Pocket Watches

Patek Philippe still makes pocket watches, in two classic case styles. The Lépine is open-faced, with the crown at 12 o'clock. The Savonnette, or hunter, has a hinged cover attached at 9 o'clock that closes over the dial and crystal, and puts the crown at 3 o'clock. Patek Philippe says its pocket watches run on manually wound movements with bridges decorated with Geneva stripes, made to the directives of the Patek Philippe Seal.

Many of the Lépines are canvases for what Patek Philippe calls Rare Handcrafts, the decorative crafts it works to keep alive, and the brand says such pieces are often one of a kind. Each takes its name from the scene on its dial: the Japanese Crane (982/143G) and Winter Owl (982/146G), Mount Rushmore (995/109G), View of Geneva (992/152G), Manhattan-Brooklyn (993/101G), all unique pieces. The 982 series adds a power reserve display, and these decorated Lépines measure 42 to 44.1 mm. The plainer 973J-001 and the power reserve 972/1J-010 are 44 mm and 7.77 mm thick with white dials. The letter in the reference gives the gold: G for white, J for yellow, R for rose.

The Savonnettes are bigger, at 48 mm and 9.9 mm thick, with silver or white dials. The 980 comes in all three golds; the yellow gold 983J adds what Patek Philippe describes as a power reserve indicator and a seconds subdial.

Panerai's pocket watches go larger still. The Pocket Watch 3 Days comes in white gold (PAM00529) and red gold (PAM00447) at 50 mm, each limited to 50 pieces, and the Pocket Watch Tourbillon GMT Ceramica (PAM00446) puts a skeleton dial in a 59 mm ceramic case, also 50 pieces. The 52 mm steel Travel Alarm Clock (PAM00173) is, as its name says, a travel clock rather than a pocket watch.