PATEK PHILIPPE PERPETUAL CALENDAR

From the beginning Patek Philippe production has distinguished itself in haute horlogerie for its scrupulous search for perfection and the technical and formal excellence of its experts; these elements constitute an excellent business card for the Swiss company, able to alternate great technological innovations with small structural improvements to its most admired collections. Amongst these an elite role is certainly reserved for the Calendario Perpetuo, an exceptional example of a watch complication. The first watch model with perpetual calendar dates back to 1925 and it was obtained by transforming a women’s 1898 necklace watch. The model showed the time, lunar phases, date, day of the week and month and was also equipped with a memory for the different month durations and leap years. The mechanism of the perpetual calendar used a complicated instantaneous jump system, refined in the following model in 1936: a watch with a retrograde date aperture made by Victorin Piguet (which would be used again in the 1980s on the references 5059 and 5159).
An official series production began in 1941 with the reference 1518 that inaugurated the union of the perpetual calendar to the chronograph. In 1985 Patek Philippe returned to great complications with the reference 3940 , the first ultra-thin complicated watch  of normal production that became a company classic and was reinterpreted 20 years later with the reference 5140 in 18kt white gold. With respect to its progenitor the new model has a slightly thicker rounded case (37.2mm instead of 36mm), well-proportioned and simple, accentuating its ultra thin shape. The bezel is no longer concave but convex and the lugs are thinner. The dial, modelled on the very first one produced, is opalescent silver with applied hour markers in white gold and Dauphine hands also in white gold. The small square that indicates the date and lunar phases at 6 o' clock is larger whilst the ones that indicate the days of the week and 24 hours (at 9 o' clock) and the month and the leap year (3 o' clock). The watch is available with a shiny hand sewn crocodile strap with déployante clasp in white gold and has two interchangeable casebacks: one in sapphire crystal that allows the precious architecture of the movement to be admired and one in white gold which can be engraved.

 The movement is hand-wound mechanic (calibre 240 Q) with unidirectional minirotor in 22kt gold and Gyromax balance wheel with 21,600 rotations per hour. A extremely precise mechanism  which would take 122 years and 45 days to be wrong a day compared to the effective lunar cycle.
Amongst the perpetual calendar watches made by Patek Philippe particular attention is should be paid to the reference 5971P, the only jewellery model of the company's Grandi Complicazioni range. The model has a platinum case with a bezel encrusted with 36 baguette diamonds and a hand-wound movement (CH 27-70 Q).
A special mention too, for the Calendario Perpetuo Retrogrado ref. 5159 presented at BaselWorld 2007. The new reference replaces the previous 5059 from which it inherited all its style and mechanics bringing up to date both the graphics and the size, in line with current market requests. The model pays tribute to its turn of the century ancestors with the Officier case, thus named due to its use in those times by army officers who preferred wristwatches to pocket-watches. In reality, the true archetype of the Officier range dates back to 1989 and has the reference 3960, equipped with a hand-wound mechanical movement and made in a limited series to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the company.
The Patek 5159 is distinguished by its straight lugs with large protruding screws that block the strap, spring caseback, 38mm diameter case, fluted crown in the syle of Louis XV and a small bezel, smooth and slightly domed. The automatic mechanical movement calibre 315 QR is made up of 361 components, and its complication, not to mention precision, is testified by the fact that the steel teeth of the wheels are hand-polished one by one, to reduce friction and wear.

The dial is characterised by slightly longer Roman numerals with respect to the previous model, thus more legible with central luminous guilloche technique on an opal argenté background. As well as the hand and minute hands with Poire design and black oxidised gold finish, there is a rhodium-plated flush continuous seconds hand. Inside the dial the day of the week is shown in an aperture at 9 o’ clock, leap year at 12 o’ clock, month at 3 o’ clock and lunar phases at 6 o’ clock. The Ref. 5159 is available in yellow and white golds with crocodile strap, matt chocolate brown for yellow gold and dark chocolate brown for white gold, both with gold déployante clasp.
Before the Patek Philippe grand complications, in a harmony of angular bridges, pearly platinums, rotors, rubies, seals and wheels the adjective “perpetual” is fully merited by the love for the world of watchmaking that the maison has always had.
The following are some of the references of the models produced.

Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar

Legend:

Gold	Platinum	Steel
Quartz	Mechanical	Diamonds
The colour yellow represents gold in all its variants: Rose, White and Yellow. For more information contact our experts: drg@dellaroccagioielli.com