This episode traces the extraordinary heritage of the Gondolo; from its Brazilian origins in the late 1800s right through to today’s Art Deco-inspired collection.
The men’s and ladies Gondolo collections of today reflect the diverse shapes from that time in the Manufacture’s history.
Collection Gondolo
The Gondolo collection was named after the famous retailer in Rio de Janeiro, Gondolo & Labouriau, with whom Patek Philippe enjoyed a strong and successful business relationship between 1872 and 1927.
This bond resulted in the creation of timepieces - designed exclusively for the Brazilian retailer - named the “Chronometro Gondolo”. The collection initially consisted only of pocket watches, before the first wristwatches appeared in the 1920s.
At a time when Europe struggled with lean years and faced a World War, it was Gondolo & Labouriau alone who retailed close to a third of the entire production of Patek Philippe watches.
Sales were so spectacular that in Brazil, 'Patek' even became a substitute for the noun 'watch'; instead of buying a watch, you bought a Patek - even if it wasn’t a Patek Philippe at all.
The Chronometro Gondolo pocket watches displayed the hours, minutes and seconds and sometimes featured 24-hour dials, or chronograph functions.
Over time, they were made in nine different sizes (expressed in 10 to 22 lignes) and, at first, were at their most remarkable owing to their simplicity and lack of pretention.
In celebration of the enduring relationship between Patek Philippe and Gondolo & Labouriau, F. Santini’s 'Patek waltz’ (from circa 1912) was played at the Gondolo Gang club festivities.
Of all the technical features required for a movement to officially be a 'Chronometro Gondolo', it was the gear-train of 9-carat gold that was the most distinctive.
Second to this was the requirement to have an 'ébauche' (movement-blank), which was based on a drawing by Jean-Adrien Philippe (1815-1894) patended in the United States on 13 January, 1891.
The Chronometro Gondolo wristwatches were more exuberant than the Chronometro Gondolo pocket watches.
This was particularly the case during the Jazz Age, when their cases could be round, square, rectangular, tonneau-shaped or even 'Carré Cambré', which were cushion-shaped.
Some of the historic Chronometro Gondolo pocket watches and early 1920s wristwatches – representing such an integral aspect of the Manufacture’s heritage - can be admired and appreciated in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
The Ladies Gondolo model served as inspiration for the Twenty~4 collection, the latter being a contemporary interpretation of the former.
This is particularly evident with the Gondolo watches Ref. 4824 and Ref. 4825 from 1993, whose design undoubtedly inspired and influenced the first Twenty~4 collection, launched in 1999.
The Ref. 7099G Gondolo Haute Joaillerie features a hand-guilloched gold dial set with 367 diamonds, a cambered sapphire-crystal case back and the manual winding Caliber 25‑21 REC. It was inspired by the 1921 yellow gold Chronometro Gondolo tonneau-shaped model.
The Classic Gondolo Ref. 7041R small seconds and the Ref. 7042 Gondolo Haute Joaillerie both feature a manual-winding caliber and a cushion-shaped case.
The Ref. 7042 is fully gem-set from the bezel to the bracelet, while the Ref. 7041 has a classic Art Deco aesthetic.
Both are inspired by the Ref. 176 209, from 1923.
One of the most distinctive features of the Ref. 4972G Gondolo Serata is its guilloched mother-of-pearl dial.
The name "Serata" (meaning "Evening" in Italian) communicates that, first and foremost, the timepiece is an elegant ladies' evening watch.
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