The Patek Philippe Gondolo
Gondolo & Labouriau: a legendary name
On the 12th of November 1872, Patek Philippe shipped a pocket watch to Gondolo & Labouriau in Rio de Janeiro. This marked the beginning of a lasting business relationship. In 1902, it culminated in a watch collection that Patek Philippe had designed explicitly for its Brazilian retailer: thus, the Chronometro Gondolo was born. In turn, Gondolo & Labouriau devised a totally new sales strategy especially for this watch collection. Since the sales price of 790 Swiss francs was roughly equivalent to what a qualified worker in Brazil earned in an entire year, customers were offered an attractive payment scheme: 10 francs a week for a maximum of 79 weeks and admission to an exclusive club with 180 members that operated the Plano do Club Patek Philippe System. Clubs like these were considered private societies and did not fall under the ban on public gambling. Indeed, the Plano do Club Patek Philippe System was a lottery in which one Chronometro Gondolo was the prize in each of 79 consecutive weekly drawings. The first winner received his watch for free, while the winners of the 78 subsequent drawings had to pay an amount between 10 and 780 francs for their watches. The remaining 101 members had no alternative but to pay the full price.
The first Chronometro Gondolo wristwatches – in square, rectangular and tonneau styles, and also in a cushion-shaped carré cambré version – appeared around 1910. For this reason, all current Patek Philippe form watches – models whose cases are not circular – belong to the so-called Gondolo collection. In the second half of the Roaring Twenties, the global business mood began to chill and the last Chronometro Gondolo watch was delivered to Rio de Janeiro in 1927. Now, after a hiatus of 80 years, the collection is experiencing a spectacular comeback.
For 2010, Patek Philippe offers three extremely interesting models of Patek Philippe Gondolo timepieces. The Patek Philippe Gondolo Ref. 5098 and the Patek Philippe Gondolo Ref. 5124. Both models personify the very essence of art deco styling. The Gondolo Ref. 5098 comes in both platinum or rose gold. The Gondolo Ref. 5124 is available in 18Kt. yelloe or white gold. Both watches feature the Caliber 25-21 mechanically manually wound movemennt which can be viewed trough a sapphire crystal exhibition back. For the ladies, Patek Philippe offers the Patek Philippe Gondolo Serenta. serenta is Italian and means “Evening” and justifiedly so. The watch has been chosen to communicate the precious and elegant evening style of the intricate cambered shape of the case. The cambered dial is cut from a thick mother of pearl plate and is decorated with an elegant guilloché pattern. The integrated shape of the strap has been designed to follow the cambered case perfectly and to offer elegance and comfort on a soft ladies’ wrist. The 18Kt white gold Patek Philippe Gondolo Serenta comes on either a strap or bracelet.
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