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The first American owner of the # 5002, a collector with over 100 Patek watches, had it wound every day, knowing full well that if the watch stopped, the task of resetting 12 individual complications would be both tedious and time consuming. But what about travel? The watch is normally kept in his safe, only he and his wife have the combination, not something to share with their household staff. The owner contacted Patek Philippe to obtain a winder only to learn that no manual winder was available from PP. However, he was told that that many PP watch owners, having the same need to keep their hand wound Perpetual Calendar watches running, already were using ORBITA's Sempre winder for hand-wound watches. The patented Sempre winder had previously been tested by Patek Philippe and found to be quite suitable. However, the # 5002 watch was new, unexplored territory. Unlike other complicated hand wound Patek watches being wound by the Sempre winder, the PP # 5002 has it's winding crown positioned at the 4 o'clock position, not 3 o'clock. Patek management did not think Orbita's Sempre could do the job given the unusual crown location. However, the owner was not
satisfied with that answer. Himself a successful entrepreneur, he decided to take matters into
his own hands. He contacted Orbita directly and explained the
problem. He challenged Orbita to resolve his dilemma. |
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Introduced
in 2002, Patek Philippe's super complicated Sky Moon Tourbillon # 5002 was
built on the foundation of the millennium year's incredible Star Caliber pocket watch.
Demonstrating the commitment of Patek Phillipe to advancing the technical art of watch making,
and priced at around $800,000, the Sky Moon Tourbillon was named by Robb
Report Magazine as the "Best of the Best Watches 2002". It is
certainly the world's most expensive wristwatch.
"No
problem, we can do it" was the reply from Chuck Agnoff, Orbita's president
and engineering "guru". He immediately began to design a special mount that
would accommodate the massive # 5002 case (see sketch). Based on the #
5002 watch dimensions
supplied by the owner, he first built a wooden replica of the
watch to test the fit and mounting position. He sent the modified
mount to the owner to be sure the # 5002 would fit correctly. On
the first try, some small changes were required on the special mount, but soon the modified Sempre winder
was shipped from the factory and operated perfectly.It is now keeping the
owner's Sky Moon Tourbillon fully wound every day, without any need for
hand winding .Problem solved!