Once a year, a small ritual
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
Patek patented the annual calendar in 1996 with the ref. 5035, and the rest of the industry spent the following decade quietly copying the idea. It is a beautifully practical notion: a calendar that knows the difference between thirty and thirty-one days, so you only have to correct it once a year, on the first of March, when February has had its say.
The 5396 is the most classical expression of it, introduced in 2006. Day and month sit in two windows below twelve, the date in a small window above the moon phase at six, and there is a 24-hour indicator alongside the moon so you can tell whether the watch thinks it is midnight or midday when you set it. The case is white gold, 38.5 mm across and 11.2 mm thick, and this blue dial is the better choice to my eye, warmer than the usual silver and quietly expensive in a way gold watches rarely manage. Inside is the automatic 26-330 S QA LU 24H, open to view.
The criticism is the old one. Forty-five hours is not much for a calendar watch, and an annual calendar that runs down in your drawer becomes a puzzle of day, date, month and moon to be set in the correct order. If you rotate between several watches, buy a winder or accept the ritual. At fifty-five to fifty-eight thousand dollars it is also well above the Jaeger perpetual, which does more for less, though without the Patek name on the dial or its resale.
For a man who wears one watch most days and wants it to be a Patek with something to say, I can think of very few better choices. It looks like it was made for him in 1950 and has simply waited.