Patek Philippe Grand Complications Perpetual Calendar Retrograde, early 2000s

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

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 Philippe has been making such watches since the Second World War, and continue to make some of the most superlative quantieme perpetuelles on the market. This particular example, a Reference 5059J-001, dating to the early 2000s, includes a retrograde date function that makes it stand out from the crowd. Housed in a 36mm 18K yellow gold case with a signed crown, sapphire crystal, and a polished bezel, it features an crisp white dial with printed Roman indices and a printed, retrograde date display, moonphase display at the 6 o’clock positiion, and day, date, and month apertures at the cardinal positions. Powered by the automatic Patek Philippe Calibre 315S QR movement — visible via a sapphire display hidden beneath an outer hinged 'hunter' caseback, this lovely watch comes fitted to a signed, red leather alligator strap with a signed, 18K yellow gold deployant clasp. It also comes complete with its box set, books, leather folio, and Certificate of Origin, dated 2006. With its lovely design, interesting dial configuration and display functionality and Patek's always-excellent workmanship, this QP is simply a tremendous timepiece that falls under the radar of most. Don't be that guy!