Minute Repeater 7000 Bird on a Red Maple

The Patek Philippe 7000/50G-011 was introduced at the 2023 Tokyo Patek Philippe Watch Art exhibition. This ladies’ minute repeater, a limited edition of five watches, unites the height of the watchmaker’s art, in its movement, with the extreme finesse of the Rare Handcrafts, on its dial in Grand Feu cloisonné enamel, depicting a bird perched on a branch of a red maple tree. The enameller traced all the contours of the bird and the tree using some 50 cm of gold wire (~0.22 g) measuring 0.05 x 0.4mm in cross-section, cut into tiny segments and shaped by hand. For the subtle tints of the scene, he worked with a palette of translucent, opaque and opalescent enamels in 17 colors. Finishing touches of miniature painting on enamel brought out the fine details. Each dial called for an average of 18 firings at a temperature of approximately 800°C.