{"product_id":"patek-philippe-les-grecques-as12351","title":"Patek Philippe 'Les Grecques'","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe 1980s were a strange and wonderful moment for architecture. After decades of Modernism stripping buildings down to their essential forms, architects began putting decoration back in. Michael Graves played with pediments, columns, and exaggerated classical motifs. Charles Moore turned historical references into something colorful and theatrical. Philip Johnson famously crowned a Manhattan skyscraper with a broken pediment. History was suddenly fair game again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePatek Philippe was apparently feeling something similar.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIntroduced in 1982, the wonderfully named “Les Grecques” collection represents one of Patek Philippe’s most distinctive design experiments of the decade. Rather than retreating into the restrained classicism of the Calatrava, the manufacture looked much further back, borrowing motifs from ancient Greek architecture and translating them into sharply geometric wristwatches. Produced in various configurations through roughly 1987, Les Grecques today feels almost impossibly specific to its moment: part ancient Greece, part 1980s Postmodernism, and unmistakably Patek Philippe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReference 3775 is particularly architectural. Its rectangular yellow-gold case is framed by stepped vertical elements recalling the proportions of classical columns. At the same time, the geometric detailing surrounding the dial evokes the Greek-key, or meander, pattern found throughout Hellenic decorative arts. The structure of the case effectively becomes the decoration. It’s ornate without relying on gemstones and eccentric without sacrificing Patek Philippe’s characteristic sense of proportion.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInside is Patek Philippe’s ultra-thin, manually wound Caliber 177, an 18-jewel movement measuring just 1.77mm thick. That remarkably slender architecture allowed Patek to keep the Reference 3775 exceptionally thin, an important counterpoint to the visual drama around the dial. For all its Greek-key ornamentation, stepped geometry, and wonderfully 1980s swagger, this remains an elegant dress watch that can disappear beneath a shirt cuff.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd that contrast is really what makes Les Grecques so interesting. The exterior is unabashedly decorative, while the mechanics are pure old-school Patek Philippe: beautifully executed, discreet, and engineered with an obsessive regard for thinness. It’s Postmodernism on the outside and traditional Geneva watchmaking underneath.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis example is rendered in yellow gold and paired with a black alligator-leather strap and a matching yellow-gold pin buckle. It is accompanied by a Patek Philippe Extract from the Archives, which dates the watch to the mid-1980s.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor the collector who thinks Patek Philippe begins with the Calatrava and ends with the Nautilus, the Les Grecques offers a compelling counterargument. It captures Patek during one of design’s most exuberant decades, looking backward several thousand years to create something that, ironically, could hardly look more 1980s.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Patek Philippe","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44216360665175,"sku":"40931029","price":15500.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0809\/1255\/files\/AS12351_40931029_PATEKPHILIPPE_LESGRECQUES_3775--5.jpg?v=1788369331","url":"https:\/\/www.analogshift.com\/products\/patek-philippe-les-grecques-as12351","provider":"Analog:Shift","version":"1.0","type":"link"}