To mark the birth of its new Cubitus collection, Patek Philippe is unveiling a completely new model with innovative displays combining a large-format instantaneous date, instantaneous moon phases, and day of the week. Endowed with a new movement for which six patent applications have been filed, the Cubitus Instantaneous Grand Date, Day and Moon Phases Reference 5822P-001 also stands out by its striking square-shaped platinum case with rounded corners
An exclusive design, the watch features a blue sunburst dial with horizontal relief embossing and is presented on a navy-blue strap in a composite material, embossed with a fabric motif. The launch of a new Patek Philippe collection is a milestone in the company’s history and a cause for celebration. And the best way to honour it is by presenting it together with a new, exclusive complicated movement. To accompany the casual chic of the Cubitus design, the manufacture chose to highlight the “grand date” function, distinguished both by its legibility and its assertive air.
Useful in everyday life, the large-format date – in its double aperture – is also ideally suited to the bold geometry of the Cubitus case and dial. But the development of an all-new movement uniting this function with moon phases and a day indicator called for the design of a completely new large-date mechanism so as to unite technical complexity with outstanding simplicity, practicality and safety.
In order to ensure that the slenderness of the movement can be combined with the timeless elegance of the case, Patek Philippe’s engineers decided to take as their base the acclaimed calibre 240 ultra-thin self-winding movement with a 22K gold off-centre mini-rotor. The new calibre 240 PS CI J LU self-winding movement – with 353 parts – is a perfect blend of tradition and innovation. Despite the addition of 104 more parts compared with the calibre 240 PS IRM C LU, the height of the movement has increased by only 0.77 mm to 4.76 mm. The base movement has been reworked by endowing it with an instantaneous-jump calendar mechanism for the display of a grand-date indication in a double aperture.
To avoid any time lag between the different displays, Patek Philippe developed an instantaneous-jump mechanism, not only for the grand date but for the day and moon-phase indications. A large lever, the “main lever” driven by the 24-hour wheel controls all these changes. Every night at midnight, all these displays jump instantaneously and simultaneously in 18 milliseconds, using the energy accumulated throughout the day.
To endow this timepiece with the sleekest and most elegant system possible for displaying the grand date, Patek Philippe’s engineers designed a calibre featuring coplanar discs – discs positioned exactly on the same plane. As the display of the grand date by means of two coplanar discs consumes copious energy, it was necessary to accumulate enough power to drive these two very large discs and have them jump instantly as well as the day and moon-phase indications. It was also important to ensure that the mechanism distributes this energy exactly according to the three different types of jump of the grand-date indication occurring over time.
To meet all these challenges, Patek Philippe’s engineers developed new technical solutions leading them to file six specific patent applications. In particular these innovations guarantee: perfect alignment of the grand-date numerals at all times in the two apertures; absence of any double jump of the tens during the change of the date from 31 to 01 or in the event of a shock; and the possibility of correcting all the indications – including the time and the day – at any hour of the day without risk of damaging the movement or disturbing the correct display of the information.
The timepiece presents a blue dial embellished with a sunburst motif and horizontal relief embossing. The grand date appears in a double aperture at 12 o’clock in an embossed bevelled frame. The coaxial day and moon-phase indications at 7 o’clock and the asymmetric small seconds at 4:30 stand out in white on the blue ground. Legibility is further ensured by applied baton-style hour markers and rounded baton-style hour and minute hands, all in white gold with a luminescent coating that is white by day and glows green in the dark.
The new Cubitus case in platinum is a two-part construction with lateral attachments, distinguished by its 45mm diameter and its elegant 9.6 mm profile. Its characteristic design, a square with rounded corners, gains additional impact from contrasting finishes – vertical satin-brushed on the flat of the bezel and the front of the case, and polished on the bevelled sides of the bezel and the case flanks.
Like all Patek Philippe’s platinum models, the new Reference 5822P-001 has a diamond – a baguette cut for the first time – set into the bezel at 6 o’clock. The transparent case back in sapphire crystal affords a private view of the new calibre 240 PS CI J LU movement, with its 22K gold off-centre mini-rotor adorned with the same pattern of horizontal lines as the dial. Patek Philippe also offers new Cubitus cufflinks in the collection.
