Patek Philippe 6300A, the Unique Steel Grandmaster Chime

Here it is… The multi-million watch, potential record-breaker as the most expensive watch to be auctioned by Only Watch – remember the 5208T from 2017 (sold for CHF 6,200,000) and the 5016A from 2015 (sold for CHF 7,300,000)? What you’re looking at here is a unique example of an extremely rare piece, Patek’s most complicated wristwatch ever, the Ref. 6300, direct descendant of the Grandmaster Chime, but with a stainless steel case and a salmon dial… All the ingredients for a frenzied auction! Meet the Patek Philippe 6300A for Only Watch 2019. 

We all know that Patek Philippe ALWAYS donates impressive pieces to Only Watch… Watches with Grande Complication stature like the tourbillon minute repeater perpetual calendar in steel, or the minute repeater chronograph perpetual calendar in titanium. For Only Watch 2019, Patek goes even further in exclusivity, by taking its most complex watch (ref. 6300G) in the collection – only a handful of these watches are produced a year and priced around USD 2.2 million in white gold – and creating a unique salmon dial/steel case model. With this mind, you can really expect collectors to go crazy… And in all fairness, the higher the price, the better it will be for the charity behind Only Watch.

The Patek Philippe 6300A is the direct descendant of the Grandmaster Chime presented for the brand’s 175th anniversary, yet with a slightly less baroque case. Functions and movement are, however, the same. The most complicated wristwatch ever created, it compiles no fewer than 20 complications, including a Grande Sonnerie, a Petite Sonnerie, a minute repeater, an alarm with time strike, an unprecedented date repeater, multiple time zones, multiple calendar indications and several indicators (crown, sonnerie, power reserve…) Needless to say, this is one hell of a complex watch.

The movement – named Calibre 300 GS AL 36-750 QIS FUS IRM (sorry for that…) – is, as you can imagine, extremely complex, built on four different layers and comprised of 1,366 parts. Despite packing complications and parts, it’s just 37mm in diameter and 10.7mm in height – which is, believe us, a veritable case study in miniaturization.

Considering the large number of indications, the Patek Philippe 6300A takes advantage of the reversible case introduced on the Grandmaster Chime, allowing to see the two faces of the watch. The case is quite massive, at 47.7mm in diameter, and its shape is quite baroque. Nevertheless, it is one of the most impressive modern watches we’ve seen.

So what’s new about this Only Watch 2019 version? The Patek Philippe 6300A, as the “A” in the reference indicates, is made of stainless steel and combined with unique dials. The main face – where the time is displayed – is an opaline salmon colour with a guilloché hobnail pattern in the centre. The hands, as well as the applied Breguet numerals, are blackened gold. The second side of the watch – dedicated to the perpetual calendar – is opaline black with gold hands.

The watch is worn on a black alligator strap with a steel fold-over clasp. Being a unique version of Patek’s most collectable and most complex modern watch, no doubt it will fetch a multi-million price…

Only Watch is a biennial fundraiser for research on muscular dystrophy –  Association Monégasque Contre les Myopathies (AMM). Organized under the patronage of HSH Albert II de Monaco, the watches of the 8th edition will be auctioned by Christie’s on Saturday 9 November 2019. More details at www.onlywatch.com.