Few things share the same enduring quality as a Patek Philippe perpetual calendar—memories of strong family bonds, for one, transcend through generations and last for eternity.
Much can change in a century. While our world has evolved greatly, there are some things that have remained refreshingly the same, like our need to nurture relationships, our sense of family duty, as well as our respect for values such as integrity and honesty.
These values, thankfully, will never go out of fashion, much like traditional horology that has largely stayed true to its principle roots. Of all the complications that have existed in watchmaking, none are as cherished in terms of foresight as the perpetual calendar.
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In function, the mechanism provides one of horology’s most forethought solutions to keeping time. The perpetual calendar correctly displays the day of the week, the date, the month, the year, and the phases of the moon “perpetually”, taking into consideration the differing lengths of months as well as leap year cycles. Should a perpetual calendar be constantly wound and running, most would never have to be manually corrected till 2100.
Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe’s long-standing work with the mechanism stretches back to the mid-1800s. It was only in 1889 that the manufacture was granted its patent for the first perpetual calendar mechanism in a pocket watch. Patek Philippe had designed an immensely elaborate system that allowed for the simultaneous advancement of all time functions through a manner of levers and star-wheels for each function.
Through the years, the perpetual calendar mechanism has never truly changed and the basis of its method patented by Patek Philippe remains largely the same. At its heart, a cam works as a programmed function, dictating when the date wheel should skip the 29th, 30th or 31st depending on the month. The mechanism also follows a systemised pattern of skipping dates when necessary. This in turn affects another wheel for the leap year, where the watch “remembers” the extra day in February.
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This year, Patek Philippe celebrates its long and storied history in the art of perpetual calendars. Its latest release, the Ref 5320G (pictured above) is its newest perpetual calendar that borrows design elements from two of its own past timepieces, Ref 2405 and Ref 1463. With an expansive cream lacquer dial with little clutter, the applied blackened gold Arabic numerals with Superluminova coating stand out. The sharp-tipped baton hands, also in blackened gold with luminescent treatment, are reminiscent of the same art deco vein that the watch is designed in. The watch features Patek Philippe’s calibre 324 S Q, an automatic perpetual calendar movement with the day and night indicator shown in a circle aperture between seven and eight o’clock.