1 October

The day in brief

Patek Philippe opens its seventh Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Milan tomorrow and has unveiled seven limited editions reserved for Italy, led by the 5978P, which pairs an instantaneous perpetual calendar with a chronograph whose minute counter also jumps instantly.

On the same day, the Geneva manufacture launched the Gondolo "Ladies First", a quartz ladies' family of six references. Moritz Grossmann dresses the Benu Power Reserve in steel and DLC-coated steel, Raymond Weil extends its 50th anniversary with the Millesime Jubilee and Mühle-Glashütte presents the Sportivo Power Dive. In Portugal, there were no significant watchmaking events during the period.

Patek Philippe brings the 5978P and six more Italian editions to Milan

The Watch Art Grand Exhibition opens on 2 October at CityOval, the former Palazzo delle Scintille in the CityLife district, and runs until 18 October, with free admission. It is the seventh edition of this touring exhibition, with around 500 pieces on show.

As usual, Patek Philippe pairs the exhibition with limited editions for the host market. The headline piece is the 5978P-010, a chronograph with instantaneous perpetual calendar in platinum, 42 mm in diameter and 14.45 mm thick. It is driven by the hand-wound calibre CH 29-535 PS QI, beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour, with a power reserve of 55 to 65 hours and the Patek Philippe Seal tolerance of -1 to +2 seconds per day. There are 120 pieces, sold only through Italian retailers, with price on request.

The technical interest lies in the word "instantaneous", used twice. In a classic perpetual calendar, the 24-hour wheel pushes the indications over several hours before midnight, and during that time the reading is ambiguous. Here, energy is stored through the day and released in one go: according to the brand, all indications change in around 30 milliseconds.

The difficulty lies in managing that energy. Going from 28 February to 1 March means advancing four days at once, far more work than an ordinary date change, and the mechanism has to do it without robbing the balance of amplitude. Patek solves this with a patented energy-equalisation system.

The chronograph's 30-minute counter also jumps: instead of creeping forward through each minute, it changes position in one step, which makes the reading unambiguous. A 22k gold counterweight damps the hand's recoil after the jump. It is a rare combination, and the model marks 85 years since the brand first combined a perpetual calendar and a chronograph.

The other six editions, also exclusive to Italian retailers, form a coherent set. Three 38 mm white gold Calatravas evoke the flag: the 7047G minute repeater with a red lacquered dial (5 pieces); the 7147G perpetual calendar in green, with Italian indications (100); and the 7007G in white, with hours, minutes, seconds and date (200).

The series is completed by a steel Aquanaut 5167A with a navy fumé dial (250) and two 5531G world time minute repeaters, whose cloisonné enamel dials depict a map of Milan by day and by night (5 of each).

Find out more on the brand's website.

Gondolo "Ladies First": Patek Philippe opens a quartz ladies' line

Also on 1 October, Patek Philippe presented the Gondolo "Ladies First", with the new reference 7043. The Gondolo collection, with rectangular, tonneau and cushion cases, takes its name from Gondolo & Labouriau, the Rio de Janeiro retailer that was one of the brand's major clients in the early 20th century.

The line debuts with six versions in a cushion case measuring 31 × 34.8 mm and 8.03 mm thick: white gold with a blue-grey opaline dial, rose gold with a chestnut dial and a two-tone version with a silvery dial, joined by three diamond-set versions with markers in blue topaz, tsavorite or amethyst.

All use the E15 quartz calibre, showing hours and minutes. Quartz, unusual at Patek outside its ladies' lines, favours slimness and autonomy in a watch designed for everyday wear. It is not a limited series and prices are on request.

Find out more on the brand's website.

Moritz Grossmann dresses the Benu Power Reserve in steel

The Glashütte manufacture released two versions of the Benu Power Reserve on 30 September, part of the series marking the 200th anniversary of Moritz Grossmann's birth on 27 March 1826. References MG-004123, in brushed steel, and MG-004124, in black DLC-coated steel, measure 41 mm in diameter and 11.65 mm thick, with an anthracite dial featuring an azuré outer ring, and 18 pieces each.

The hand-wound calibre 100.2 beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour and offers 42 hours of power reserve. It derives from the 100.1, adding a differential for the linear power-reserve display.

The differential is at the heart of this display. The hand has to reflect two things at once: what goes into the barrel when the watch is wound and what leaves it as the movement runs. The differential combines these two opposing motions and returns only the difference, the true state of the mainspring.

The house's own solutions remain: the pusher winding system, in which a pusher returns the crown to the winding position after the time is set, the Grossmann balance and the cantilevered balance cock with micrometer screw, engraved "1826". By swapping the usual gold for steel, the brand makes this architecture more understated, while keeping the Glashütte finishing.

Find out more on the brand's website.

Raymond Weil extends its 50th anniversary with the Millesime Jubilee

The Geneva brand, founded in 1976, presented the Millesime Jubilee on 29 September, the second piece of its 50th anniversary, six months after the Millesime "The Fifty". Ref. 7776-STC-65501 is a 39 mm steel automatic bi-compax chronograph with the RW5030 calibre, light blue dial, midnight-blue sub-dials, obelisk-shaped hands and sapphire caseback.

Where "The Fifty" had a neo-vintage character, the Jubilee takes that design into a contemporary format with automatic winding. It is limited to 500 pieces and sits in a more accessible price range than "The Fifty".

Find out more on the brand's website.

Mühle-Glashütte adds a power reserve to a 300-metre diver

Mühle-Glashütte today presented the Sportivo Power Dive, a steel dive watch measuring 42.5 mm in diameter and 12.5 mm thick, water-resistant to 300 metres. The unidirectional bezel has a ceramic insert with minute scale, the minute hand has an arrow tip and two-colour luminous material, and the dial shades from black to turquoise.

The Sellita-based automatic movement is modified by the brand and offers 41 hours of power reserve, displayed at 6 o'clock, with the date at 3. On a dive watch, a power-reserve display is above all practical: it lets the wearer check, before entering the water, whether the watch has enough wind after a few days unworn.

Find out more on the brand's website.

What deserves attention

The 5978P confirms Patek Philippe's commitment to instantaneous mechanisms, where the challenge is no longer making an indication jump but managing the energy without disturbing timekeeping. It is a technical direction worth following in the brand's next presentations, starting with the pieces on show in Milan until 18 October.

Anniversaries continue to shape the release calendar: Moritz Grossmann's 200 years and Raymond Weil's 50 are producing short series that refresh existing collections rather than introducing new calibres. On the industry side, the 2025 accounts of Rolex's UK subsidiary, reported by WatchPro, show revenue of £736.7 million (+5%) and operating profit down 10.4%, attributed to the pound's weakness against the Swiss franc.

In Portugal, Cabral Moncada Leilões is running online auction no. 1664, dedicated to watches, which closes on 5 October.