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Sitting just to my right, on a shelf near my desk, I have a clock. It’s baby blue, shaped like a 1950s retro-futuristic robot, and was given to me by the ‘Tooth Fairy’ the first time I lost a tooth. While subsequent teeth were never rewarded with anything comparable — the going rate in my house was a $1 Sacagawea coin — that blue robot triggered something in me, and I’ve had a bit of a thing for clocks every since.
At this point, it’s been probably twenty years since I’ve kept my blue robot clock running. These days, the closest I get to a desk clock is probably my iPhone, which sits on a charging dock in Standby mode whenever I’m at my desk. Still, clocks have remained a fascination of mine, and I’m always here for a great new clock, especially when it’s as over-the-top and, frankly, ridiculous as the latest desk clock from Patek Philippe.
The Patek Philippe Complicated Desk Clock ref. 27000M-001 is everything it says it is — that being a desk clock, and complicated. It’s also very expensive, with a sticker price sitting north of $1 million — which makes the Complicated Desk Clock more of an interesting thought exercise than a practical consideration, though considering that a very similar (albeit less green) clock hammered for $9.5 million as Patek Philippe’s submission for OnlyWatch 2021, $1.2-ish million is a comparative steal. Still, since I saw this thing pop up a few days ago, I’ve had a hard time getting it out of my head, exorbitant price be damned.
The 27000M-001, which (per Patek) is inspired by a pair of desk clocks produced for American Collectors James Ward Packard and Henry Graves Jr. in the 1920s, is rife with complication and ornate detail. The key-wound clock, whose footprint measures about 6.5” by 5” and is about 3” tall, is equipped with the 912-piece caliber 86-135 PEND S IRM Q SE, an updated version of the movement found in the 2021 Only Watch clock, and offers a perpetual calendar that includes both moon phase and week of the year displays. To make sure you don’t need to worry about winding the watch too often, it also boasts a massive 31-day power reserve, which is displayed by a small hand at the center of the dial.
All of this is cased in a sterling silver cabinet, embellished with vibrant green guilloché Grand Feu Enamel and vermeil detailing. Again, the new clock here owes a debt to the Only Watch version, sporting a nearly identical layout and similar details as the earlier offering, though obviously substituting a lot of the wood details in favor of Grand Feu Enamel. The cabinet is humidity and dust-resistant, so should hold up on your desk, but is explicitly not water-resistant — so no diving with your perpetual calendar desk clock. To wind, set, or correct the clock, the cabinet opens up like a book, revealing wooden inlays, a floral silver key with vermeil details, and a set of five oversized pushers to advance the individual calendar functions.
Aesthetically, the new clock has a decidedly Versailles-ian appeal, and obviously won’t fit in with most contemporary desk set-ups. But the 27000M-001 has a certain over-the-top charm, and it makes a world of sense that Patek would want to bring what was an enormously successful Only Watch entrant into their catalog in a more permanent way. It’s also an interesting counterpoint to what will likely be considered their biggest success of the fair, their new ref. 6196P Calatrava.
I’ll admit that, in the last few years, my relationship (however you define that) with Patek Philippe has ebbed. Like a lot of people (Zach Kazan included), the launch of the Cubitus a few months ago — and the brand’s messaging in the days after — left a sour taste in my mouth and I’ve had trouble escaping the sense that Patek Philippe, and the Stern family, have found themselves out of step with the modern collector. I don’t necessarily mean that from a product standpoint (Cubitus aside, Patek has released plenty of watches I adore in recent years), but certainly from an identity one.
To try and understand Patek Phillipe is an exercise in duality. It’s a brand that is, at once, central to the world of everyday watch enthusiasm, and entirely removed from it. It’s a brand equally as well known for its simplest watches as its most complex, and one which seems to seek adoration in the same breath as it rejects the demands that status creates. Pieces like this absurd clock are a great reminder of what I do love about Patek, and what brands like Patek can do when they ease off the brakes. Obviously, this won’t be a clock that ends up on many desks, but the fact that it exists at all is, in my book, pretty cool. Patek Philippe
