PATEK PHILIPPE 5496P PERPETUAL CALENDAR PLATINUM

The Patek Philippe model 5496P draws its lineage to the reference 5050 perpetual calendar. The 5050 was the first Patek Philippe pure perpetual calendar to break the $100,000 mark in the collectors’ market.  This watch is one of the most sought after complicated Patek wristwatches.

The reference 5496 is a true beauty.  Its dial follows the same conventions as the 5016 and 5050. This piece features a trio of classic elements, like the moonphase display and apertures for the calendar displays, and also playful elements like the retrograde date and the distribution of the day, month and leap year apertures. Significantly, these watches also have a center sweep seconds hand, which is a rarity in a complicated timepiece.

Case is solid platinum, with dimensions of 40mm diameter by 11.7mm thick. Front crystal is domed sapphire while the display back has a flat sapphire crystal. The platinum is mirror polished on all surfaces and the lugs taper inward.

Dial is silver with applied hour indices, retrograde date scale with red-tipped hand, apertures for day, month and leap year cycle and moonphase display. It is unusual for perpetual calendar watches to have a center seconds hand as the 5496 does. Hands are dauphine, which is a testimony to Patek’s earliest perpetual calendar watches. Embossed seconds/minutes scale at the dial’s edge.

The caliber is the automatic winding Patek Philippe Caliber 324 S QR with 30 jewels, 9 bridges, 45 hour power reserve, beating at 28,800 beats per hour and comprised of 361 individual parts. Caliber is stamped with the prestigious new Patek Philippe Seal, which imposes even stricter quality standards than the Geneva Seal.

Strap is in great condition and features hand-sewn black Patek crocodile with a Patek platinum deployment clasp.