Patek Philippe made its biggest splashes at this year’s Baselworld with new variations on its sportiest watch models, the Nautilus and Aquanaut. On the dressier side, and not to be overlooked, the Genevan manufacture also unveiled two new versions of its Golden Ellipse, Patek’s second oldest existing model (behind the Calatrava), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse Ref. 5738R-001
Launched in 1968, the original Golden Ellipse demanded attention with its quirky elliptical case, a hybrid of an oval and a rectangle, whose proportions, Patek says, were influenced by the so-called “golden section” discovered by ancient Greek mathematicians and whose “divine” proportions inspired numerous artistic and architectural masterpieces throughout the centuries. That first model, with a shimmering blue-and-gold dial and a manually wound movement, eventually begat an entire collection of Golden Ellipses that by the late 1970s encompassed 65 different references, including a Nautilus version and several high-jewelry models for ladies. The collection’s first self-winding movements began appearing in 1977, with the debut of the ultra-thin, micro-rotor Caliber 240. Patek has unveiled two new Golden Ellipse timepieces, one limited, the other part of the regular collection, to mark this historical watch’s semicentennial. One model (Ref. 5738/50P-001, limited to 100 pieces) comes in a 34.5 mm x 39.5 mm plati...