The Patek Philippe Reference 5905 Annual Calendar Flyback Chronograph is by no means a new watch. We first saw the coupling of these two complications in this reference in 2015 and its attractive layout and iconic complication has ensured that it has now become a mainstay in the Patek Philippe line-up. The 5905 draws part of its makeup from the 5960, which we’ve highlighted in the pass – hence the “59” part of the reference. However, it draws the other half of its DNA from the 5205 Annual Calendar, which accounts for the “05” part of its reference. Throughout the years we’ve seen Patek experiment with different combination of dial colours, as well as case metals and 2019 saw the introduction of the 5905 in rose-gold with a chocolate dial. Two years ago, we saw the steel and green dial combination – a running theme for 2021.
The annual calendar complication is a calendar watch that sits in between your normal calendar piece and the highly complicated perpetual calendar. While a perpetual calendar takes into account the days of the month, including February and leap years, the annual calendar simply takes into account the months with 30 and 31 days, meaning that every February you have to set the watch and move it forward. This ingenious mechanism was actually invented by Patek Philippe back in 1996 as they saw a gap in the market and realised that it was enough for most that a calendar timepiece only took into consideration the 30- and 31-day months. With a perpetual calendar, the level of complexity in the mechanism outweighed the necessity for leap years and true enough, the annual calendar is one of Patek Philippe’s most successful releases.
The layout of this 5905 is iconic, with three apertures at 12 o’clock displaying the day, date and month respectively, while there is a sub dial at 6 o’clock that displays a 24-hour clock and the moon phase. Dial colour has been all the rage lately, and the selection of colour combination on this watch is no different. Patek have chosen to go with the tried and test rose-gold with a sunburst blue dial, a combination we saw some years ago on the 5396R.
The dial features rose-gold ingot indices with lume plots within the minute scale and Dauphine hands, inlaid with a slender coating of SuperLuminova. The dial is nicely broken up into sectors, with the use of concentric circles, with one highlighting the graduated minute scale and the other circumscribing the hour markers and calendar apertures – lending to its vintage sector dial appearance. At 6 o’clock is the 60-minute chronograph register – yes, it is only for 60 seconds but it’s unlikely that the chronograph mechanism on such a timepiece is going to be used extensively.
There are no changes to the 5905 other than its dial and case metal; it comes with its standard self-winding calibre CH 28-520 QA 24H, housed in the gorgeous 42mm rose-gold Calatrava style case. However, instead of Geneva stripes, you’ll find circular dressage to match the finish of the 21k gold rotor, with the calibre bearing the Patek Philippe Seal.
This new Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Flyback Chronograph ref. 5905R-010 is priced at £60,480. For more information, visit patek.com.
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