The Best New Patek Philippe Watches From Watches & Wonders 2024

Patek is well known for its world timers — timepieces that display the time in various cities around the globe simultaneously and allow the user to easily track multiple zones. Launched at the Grand Exhibition “Watch Art” Tokyo 2023, the reference 5330 is typical of this tradition, and has now been updated with a notable feature — namely, a peripheral date indicator synched to local time and indicated using a glass hand with a red tip. (The translucent nature of the hand keeps from interfering with the busy dial, which is a thoughtful touch.) Powered by a new movement, the automatic Calibre 240 HU C with micro-rotor, the new 5330G-001 is cased in white gold and features a blue-grey opaline dial in a mesmerizing “cabochon” pattern, plus a 24-hour disc split between day and night zones as indicated by a gilt sun against a silver background and a gilt crescent moon against a blue-grey background, respectively. For ardent travelers and fans of Louis Cottier’s original world timer technology from the early 20th century, this piece is a total delight.

You may recall, from back in 2021, the launch of Patek’s reference 5236P. Based on a vintage pocket watch, this beautiful perpetual calendar features an in-line display beneath 12 o’clock with day, date, and month indications shown in a single row against a blue dial with a black-gradient rim. For 2024, this platinum-cased model has been revitalized with a new rose-gilt opaline dial that easily distinguishes it as one of the handsomest references in the maison’s entire catalog. Measuring 41.3mm wide and 11.07 mm tall, it boasts an extremely clean design with an outer railroad minute track, the aforementioned in-line display below 12 o’clock, a running seconds/moon phase display above 6 o’clock, a day/night indicator at 8 o’clock, and a leap year indicator at 4 o’clock. Powered by the brand’s ultra-thin, automatic 31-260 PS QL movement and paired to a hand-stitched, shiny chocolate brown alligator leather strap, it ships with interchangeable sapphire and solid casebacks and features a neat Easter egg: a diamond on the case flank at 6 o’clock, indicating its platinum construction.

In contrast to the more complicated fare for which the maison is particularly well known, the Golden Ellipse, launched in 1968, flies under the radar. Ultra-thin and shaped — surprise, surprise — like an ellipse, this product family originally shipped on either conventional leather straps, link bracelets, or beautiful chain bracelets in precious metals. The chain bracelets largely disappeared in the early 1980s, only to be revived this year for Watches & Wonders. The reference 5738/1R-001, a 34.5mm rose gold watch with a sleek, sunburst black dial and applied rose gold indices and hands, is paired to a matching, fully polished chain-style bracelet with over 300 individual links mounted by hand and finished with an engraved fold-over clasp. Easy to lengthen or shorten, this bracelet is the product of 15 years of R&D and is extremely comfortable on-wrist. The watch head, meanwhile, is powered by the ultra-thin Patek Philippe Calibre 240, an automatic movement.

One of the complications for which Patek is beloved by today’s collectors is the “travel time,” a type of traveler’s complication that displays another time zone via a dedicated hand and can be easily advanced by a set of pushers like those on a chronograph. Utilizing this system is the new reference 5164G-001 — the first white gold Aquanaut to do so. Measuring 40.8mm in diameter and just 10.2mm tall, its opaline blue-grey dial with embossed Aquanaut pattern and applied, white gold indices features two day/night indicators — one for home time and one for local — plus a date indicator above 6 o’clock. Powered by the automatic Calibre 6-330 S C FUS and paired to a composite blue-grey strap, it’s perfect for the frequent traveler who desires a high-end, elegant way to keep track of the time as he or she makes their way around the globe.