Review: In With the New – The Patek Philippe Chronograph Ref. 5172G

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Patek Philippe Chronograph Ref 5172G

For the longest of time, we thought of the Ref 5170 as Patek Philippe’s resident dress chronograph, and looked at the Ref.

5070 with nostalgia It was the new guard vs the old guard.

Well now the new guard becomes the old guard, as Geneva’s most prestigious watch manufacturer introduces its new flagship dress chronograph and, effectively, retires the Ref 5170 As a new era dawns, we bring you the details and our thoughts on the Patek Philippe Chronograph Ref.

5172G.

The Case, Dial, and Hands

Remember the Ref 5070? It’s got a tanky case with a wide bezel Patek Philippe wanted to capture the world’s attention when it re-introduced the dress chronograph back in 1998 – and capture the world’s attention it did, with an oversized watch (for Patek standards anyway).

Then, perhaps in attempt to compensate, the much more reserved Ref 5170 came along in 2010 The Ref.

5170 is a pure dress chronograph in both dimension and design The watch is truly elegant, though some felt that it is too textbook and conservative

With the retirement of the Ref.

5170, it seems Patek Philippe may have found the Goldilocks Zone for its new household chronograph piece The Ref 5172G, crafted in white gold, sits between the Ref.

5170 and Ref 5070 in case dimensions It measures a diplomatic 41 mm in diameter and 1145 mm in thickness.

While we much prefer the 39.4 mm size of the Ref 5170, the 41 mm diameter of the Ref 5172G will likely please more people while still maintaining a sense of dressiness.

Of lines and edges The case of the Ref 5172G is highly nuanced.

The sapphire crystal is also raised, giving the watch a vintage look.

Even the approach to the case design has been balanced out Now, it is neither prudish nor provocative If the case design looks familiar to you, it is probably because the Ref.

5172G uses the same casing as the Ref 5230G (sans pushers) It features a stepped bezel and double-stepped lugs – certainly one of Patek Philippe’s more nuanced cases.

Instead of the rectangular pushers of its predecessors, the Ref 5172G has vintage-inspired pump pushers

The dial of the Ref.

5172G can be largely described as ‘vintage-casual’ It’s not just the lumed Arabic numeral markers and syringe hands but also the typography used for the tachymetre scale A blue dial – which seems to be in-trend this year – is appropriately utilised to ensure that the watch does not look anachronistic.

The overall layout of the chronograph displays remain identical to that of the Ref 5170 Needless to say, the watch is perfectly legible, which is extra important for a chronograph

The use of Arabic numerals in the Ref.

5172 is reminiscent of the old Ref 5070.

It’s pretty obvious that the folks at Patek Philippe have opted for a bit more fun and whimsy with the Ref 5172G.

The watch is even paired with a blue calfskin strap with off-colour seams, instead []

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