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INTRODUCING: The new Patek Philippe Twenty-4 ladies collection will create serious watch envy in men

Zach Blass

Times are changing and for the better. For the ladies’ watch category, the marketplace has traditionally taken the course of shrink it, pink it and bling it. We too often used to see watches utilising quartz movements, not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with quartz, but the assumption seemed to be that women were not interested in a mechanical option as well. The Patek Philippe Twenty-4 collection has greatly evolved since its introduction in 1999, introducing an automatic segment in 2018 to compliment the quartz configurations. Today, the Patek Philippe Twenty-4 welcomes three new references to the lineup, two of which are automatic and one watch in steel with an olive green sunburst dial that will likely make men wish the Twenty-4 collection was designed specially for them.

Patek Philippe Twenty-4 Automatic in steel & rose gold

The Patek Philippe Twenty-Four Automatic is, to an extent, like a smaller version of the Pilot Calatrava New York Exhibition Limited Edition but with a date aperture at 6 o’clock. It has a conventional circular case and a dial with applied Arabic numerals to designate each hour. The polished cases are 36mm in diameter and 10.15mm thick from the sapphire crystal of the dial to the sapphire crystal of the exhibition caseback. The watches have SuperLuminova® filled baton hands and hour numerals for increased visibility in darker settings, and both automatics have a depth rating of 30 metres. The new stainless-steel version features a sunburst olive green dial, a quite fitting colour choice with many predicting that green will become the watch colour of 2021.

There is also a new rose gold configuration paired with a new gilded rose gold sunburst dial. The bracelet, like the stainless-steel version, is entirely hand polished and features a butterfly clasp with Patek Philippe’s patented system with four independent catches providing optimised security when opening and closing by avoiding all accidental opening of one of the two halves of the bracelet. Consistent with other automatics within the Twenty-4 collection, the bezel is adorned with 160 brilliant-cut Top Wesselton Pure diamonds (~0.77 ct.) and is powered by the well known in-house caliber 324 SC.

The 324 SC is a popular movement throughout Patek Philippe watches, a standard time and date movement that has powered many legendary references in the catalogue. It has top tier hand-decoration applied to the bridges and solid gold oscillating winding rotor. The 28,800 vph movement has a Gyromax® balance, Spiromax® (in Silinvar®) hairspring, a maximum power reserve of 45 hours, and is adjusted in six position to meet the standards of the Patek Philippe Seal (-3/+2 seconds per day).

Patek Philippe Twenty-4 “Manchette” in rose gold

The Patek Philippe Twenty-4 “Manchette” is the more traditional form of the Twenty-4 watch, with a smaller rectangular case adorned with two vertical rows of 17 Top Wesselton Pure diamonds (total: 34 diamonds, ~0.57 ct) from lug-to-lug. What is new to the watch is this chocolate brown sunburst dial, a colour tone that pairs really well with the rose gold case. The applied hour indices and arabic numerals at ’12 and 6′ are filled SuperLuminova® as are the short baton hours and minutes hands.

Like the other two models above, the bracelet is entirely hand polished. But where it differs is the “Manchette” is powered by their E15 quartz movement that has a battery life of three years. According to Patek Philippe, “The mechanical components of the Patek Philippe caliber E15 quartz movement are crafted with the same devotion to fine workmanship as those of the mechanical movements.”

Women in this hobby are often dismayed when watches they like and wear are billed as “men’s watches”. The idea of gendered watches is slowly dying in certain respects and categories, but today Patek Philippe has flipped the switch – releasing a ladies’ watch I am positive that men would want to wear. In fact, all that would really cause most men to pause on pouncing on the Twenty-4 collection, particularly the automatics, are the diamond bezel found on the watch and the 30 metre depth rating. I mean come on, a classic 36mm diameter with colourful steel options on the table… it’s seriously tempting. There is now a black dial, a blue dial, and a gorgeous olive green dial to choose from in stainless steel. These additions leave the Patek Philippe Twenty-4 collection stronger than ever and set to continue to gain traction in the marketplace.