Patek Philippe 3587/2 "Beta-21" Vintage Luxury Watch Review

http://www.thewatchbox.com There are exceptions that prove the rule. And the Patek Philippe 3587 "Beta 21" is the rare quartz watch that has soul. Amidst a mass of transistors and step-down circuits, this historic machine's heart sings like an Accutron as it continues to plow its lone furrow through time. The Beta-21 arose in 1962 as a collaborative effort between 20 Swiss watch manufacturers who saw the future coming but didn't quite know how to tackle it solo. By 1967, prototypes were putting even the best mechanical chronometers to shame, and the first commercial applications launched in 1969. Like many pioneering technologies, Beta 21 was oversized, charmingly awkward, and novel. The Patek Philippe 3587 offered by thewatchbox.com exhibits the characteristic mass, size, and audible 256hz "Beta Buzz" of these revolutionary trail-blazers. That's right; you can actually hear this watch against the ear, and the sound is a world removed from the dead 1-second stutters of modern quartz. The seconds hand moves through an impossibly smooth 360 degree sweep with the smooth motion of a Spring Drive or Accutron. While modern quartz watches jump from second to second in precisely spaced increments of, um, a second, the Patek Philippe's unique power plant jumps 256 times per second to create the impression of continuous motion. Not even a high-beat mechanical watch can compare to the slick visual effect of this Jurassic Patek. More than a rare example of an historic landmark, this