In 1762, an English watchmaker named Thomas Mudge debuted a pocket watch with a compelling and unusual feature: Able to display the day, date, month, leap year and phase of the moon in addition to the time, it required no manual adjustment throughout the year, even taking into account the differing lengths of the month of February. The first perpetual calendar watch ever made, it was quietly purchased by the Patek Philippe Museum in 2016 from a Sotheby’s auction for the paltry sum of roughly $79,000.
It would take another century before a watchmaker — Patek Philippe, in fact — was able to produce a pocket watch with a quantième perpétuel (“QP,” for short) mechanism, and another roughly 25 years until it could patent it. In 1898, the maison miniaturized the calendar mechanism for a woman’s pendant watch, which was later re-cased in 1925 for a wealthy American client named Thomas Emery, to whom it was sold in 1927. By 1941, Patek was able to combine the QP with a chronograph in the form of the ref. 1518, the first serially-produced perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatch.
Today, Patek continues to craft intriguing perpetual calendars, and many other marques have since gotten in on the game. There are now QPs to suit every taste, from reserved, dressy variants to sporty pilot’s watches that wouldn’t look out of place on the deck of an aircraft carrier. From the elegant symmetricality of Patek’s own ref. 5236 to Bulgari’s avant-garde titanium Octo Finissimo, the perpetual calendar has found a home in a stunning variety of case designs, each well suited to a different type of collector.
The 14 Best Watches of the Past Month
Geneva Watch Days gave a much-needed boost to the otherwise quiet summer monthsThe expense that results from the complicated nature of a QP — which can add well over 100 components to an otherwise standard mechanical movement — is considerable. (Notice that no watch on the following list retails for less than $40,000, and some are expensive enough to warrant a private inquiry to the brand as to their sticker price.) Furthermore, some suspension of disbelief is required for the investment in such a mechanism in 2024 — after all, your iPhone is perfectly happy to tell you the day, date, month, phase of the moon, and whether it’s a leap year or not.
But this is largely beside the point when considering investment in a perpetual calendar. Imagine, for a moment, the engineering and mathematical facility necessary to fashion an entirely mechanical device that behaves very much like a miniature computer, powered only by springs and gears. Representing the cutting edge of both the horological and micromechanical fields, these watches are windows into the ingenuity of the human spirit. Utilitarian, beautiful and remarkable, they still smack of genius nearly three centuries following Mudge’s invention.
Patek Philippe ref. 5236P-010
Arguably the master of the perpetual calendar, Patek Philippe produced its first QP wristwatch — a pièce unique — back in 1925. But it was the P-1450, a pocket watch completed in 1975, that served as the inspiration for the gorgeous ref. 5236, a wristwatch with an in-line display in day-date-month format. (Though this display type makes for a gorgeously balanced dial, it also adds 118 additional components to an already wildly complicated movement.) Introduced in 2021, the ref. 5236P-001 received a beautiful salmon-dialed variant, the 5236P-010, earlier this year. Whichever you spring for, blue or salmon, rest assured you’re buying one of the most impressive QP wristwatches on the market.
Diameter: 41.3mm
Movement: Patek Philippe cal. 31’260 PS QL automatic
Water Resistance: 30m
A Lange & Söhne Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon Honeygold ‘Lumen’
It’s difficult to describe just how striking this watch — released in time for Lange’s 30th birthday and the Datograph’s 25th anniversary — is until you see it in person. Combining the Glashütte-based brand’s famous chronograph with a perpetual calendar function, plus a tourbillon, it houses this super-complication in signature Honeygold and gives the whole thing Lange’s “Lumen” treatment: Part of the crystal and subdials, which are coated in UV-reactive material, glow following UV exposure, revealing many of the hand-wound movement’s components through the semi-transparent dial. Said dial, a distinct mix of classical inspiration and modern savoir-faire, is quite simply a work of horological art.
Diameter: 41.5mm
Movement: A. Lange & Söhne cal. L952.4 hand-wound
Water Resistance: 30m
IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44
There’s something about the Portugieser platform that’s difficult to put one’s finger on: It’s wildly elegant, yet at the same time, looks like it could survive an impact with a meteor. The Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 in white gold with a blue dial (IW503703) is a case in point. Hold it in your hand and you’re immediately struck by its sheer beauty — yet its impressive heft, clear tool-watch inspiration and futuristic-looking moon phase inspire one to do whatever the very opposite of babying it would be. The in-house automatic IWC cal. 52616 provides a whopping seven days of power reserve, while the year is even displayed in four digits. A large watch, no doubt, the reference IW503703 is a stunning take on the QP.
Diameter: 44.4mm
Movement: IWC cal. 52616 automatic
Water Resistance: 50m
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar John Mayer Limited Edition
American guitarist and songwriter John Mayer worked personally with the AP team to design the dial on this special Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar. Formed by a special metal deposition process known as electroforming, a dense network of crystal-like structures is created that resembles a moonless sky. Utterly dynamic in appearance, this beautiful dial texture is paired to a white gold case and the Royal Oak’s signature matching, integrated bracelet. Notably, this is the last Royal Oak QP to feature the maison’s cal. 5134, an automatic movement measuring just 4.3mm thick that is composed of no fewer than 374 parts. With its striking dial, brutalist case architecture and impressive complication, this QP is one of the best watches of 2024.
Diameter: 41mm
Movement: Audemars Piguet cal. 5134 automatic
Water Resistance: 20m
H. Moser & Cie Streamliner Perpetual Calendar Concept ‘Smoked Salmon’
If you love the idea of a small mechanical computer on your wrist but would prefer a less crowded dial, allow us to introduce you to the Streamliner Perpetual Calendar from H. Moser & Cie. This tonneau-cased, stainless steel watch with integrated bracelet is certainly of the Genta ilk, but its unique “smoked salmon” fumé dial is something else entirely: A small red hand emanating from the center post indicates the month in one of 12 positions, while a rather unobtrusive date window at 4 o’clock accounts for months of differing lengths automatically, and a convenient power reserve indicator at 10 o’clock provides balance. (With seven days of power reserve available from the hand-wound cal. HMC812 movement, it’s doubtful you’ll need to check this indicator very often.)
Diameter: 42.3mm
Movement: H. Moser & Cie cal. HMC812
Water Resistance: 120m
Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar
No matter how jaded the collector, watches from the Octo Finissimo line simply never fail to impress. This collection of ultra-thin pieces — some of them displaying unique takes on classic complications — represent the cutting edge of avant-garde, large-scale wristwatch design and production in the 21st century. The Perpetual Calendar, housed in a 40mm sandblasted titanium case, is particularly impressive. Measuring just 5.8mm thick, it features a cool retrograde date display and provides 60 hours of power reserve. Unassuming yet distinctly contemporary, this is a watch that might fly under the radar until someone realizes what it does — at that point, all bets are off.
Diameter: 40mm
Movement: Bulgari cal. BVL 305 automatic
Water Resistance: 30m
Chopard L.U.C. Perpetual T
Produced in a run of just 10 pieces, the stunning L.U.C Perpetual T combines a perpetual calendar mechanism with a tourbillon in a remarkably complicated expression of the maison’s elegant watchmaking. Housed in a 43mm white gold case with a polished bezel and a sapphire caseback, it features a beautifully hand-guillochéd salmon dial with an outsized date, dual calendar subdials, a large tourbillon case overlaid with a running seconds subdial, applied indices, lumed sword hands and a chemin de fer minute track. Its hand-wound L.U.C 02.15-L movement boasts a power reserve of nine days via two sets of dual barrels.
Diameter: 43mm
Movement: Chopard L.U.C 02.15-L
Water Resistance: 30m
F.P. Journe Quantième Perpétuel Black Label
With an annual production of roughly 900 pieces, F.P. Journe’s wares are only for the most dedicated collectors. In fact, just to have the opportunity to purchase the Quantième Perpétuel Black Label, you have to already own an F.P. Journe. (Watch buying is now just like Ferrari buying!) But once you do have the opportunity to purchase one of these splendid pieces, you’ll be thoroughly pleased: Its blackened, guillochéd silver dial features the brand’s stylized Arabic indices in 18K white gold, rhodium-plated steel hands and chemin de fer minute track, while three apertures display pertinent calendar information. The automatic cal. FPJ 1300-3 movement, meanwhile, provides over five days of power reserve.
Diameter: 40mm or 42mm
Movement: F.P. Journe cal. FPJ 1300-3 automatic
Water Resistance: 30m
Hermès Slim d’Hermès Quantième Perpétuel Watch
Typeface specialist Philippe Apeloig’s unique typography helped the Slim d’Hermès rise quickly through the ranks to become one of the most widely lauded contemporary dress watches in the world. The QP-equipped version, though it adds considerably to the restrained dial introduced on the time-only version from 2015, manages to provide its functionality with the idiosyncratic elegance unique to the maison — the month indicator, for example, hardly takes up any dial real estate at all, while a useful GMT indicator above 6 o’clock appears almost random in its numerical appearance, adding a playful quality to the overall design. The mother-of-pearl moon and aventurine sky of the moon phase, set against a dark-grey dial background, couldn’t be more handsome.
Diameter: 39.5mm
Movement: Hermès cal. H1950 automatic
Water Resistance: 30m
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Perpetual Calendar
JLC’s elegant Master Ultra Thin platform is beautifully proportioned and well considered in any iteration, but the Perpetual Calendar is particularly fetching. Check out this iteration in 18K pink gold with a blue sunray dial: Measuring a contemporary 39mm by just 9.2mm tall, it features applied hour indices; polished and satin-finished hands; double-opaline finish subdials; and a sapphire crystal caseback to show off the automatic cal. 868 with 70 hours of power reserve (and a beautiful gold rotor). Paired to a blue alligator strap with a pink-gold pin buckle, this is the type of fetching perpetual calendar that a suave secret agent might pair with a tuxedo.
Diameter: 39mm
Movement: Jaeger-LeCoultre cal. 868 automatic
Water Resistance: 50m
Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
Combining a perpetual calendar with a traditional, column wheel-activated chronograph, this entry in Vacheron Constantin’s Traditionnelle collection is proof positive of the maison’s absolute mastery of complications and the dress watch vertical. Housed in a hefty 43mm platinum case with paddle pushers and a sapphire crystal caseback, it features a beautiful salmon dial with dual chronograph registers, an incredible moon phase in platinum relief, a dual-register chronograph, calendar indications and a printed tachymeter scale around the dial periphery. The cal. 1142-QP, consisting of 324 components, provides 48 hours of power reserve via hand winding.
Diameter: 43mm
Movement: Vacheron Constantin cal. 1142-QP automatic
Water Resistance: 30m
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