In this week’s edition of our ongoing book review column, I thought it was a good time to highlight a reference that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while but was sadly out of stock by the time it arrived at my place two years ago. Well, luckily for us, John Nagayama’s masterful Patek Philippe tome, simply called “96,” has been reprinted, and out of the 450 copies released for sale just a few weeks ago, there are still a couple left.
John Nagayama, at his old office in Tokyo, Japan.
John Nagayama, known as @johnbehalf on Instagram, is the undisputed king of the reference 96. That’s saying something. The long-lived, miniature (by today’s standards) time-only Patek Philippe has become the framework and measuring stick for basically every dress watch that’s come since, and long-time collectors have never turned a blind eye to it. But recent interest, driven by Mike Nouveau over on TikTok in particular, and acceptance of a 30.5mm watch has put it back on the map. But Japan, where Nagayama is based, became the Mecca for small watches and 96 obsessives.
Nagayama has probably forgotten more than nearly anyone will ever know about time-only Patek. And he doesn’t forget hardly anything. If you browse his site, you’ll see some super esoteric stuff. While writing this, his homepage featured one of the 10 known ref. 433, this one in platinum and rose, with an amazing three-color dial. His personal collection (from which he pulled four amazing watches for a past story we did in Japan) features one of five “observatory dial” ref. 96s (with a subdial at nine o’clock), this one signed for a private client.
One of Nagayama’s Patek ref. 96s that is in the book.
In “96,” Nagayama shares a trove of incredible watches. In fact, if you were just gawking at the watches, it would be enough to put the book down in disgust after a few pages of gratuitously attractive pieces. Nagayama has sourced great examples from collectors, friends, and past clients. But it’s not just to show off; the book is a great reference, concise, and yet very educational. There are sections on buckles, cases, and even advertisements as well.
To me, the ref. 96 has been a minefield that I was afraid to walk into. A few years before Nouveau made them popular and prices skyrocketed, I was thinking to myself, “Man, these are cool, and the prices are cheap.” I didn’t buy them because I figured that everyone else knew something I didn’t. And they probably did, because there are probably hundreds of dial variations of ref. 96 and six potential case materials (counting two-tone), so a lot can go wrong. You really have to know what you’re buying, and next to bubblebacks, this is probably one of the hardest watches to comprehend at a glance. Which is where this book comes in.
Nagayama breaks the book down into six chapters. There are four series of ref. 96 with subsidiary seconds, based on the movements inside. Interspersed are two series of center-second movements. From 1932 to 1973, Patek made about 10,000 of these watches, and Nagayama shows some of the best of the best. Sector dials, retailer signatures, copious Breguet numerals, and even luminous indices—the book certainly leans more toward a gawkable visual reference, but after flipping through, you can tell why someone would immediately know how rare a steel, black-dial, long-signature ref. 96 is and why it’s worth $200,000. For a fraction (about a thousandth) of the price, you can pick up a copy of “96” from Nagayama’s website for a reasonable $250 plus shipping.
