Patek Philippe Retrograde Perpetual Calendar

A perpetual calendar is like a small computer on your wrist. Think of it this way: Imagine a watch that keeps track of not only the time, but also the date, the day of the week, and the month, as well as whether it’s a leap year or not, and what the current phase of the moon is. Oh, and one more thing — imagine it does all of this mechanically, using springs and gears, and that you only have to adjust it once every century or so. Crazy, right? Patek has been making such watches since the Second World War, and continues to make some of the most superlative quantieme perpetuelles on the market. This particular example, a Reference 5059P-001, dating to the 2000s, includes a neat retrograde date display that makes it stand out from the crowd. Housed in a 36mm platinum case with a signed crown, a sapphire crystal, and a stepped bezel, it features crisp white dial with applied indices, a matching feuille handset, a printed, retrograde date display, a moonphase display above 6 o’clock, and day, date, and month apertures. This is one of the more unique perpetual calendar layouts on the market. It doesn't look quite like anything else out there on the market, and it's a good representation of a different branch of Patek than typically gets attention. With its lovely design, interesting dial configuration, and excellent workmanship, this Patek Philippe ‘QP’ is simply a tremendous timepiece — the type that any watch collector would be proud to feature in their collection!