Patek Philippe 5059G Perpetual Calendar "Saatchi" Review

The perpetual calendar is a thing of beauty. It shows the passing of time well beyond the hours, compensates for oddities such as months of differing lengths and leap years, and even shows the phases of the moon. It’s a breathtaking fusion of math, micromechanics, and the quirks and vicissitudes of the Gregorian calendar, rendered in mechanical form on the wrist.

No watchmaker offers a finer perpetual calendar than Patek Philippe, whose 5059 showcased the maison’s proud heritage of the complication when it was introduced in 1998. Patek Philippe developed the 315 S-QR self-winding movement with perpetual calendar and retrograde date hand, then placed it within a hinged officer’s case, made by master case maker Guillod & Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

After a run of just 1,400 pieces, the 5059 went out of production in 2006. But in the watch world, what is dead can never die; in 2018, the model was revived as part of a limited Vintage Collection series in partnership with the London-based Saatchi Gallery. It’s powered by the automatic calibre 324 S QR, which runs the gamut of perpetual calendar functions, packing a retrograde date, day/night indicator, moonphase, leap year, and sweep seconds within an astonishingly compact 36mm white gold case. 

While salmon dials have made a comeback in recent years, this specific shade was part of the first wave of the trend: a reflection of the “tropic” look found on truly vintage watches whose dials have aged over time. If you wear your perpetual calendar every day until the year 2100 (when the false leap year will throw a wrench into the works of our familiar calendar system), you just might be able to achieve the same effect. 

For Patek Philippe collectors and perpetual calendar aficionados alike, the revival of a neo-vintage movement paired with the allure of a high-level complication from one of the world’s foremost practitioners is a pretty compelling argument to add it to the collection.