This personalization was ordered by a customer, who owns a Patek Philippe Aquanaut ref. 5167A and wanted something different and special for his private use. Their client decided to request the Artisans de Genève services to have his watch personalized and look just like Lake Caumasee from the air. He wanted to feel the emotion he felt when flying over the lake in his hot air balloon. Lake Caumasee is a lake near Flims, in the Grisons, Switzerland. Artisans de Genève is an independent company specializing in the personalization of timepieces. They are not affiliated with Patek Philippe SA nor authorized by them to intervene in their products for any reason whatsoever.

“I have been flying in a hot air balloon for years. I love the feeling this experience provides, literally floating and dancing in the air. Discovering the landscape at my fingertips is very gratifying since I am the one to play with the air using gravity. I often like to say I am a craftsman of the wind. A place I adore to see from the sky is Lake Caumasee. I am a watch collector and on one of my flights, I wore one of my Patek Philippe watches. I vividly remember this special flight because of the emotion submerging me when seeing the sun shine reflecting and playing with the woods ,the lake and the sky. I was alone in the world. Looking at my watch the Aquanaut brought me back to reality time was passing, the wind changing and I had to return.”

Mr. S&J

Lake Caumasee, Swtizerland. Photo by Tommy Krombacher from Unsplash.

For this ‘Caumasee’ project, their client had deep down a unique emotion partly because of his imperfect recollection of the colors morphing as the light was dimming during his flight over the lake. Hours were dedicated to mixing and choosing colors he had in his mind and heart; his choices were royal ebony combining rose gold hues enhanced by a delicate almond blue. A unique palette of colors, reminiscent of autumnal flight over the Caumasee lake.

Therefore, Artisans de Genève had to rework the Patek Philippe calibre 324 powering the Aquanaut ref. 5167A by skeletonizing it, anthracite coating it, hammering the baseplate, and skeletonizing the oscillating weight. Meanwhile, the dial was open-worked and circular-grained, and the outer flange with the minute track was PVD coated in a royal ebony color.

For this particular project, Artisans de Genève used a myriad of artisans. Their mission was to express the feelings of their client when feeling a beam of light on a landscape. First, they hand-polished and circular-grained each piece of the 324 caliber to bring light and shine to the movement.

The plate embodies the dazzling blue of Lake Caumasee and its changing colors. The hammering by hand, a time-consuming exercise requires a rare know-how, and inspired by galuchat leather —sharkskin or stingray skin— it gives a unique depth to the plate. Each strike requires constant pressure and a specific touch enhancing the brilliance and strength of the yellow gold with the softness of the almond blue.

Artisans de Genève was looking for an inset grain that would bring roughness and light, to evoke the region’s curves. The challenge lay in regular hand-hammering, which had to keep the plate’s extreme thinness from distorting. With this technique, each strike requires constant pressure and a special touch, unique to each craftsman.

The dial was entirely circular-grained by hand to match the case finish. A PVD brown treatment was specifically developed for our client to match the colors of the Grisons Valley as closely as possible.

Additionally, each bridge was circular-grained except the balance bridge to create contrast with the beveled angle and to enhance the finishing of the 324 caliber. The barrel and balance bridge are first polished and then rounded off over hours to create a round-shaped angle with a file and buff, painstaking know-how mastered by only a few artisans. The balance bridge was skeletonized, the piece was then beveled and rounded off by hand to give a round shape to the angle.

The last finishing touch involved the 21K gold rotor that was skeletonized with a special hacksaw, then chamfered and circular-grained by hand to bring contrast and depth to the openwork movement. In all honesty, the customization of the oscillating weight is much nicer than the stock oscillating weight by Patek Philippe on this calibre.

To complete this project, the Artisans de Genève 'Caumasee' Patek Philippe Aquanaut 5167A was delivered on two rubber straps by Rubber B, one in royal ebony, and the other in almond blue. The result was simply dramatic and breathtaking. While the personalization took a very long time to complete, we believe that it was worth the wait.

Sticker Price Undisclosed. However, based on their other projects and what we’ve seen in the secondary market, this personalization cost at least $50,000 USD+ on top of the watch that had to be supplied by the owner for personalization. For more info on Artisans de Genève click here.

For more info on Artisans de Genève click here.

*Artisans de Genève is an independent company specialized in the personalization of timepieces. Artisans de Genève is not affiliated with PATEK PHILIPPE SA nor authorized by them to intervene on their products for any reason whatsoever. This personalization was ordered for his private use by a customer who owns a Patek Philippe timepiece.