilee Gold bracelet at Watches and Wonders 2026 and we have a theory about what the brand is really doing
The watch with an entirely new movement—and it’s an alarm
Above Patek Philippe 5322G-010 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 5322G-010 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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The 5322G is the most underreported story of the week, and the reason is straightforward: Patek Philippe has developed a brand new calibre—the AL 30-660 S C—to house a 24-hour alarm function as a Grand Complication. Not adapted from an existing platform, not updated from a previous iteration, but engineered from scratch with a specific ergonomic argument in mind. The 24-hour display eliminates the ambiguity of setting an alarm on a 12-hour hand. The watch itself with a 41mm white gold case, green lacquered dial with a black-gradient rim, Arabic numerals and syringe hands in luminescent white gold and a single pusher at two o’clock carries the complication. That a new movement was built entirely to make an alarm function work properly should, in a more equitable media climate, be the headline of this week’s releases. The Nautilus, however, has other ideas.
See also: Opinion: Rolex just launched a new Jubilee Gold bracelet at Watches and Wonders 2026 and we have a theory about what the brand is really doing
The Golden Ellipse makes the case for thinness done right
Above Patek Philippe 5738G-001(Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Above Patek Philippe 3738/100G-014 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 5738G-001(Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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Two new Golden Ellipses arrive this year—31.1 x 35.6mm and 34.5 x 39.5mm—both finished in an olive green that is considerably better judged than it has any right to be. Running on the self-winding 240 calibre with its 22-karat gold mini-rotor, both references arrive at 5.9mm, making them the thinnest watches in the current Patek Philippe collection. In a year when ultra-thin watchmaking has become something of a competitive sport staged largely for press releases, these two are a useful reminder of what thinness is actually for. The Golden Ellipse’s proportions have always demanded it, and the 240 calibre—an emblematic Patek Philippe movement since 1977—has been delivering it long before the category became a conversation. The cream-stitched calfskin strap and white gold baton markers do the rest without fuss, and the decision to offer the same movement story across two case sizes suggests a level of consideration that rarely accompanies what is, on the surface, a colour update.
The Annual Calendar with something to say about fabric
Above Patek Philippe 4946G-001 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 4946G-001 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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The 4946G-001 wears a blue-grey dial finished with a double satin treatment—applied vertically and horizontally in combination—described in Patek Philippe’s materials as an homage to the texture of raw silk shantung. Shantung’s characteristic irregularity is produced by the uneven nature of its raw fibre, and the dial replicates that quality through directional brushing rather than a single uniform finish. Whether this reads as genuine material literacy or elaborate dial-finishing trivia will depend entirely on who is doing the looking, which is precisely the register at which watches at this level should operate. The sapphire crystal caseback offers a clear view of the self-winding 26-330 S QA LU calibre, giving the Annual Calendar mechanism—patented by Patek Philippe in 1996 and continuously refined since—the exposure it deserves. It is an understated watch in the best possible sense, meaning that its intelligence reveals itself only to those inclined to look for it.
In case you missed it: Watches and Wonders 2026: Top 6 highlights from Cartier
A minute repeater with orange accents and something to prove
Above Patek Philippe 7047G-001(Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 7047G-001(Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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The 7047G-001 is a ladies’ minute repeater housed in a 38mm white gold case with a navy blue dial distinguished by a centrally embossed sunburst carbon pattern, and it is wearing orange—on the seconds hand, on the triangle hour-markers and running through the stitching and lining of the navy blue composite strap. On a complication that has historically occupied the most conservative corner of horology, this is a minor but meaningful provocation. The self-winding R 27 PS calibre sits at just 5.05mm in depth, which keeps the case from announcing the complexity beneath it and allows the colour to carry the character instead. Patek Philippe is not, by temperament or tradition, a brand that reaches for the chromatic statement, and the fact that this one was permitted says something worth reflecting on. It suggests that Patek Philippe is slowly, carefully, expanding the idea of who a Grand Complication is actually for.
The first Patek Philippe Automaton wristwatch in living memory
Above Patek Philippe 5249R-001 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
Patek Philippe 5249R-001 (Photo: courtesy of Patek Philippe)
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The 5249R-001 is genuinely unlike anything Patek Philippe has presented in its contemporary history: an automaton wristwatch that indicates the hours and minutes on demand, animated by a scene drawn from La Fontaine’s 17th-century fable, The Crow and the Fox. The fox’s muzzle and paw indicate the time, the minutes hand terminates in a sliver of cheese, and the whole spectacle plays out on a 43mm rose gold Officer’s-style case over a “Matara” brown dial composed of an 18-karat gold plate. The new Calibre 31-260 PS HMD AU exists for no other purpose than to make a 350-year-old fable tell the time on your wrist, which is either watchmaking at its most indulgent or its most human depending on your disposition—and both readings are entirely correct without either diminishing the other.
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As the Regional Editor for Watches and Jewellery and Editorial Content Lead for Tatler GMT, Amrita Katara specialises in luxury watch and jewellery coverage across Asia, with expertise in editorial strategy, feature writing and interviews with industry leaders. Her past roles span luxury lifestyle media and client partnerships. Based in Mumbai, Amrita’s work bridges global trends and Asian market insights.
