Audemars Piguet Black Panther & 2021 Patek Philippe Watches
Watches Tonight with Tim Mosso
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38m
Tonight, Tim discusses the 2021 Patek Philippe Calatrava models and the controversial Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon. After a week of new Rolex and Patek Philippe Nautilus fixation, Tim is ready to talk about Patek Philippe dress watches and complications. Further, the polarizing fruits of Audemars Piguet's collaboration with Marvel Entertainment will be treated to an in-depth review. As Watches and Wonders 2021 draws to a close, Tim shares his thoughts and viewer wrist shots with our global audience.
No 2021 will prove to be more controversial than the AP Royal Oak Concept Black Panther Flying Tourbillon. This 42mm titanium tourbillon watch is a limited edition of 250 pieces, and its price is bold: $162,000. The flashpoint is Audemars Piguet's strident use of a hand-crafted miniature of T'Challa, the fictional King of Wakanda and current bearer of the Black Panther's mantle. Although hand-engraved from white gold and hand-painted, the presence of a literal comic book character on the dial of a luxury watch has driven objections and second guessing.
Recent "Marvel" themed watches from novelty manufacturers and Hong Kong-based Memorigin have, to an extent, poisoned the well of public perception. Watch buyers are inclined to view "superhero" watches as toys for kids or low priced baubles falling short of high luxury.
While Audemars Piguet artisans reportedly spend over 30 hours finishing the Black Panther figurine by hand, the very sight of a fictional character on a watch dial will lead many watch collectors to reject this experimental model. But AP knew as much before making this call, and CEO François-Henry Bennahmias likely is willing to bet that he can find at least 250 wealthy watch collectors who love this design enough to write a check.
Blank Panther character colors including jet black and purple pervade this Royal Oak, and that's likely to be one of the few non-controversial elements of this brash watch design.
Technically speaking, the Audemars Piguet Black Panther is standard high-end AP. A manual wind flying tourbillon caliber 2965 supplies three days of power reserve
The 2021 Patek Philippe watches are here, and most of them are not Nautilus models. Despite social media obsession with the Patek 5711, the brand from Geneva wisely has split its dress watch launch date from its sports watch rollout. The new Patek Philippe Calatrava line adds the 39mm Calatrava 5116G-001 and 5116R-001; each is a "hobnail" bezel Calatrava with a new manual-wind movement, the caliber 30-255. The 5116G includes a distinctive grey satin dial, and the 5116R includes satin silver metallic.
Step up to complications, and the new Patek Philippe 4947/1A-001 offers a compelling 38mm stainless steel package with a matching steel bracelet. This automatic winding annual calendar includes white gold Arabic numerals on a blue "shantung" texture similar to a linen dial.
Finally, the most complicated Patek Philippe watch of 2021 to date is the spectacular 5296P-001. This is a 41.3mm platinum perpetual calendar with an industry-first in line perpetual calendar aperture-style display. A vertically brushed satin blue dial is framed by a case whose lines draw directly upon the 5235G annual calendar and 3448 perpetual calendar before it. The caliber 31-260 PS QL is based on the movement originally created for the 5235G, and it offers handsome expanses of hand-finished bridges with a micro rotor winding system.
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