Patek Philippe "TV Screen" Perpetual Calendar Chronograph ref. 5020P Review

Patek Philippe's perpetual calendar chronograph history runs in a fairly straight line from the 1518 through the 2499 to the 3970 and beyond, with every one of those models being round. Then there's the 5020. Launched in 1994 as a companion to the 3970 rather than a replacement, it took the same complication set and wrapped it in a cushion-shaped case that collectors quickly nicknamed the TV Screen. It's still the only perpetual calendar chronograph Patek has ever made without a round case. 

This one is the 5020P, the platinum version, and about as scarce as the reference gets. The case measures 37mm across and 45mm from lug to lug, made for Patek by Atelier Réunis, the workshop responsible for several of the maison's most significant case designs. The black dial with diamond-set hour markers is a clear departure from the Breguet numerals most 5020s wore, and against platinum it reads far cooler and more modern than the date on the paperwork would suggest. 

A commercial disappointment that became the rarest of the line 

The 5020 simply didn't sell when it first launched. Buyers in the mid-1990s wanted round watches, so the cushion case sat in the display cabinet while the 3970 walked out the door. Estimates put the total production of the 5020 somewhere between 200 and 250 pieces across all metal and dial combinations, compared with roughly 3,600 examples of the 3970. Platinum made up only a small fraction of that. Thirty years on, the thing that made it a slow seller is precisely what has collectors chasing it. 

Inside is the caliber CH 27-70 Q, the Lemania-based hand-wound movement shared with the 3970 and one of the great chronograph calibers of the modern era. It carries a perpetual calendar with leap-year indication and 24-hour indication, moon phases, and a column-wheel chronograph, all decorated to the standard the Geneva Seal demanded at the time. This example has the solid caseback, which is what all platinum 5020s were fitted with, so all that work stays where only a watchmaker will see it. Patek clearly felt no need to prove the point with a display back. 

The watch comes in like-new condition with its Patek Philippe box, original certificate, and an Extract from the Archives confirming manufacture in 1996. The rarest reference in the family, in its rarest metal, wearing a dial almost nobody ordered. There aren't many boxes left to tick.