Patek Philippe Twenty~4: The Women's Collection Since 1999

Patek Philippe had produced watches for women for over a century before the Twenty~4 appeared in 1999. What the Twenty~4 introduced was different: a collection conceived as a complete identity for women, designed around a single coherent aesthetic, with a name and a marketing position oriented specifically toward the female buyer rather than derived from the men's catalogue.

The name references the watch's intended occasion: to be worn twenty-four hours a day, through every context of a modern woman's life — formal, casual, professional, social. The case is rectangular, Art Deco in its geometry, small by the standards of any contemporary watch category, and integrated into the bracelet in a way that makes the watch and the bracelet a single piece of jewellery.

It was the right watch for 1999. It has remained in production for twenty-five years with enough evolution to stay relevant without losing what it originally was.

Launch — Basel 1999

The Twenty~4 was introduced at Basel in 1999 . The presentation was distinctive: four female Patek Philippe employees wore the watches on their wrists at the fair, the brand's statement that the collection was designed to be lived in rather than displayed.

Three launch references, all stainless steel:
- 4910/10A-001 "Forever Black" — black dial
- 4910/10A-010 "Eternal Grey" — grey dial
- 4910/10A-011 "Timeless White" — white dial

All three featured the same structure: a two-tier rectangular case integrated into a fully polished steel bracelet, diamond-set bezel, and Roman numeral dial. The "manchette" (cuff) aesthetic drew from Art Deco bracelet watch traditions of the 1920s and 1930s — the watch as wrist jewellery rather than a functional instrument wearing a strap.

Original movement: Calibre E 15 quartz — 32,768 Hz, 57 components, 6 jewels, silver oxide battery with approximately three-year life. The quartz movement was an honest choice for a watch positioned as all-day wear: a quartz movement requires no winding, no setting beyond the initial time-set, and runs accurately without owner attention.

Case dimensions: 25.1mm × 30mm × 6.8mm — deliberately small. The Twenty~4 is a watch for slender wrists and formal contexts where a large case is inappropriate.

Design — Art Deco Manchette

The rectangular case with integrated bracelet is the Twenty~4's defining formal element. The design shares visual DNA with the Gondolo series references from 1993 but is considered more geometrically contemporary — the Twenty~4's lines are cleaner, the bracelet integration more seamless, and the overall proportion more modern than the explicitly vintage-referencing Gondolo.

The two-tier case construction creates a profile that sits flat against the wrist: the case top is slightly elevated above the bracelet level, with a stepped transition that makes the case visible without creating an abrupt height change. The fold-over deployant clasp on the bracelet is polished to match.

Diamond-set bezel variants were part of the launch collection and have remained the most visually prominent Twenty~4 configuration. The diamonds run along both long edges of the rectangular bezel — appropriate for a watch positioned as wrist jewellery — and the collection has expanded to include fully paved case and bracelet configurations.

Reference 4910 — Evolution

The 4910 family has evolved through several significant updates without departing from the original design language:

Precious metal variants (from early 2000s): The Twenty~4 extended into rose gold and yellow gold with corresponding gold or two-tone bracelets. These attracted buyers who wanted the collection's aesthetic in precious metal rather than steel.

2003 — Mechanical versions: High-jewellery configurations of the Twenty~4 were introduced with mechanical calibre 16-250 movements (28,800 vph, 38-hour power reserve). These were positioned at the upper range of the Twenty~4 price spectrum, blending the collection's jewellery character with mechanical watchmaking.

2020 — The 4910/1200A update: The most significant refresh of the base 4910. Updated dial: applied Arabic numerals replacing Roman numerals, luminous markers replacing dial indices. The diamond-set bezel was retained as an option, but the base configuration moved away from diamond dial decoration toward applied metal markers. The reference code 4910/1200A refers to this 2020 generation.

The 4910/1200A versus the original 4910/10A: both are rectangular, both are integrated-bracelet, both are the Twenty~4. The 2020 update is more contemporary in its dial execution — Arabic numerals read more modern than Roman — while the case and bracelet architecture is unchanged.

Reference 7300 — The Automatic (2018)

In 2018, Patek introduced the reference 7300 — the most significant evolution in the Twenty~4's twenty-year history, and the one that most changed what the collection is.

The 7300 is not a rectangular watch. It is round, 36mm , with a cushion-shaped bezel. The shift from rectangular to round is fundamental: the 7300 reads as a different category of watch rather than an evolved 4910. Where the 4910 is unambiguously a wrist jewellery bracelet watch, the 7300 is a round luxury sport-casual watch that happens to be positioned within the Twenty~4 family.

Movement: Calibre 324 S C
- Automatic, self-winding
- 28,800 vph (4Hz)
- 45-hour power reserve
- Unidirectional 21K gold micro-rotor
- Gyromax balance wheel
- Spiromax silicon balance spring (Patek's Advanced Research-developed component)
- Date window and centre sweep seconds — practical complications absent from the 4910 quartz base model

Reference 7300/1200A (stainless steel): The core 7300 reference. Available with multiple dial options; the diamond-set bezel option carries the jewellery character of the 4910 family into the round case.

The 7300 is the watch for women who want a Patek that functions like a full-capability daily watch — automatic movement, date, sweep seconds — rather than a wrist jewellery piece with quartz precision. The two references serve genuinely different buyers with different priorities, which is presumably the design logic behind introducing the 7300 as an extension rather than a replacement.

Twenty~4 in Patek's Catalogue

The Twenty~4 occupies a specific position in Patek Philippe's women's offering: it is the collection specifically designed for women as a complete identity, in contrast to the ladies' versions of men's references (smaller Calatrava cases, smaller Nautilus references, smaller Golden Ellipse variants) that are produced across the portfolio.

The distinction matters because the Twenty~4 starts from the wrist jewellery premise rather than the watch premise. The 4910's case integrates with the bracelet as a piece of jewellery whose purpose includes telling the time; the men's references scaled to women's dimensions are watches whose purpose is telling the time in a case sized for smaller wrists. These are different design philosophies.

Collector Position

The Twenty~4 trades near retail in most steel configurations. Rose gold and high-jewellery references command premiums proportionate to their materials and finishing. The watch is not subject to the allocation dynamics of the Nautilus and Aquanaut — it is generally accessible through authorised dealer channels without extended wait times.

The 7300/1200A in steel has attracted buyers who want automatic movement capability in a Twenty~4 context; secondary market values reflect a moderate premium above retail consistent with the broader dynamics of Patek's steel references.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Patek Philippe Twenty~4?
Patek's first collection designed exclusively for women, introduced at Basel 1999 with three stainless steel references. A rectangular Art Deco bracelet watch with integrated bracelet, initially with quartz Calibre E 15, designed for everyday wear across all occasions. The name references wearing the watch twenty-four hours a day.

What are the original Twenty~4 references?
4910/10A-001 (Forever Black), 4910/10A-010 (Eternal Grey), and 4910/10A-011 (Timeless White) — three steel references with different dial colours, launched simultaneously at Basel 1999.

What is the difference between the 4910 and the 7300?
The 4910 is a rectangular bracelet watch with quartz Calibre E 15 (or mechanical in high-jewellery versions), 25.1mm × 30mm — an Art Deco wrist jewellery design. The 7300 is a round 36mm watch with automatic Calibre 324 S C, date, and sweep seconds — a more conventional round sports-casual watch. Both are in the Twenty~4 family but serve different buyers.

What is the 4910/1200A?
The 2020 generation of the Twenty~4 4910 reference, with updated applied Arabic numerals and luminous markers replacing the original Roman numeral dial. The case and bracelet architecture is unchanged; the dial execution is more contemporary.

Does the Twenty~4 have a mechanical option?
Yes — the reference 7300 family uses automatic Calibre 324 S C with date and sweep seconds. High-jewellery configurations of the 4910 have also been produced with mechanical calibres. The base 4910/1200A uses quartz Calibre E 15.

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