The secret is in the back
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
Run a fingernail round the caseback of a 5227 and you will find a hinge you can barely see. Press in the right place and a gold lid swings open on the sapphire beneath, and there is the 324 S C, beating away like a secret. It is the officer's caseback of the old military pocket watches, reworked with invisible hinges, and it is the most private pleasure in the Patek catalogue.
Otherwise the 5227G is a classic Calatrava with a date: white gold, 39 mm, 9.2 mm, a white lacquered dial, a leather strap, 45 hours, 30 m. It has been in the range since 2013 and has aged well.
The trouble is the price. At thirty-six to thirty-eight thousand dollars it costs a few thousand more than the 6119, and for that you get an automatic movement, a date and a lid. Purists prefer the hand-wound watch without the window, and I am a purist. But I have also met collectors who bought the 5227 entirely for the hinge, and I understood them perfectly.