Little question regarding the 5960 and 5980

[FeelingTheBlues]

Greetings TRF,

For a long time I've had this question and I always kept it to myself because I thought I'd find the information elsewhere but, alas, I couldn't...

Could anybody please explain to me how the chronograph on the Patek Philippe 5960 and 5980 models works? From my observations I came to those two conclusions:

- There's no regular second hand on the watch, the big one is used for the chronograph complication.

- The bullseye subdial contains both the chronograph minute and hour register.

With those information, I'd like to know if the chronograph's minute hand has to do two complete turns before making the hour hand move. If so, how does one know if the hand is on its first turn or its second? As well, is it possible that the conclusions I came to are wrong?

That watch is quite incredible to admire but I always feel like I can't appreciate its view enough since I always have to ask myself those questions...

Here are some pictures to amuse you my friends, thank you for taking the time to read me!

[TimeOnHand]

In the sub dial you have two hands... The red hand reads elapsed minutes from 1-30 mins and then 30 - 60 mins on the second pass... The second sub hand reads elapsed hours.

The big seconds hand is generally used as a stop watch seconds hand. It also has a fly back feature and therefore can be left running full time to act as a regular seconds hand!

Hope this help.

[FremStar]

Carl, the 5960 is a freaking beautiful Patek reference! Kevin answered your question, however, I need to add a video!

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by TimeOnHand

In the sub dial you have two hands... The red hand reads elapsed minutes from 1-30 mins and then 30 - 60 mins on the second pass... The second sub hand reads elapsed hours.

The big seconds hand is generally used as a stop watch seconds hand. It also has a fly back feature and therefore can be left running full time to act as a regular seconds hand!

Hope this help.

It does indeed as it pretty much confirms what I was thinking (although I didn't know about the flyback feature, thank you for that information). Still, how can one know whether the small minute hand is at, say, 5 minutes or 35 minutes?

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by FremStar

Carl, the 5960 is a freaking beautiful Patek reference! Kevin answered your question, however, I need to add a video!

Beautiful piece indeed Sam, that chronograph is such a masterpiece!

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by FremStar

Carl, the 5960 is a freaking beautiful Patek reference! Kevin answered your question, however, I need to add a video!

Great reference, thanks for posting the video Sam.

[Richard.]

Originally Posted by FeelingTheBlues

It does indeed as it pretty much confirms what I was thinking (although I didn't know about the flyback feature, thank you for that information). Still, how can one know whether the small minute hand is at, say, 5 minutes or 35 minutes?

From the position of the chrono' hour hand.

[HL65]

What amazing references---just love the blue 5960P Carl!! And you got it--once you see in person it is very easy to understand.

[FeelingTheBlues]

Originally Posted by Richard.

From the position of the chrono' hour hand.

...Well, I honestly can't explain how dumb I feel right now!

I've always seen those dots as hour markers as well! I've never noticed (or rather understood) that the Arabic numerals were following each other instead of being only even numbers...

It all makes sense now thank you very much!

Originally Posted by SteelerFan65

What amazing references---just love the blue 5960P Carl!! And you got it--once you see in person it is very easy to understand.

Beautiful references indeed Ken! The 5960 is a very dressy watch despite its sporty complication and I can't get enough of your 5980R! Such a magnificent timepiece!

Very easy to understand indeed when you take the time to analyze it properly, may my clumsiness be useful to anybody who would have the same question and wouldn't dare, like I do, to feel so stupid!

[HL65]

Originally Posted by FeelingTheBlues

...Well, I honestly can't explain how dumb I feel right now!

I've always seen those dots as hour markers as well! I've never noticed (or rather understood) that the Arabic numerals were following each other instead of being only even numbers...

It all makes sense now thank you very much!



Beautiful references indeed Ken! The 5960 is a very dressy watch despite its sporty complication and I can't get enough of your 5980R! Such a magnificent timepiece!

Very easy to understand indeed when you take the time to analyze it properly, may my clumsiness be useful to anybody who would have the same question and wouldn't dare, like I do, to feel so stupid!

Thanks Carl!