Excellent Condition

This issue introduces new faces to the world stage while celebrating some of the venerated names of the past. Up and coming camera obscura artist Shi Guorui photographs China's Great Wall and one of its great cities - Shanghai. Traveling to the coast of Chile, Poli Delano shares his childhood recollections of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, whose inspirational seaside home is photographed by Alessandra Sanguinetti. Meanwhile, old and new are juxtaposed to mutual effect at the Montemartini Museum in Rome: treasures from distant days are housed in a monument to the recent industrial past. 

To celebrate the opening of the restored Patek Philippe salons in Geneva, my wife took Le"ila el-Wakil on a tour of the historic building at the heart of the company, where she admired the craftsmanship that has given this eminent address a new lease of life. Nick Foulkes welcomes Patek Philippe's collection of men's jeweled watches, which includes the new gem-set complicated wristwatch for men, while Thomas Lips reminisces on the historic roots of the Gondolo collection and reveals the innovation at the heart of its latest addition. Finally, we hope you enjoy a glimpse into the life of Lady Malloch Brown, a tireless organiser of international charitable events. In this issue she models the Gondolo Gemma, REF. 4991.