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Patek Philippe Ref. 5320G: perpetual calendar on your wrist
Timepiece brand Patek Philippe launched its new model, the Ref. 5320G, at the jewelry and watch exhibition Baselworld 2017. This product is called the perpetual calendar for a reason, as it automatically indicates what month you are in within 28, 30 and 31 days and recognizes Feb. 29 as a leap day.
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imepiece brand Patek Philippe launched its new model, the Ref. 5320G, at the jewelry and watch exhibition Baselworld 2017. This product is called the perpetual calendar for a reason, as it automatically indicates what month you are in within 28, 30 and 31 days and recognizes Feb. 29 as a leap day. The wristwatch’s calendar updates itself accurately every day without needing you to correct it by hand thanks to the system.
The wristwatch also stands out visually with its timelessly sleek design, which will make the eyes of many haute horlogerie (fine watches) enthusiasts and connoisseurs sparkle. It embodies the trademark Patek Philippe collectors’ watch characteristics, such as the double aperture for the day and month displays at 12 o’clock and a subsidiary dial at six o’clock for the analog date and moon phases.
The cream-colored dial of the new Ref. 5320G features the same layout, albeit with further useful indications such as the small round day-and-night aperture between seven and eight o’clock as well as a round aperture for the leap year cycle with Arabic numerals from one to four between four and five o’clock.
The wristwatch also applies gold Arabic numerals and five-minute cabochons with luminous coatings, fine-tipped baton hands filled with the Superluminova chronograph, which is a slender counterbalanced sweep seconds hand and the crisply graduated seconds scale, which come together as a paragon of perfect legibility with a face of purist elegance that conceals the complexity of the mechanical movement beneath the dial.
The retro-modernistic dial of the Ref. 5320G Perpetual Calendar lies atop a manufacture movement that, like the design of the new timepiece, melds traditional watchmaking artistry with latest-generation technology. The caliber 324 S Q is a refined version of the legendary self-winding movement 324 featuring a large central rotor in 21K gold that delivers remarkable winding power.
The new cadrature of the perpetual calendar on the dial side has four additional disks for the aperture displays. The lunar disk behind the analog date at six o'clockprogresses with the precision of a modern Patek Philippe moon-phase display that requires a single-day correction every 122 years. This corresponds to a miniscule daily error of 0.02 per millimeter.
The wristwatch’s rotor, meanwhile, delivers the energy needed to track the progression of time with extreme precision. Its maximum rate deviation ranges between minus three to plus seconds per day as specified by the Patek Philippe Seal, the Swiss watch industry’s strict set of quality benchmarks.
The modern, highly precise movement is accommodated in an 18K white-gold case crafted entirely in-house, from the design stage to the final polishing phase. It reflects the same vintage style expressed by the architecture of the dial and totally represents state-of-the-art technology. A box-form sapphire-crystal glass was chosen to keep the case flanks slender and endow the watch with a contemporary vintage look. It visibly extends across the bezel and is dramatically cambered with parallel inner and outer sides to prevent optical distortion of the dial regardless of the viewing angle. In the 1940s and 1950s, it would have been technically impossible to craft such a sapphire crystal to current quality standards. This is why easily formable plexiglass was often chosen, despite its susceptibility to scratching, clouding, and cracking.
As regards other case elements, Patek Philippe's creation department sought inspiration from a role model crafted in-house over 60 years ago. It is the Ref. 2405 with a prominent three-tiered lug profile. The design makes it look slender and adds a touch of dynamic appeal to the case silhouette. With the flat center portion, the beveled, smoothly polished bezel overarched by the cambered crystal and the cascading three-tier lugs, the new Ref. 5320G elegantly wraps around its user’s wrist. The watch has a sapphire-crystal case back that reveals the beauty of the mechanical movement. On request, it can be replaced with a solid 18K white-gold back that comes with the watch.
The contemporary vintage style of the new Ref. 5320G Perpetual Calendar is underscored by the shiny chocolate brown alligator strap with large square scales. It is hand-stitched, lined, CITES-certified, and secured with a Calatrava cross fold-over clasp in 18K white gold.
With the new Ref. 5320G Perpetual Calendar, Patek Philippe revisits a grand tradition that the manufacture established in 1925 with the first perpetual calendar for the wrist. Designated with inventory number P72, it belongs to the collection of the Patek Philippe Museum where it can be personally admired.
Available at Patek Philippe Boutique by Cortina Watch
Plaza Indonesia, Level 1, #35-38
