Patek Philippe is known for crafting some of the most gorgeous timepieces ever made, and they are synonymous with the perpetual calendar complication. For years, the layout of Patek’s perpetual calendar has remained largely untouched, becoming the archetype for the classic quantième perpétuel. This can be seen in many timepieces that don’t bear the luxury Genevan name. That was until a few years ago when they introduced the in-line perpetual calendar. This year, they have opted for a tried and tested colour scheme.
As many of you may know, the perpetual calendar is one of the most sought-after Grande complications, not to mention one of the most intricate. The perpetual calendar has featured prominently in Patek’s collections, but making one is no mean feat. It uses a series of gears and levers to display the day, date, month, and, in some cases, the year. A mechanical timepiece that can perform date calculations is simply astounding. The perpetual calendar is truly the quintessence of a Grande complication.
The 5236P features a single-line calendar displayed via four rotating disks, ensuring optimized legibility, minimal energy consumption, and superb reliability. This mechanism alone required 118 additional parts compared to a conventional perpetual calendar display, including several bridges and wheels with jewel bearings to reduce energy consumption, especially of the two date disks. The display of the day, date, and month on a single line is complemented by two small round apertures: one at 4 o’clock for the leap year cycle and one at 8 o’clock for the day/night indicator—a feature seen on previous Patek QPs. No perpetual calendar is complete without a moon phase display, which is visible within the subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o’clock. To adjust these functions, three correctors—for the day, the date, and the month—are recessed in the case flank between 9 and 2 o’clock, in the same order as the respective displays. The moon phase corrector is positioned at 8 o’clock.
The case of the 5236P is inspired by the ref. 5235 Annual Calendar Regulator, which we’ve featured before. It has a sleek design with a diameter of 41.3 mm, a chamfered bezel, and angled lugs—all, of course, finished by hand. As in most of Patek Philippe’s platinum wristwatches, the case flank features a small diamond at 6 o’clock. All this is framed by an opaline gilt dial with charcoal grey and white-gold accents, creating the perfect backdrop to the platinum case. The progression of time is tracked with applied hour markers and baton hands in white gold. The technical accent of the railway track minute scale is echoed by the subsidiary seconds scale at 6 o’clock. Visible through the letterbox aperture is the in-line black-on-white day, date, and month display.
Visible through the exhibition case back is the calibre 31-260 PS QL self-winding movement (PS for petite seconde subsidiary seconds and QL for “quantième perpétuel en ligne” in-line perpetual calendar). The movement has been “tuned” to drive the particularly energy-hungry perpetual calendar mechanism. The torque of the spring barrel has been increased by 20%, and the winding power boosted with a platinum micro-rotor that has more mass than the 22K gold normally used by Patek Philippe. Naturally, the micro-rotor in PT950 is adorned with circular Geneva striping, along with all the other elegantly decorated parts, which can be admired through the case back.
This new Patek Philippe In-line Perpetual Calendar ref. 5236P-010 is priced at £121,100. For more information visit patek.com
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