Patek Philippe: Nautilus Perpetual Calendar 5740G
22 May 2018Patek Philippe presents the first grand complication in the Nautilus line, showcasing an analog perpetual calendar. A unique combination of casual sportiness and elegance with a 18K white-gold case and a calendar that automatically recognizes the number of days in each month, including the periodically recurring 29th of February.
Thanks to the ultra-thin self-winding caliber 240 movement, a recessed 22K gold minirotor and a particularly slender calendar module, the 8.32 mm high case – it is water resistant to 60 meters – is remarkably svelte. In fact, it is Patek Philippe’s thinnest perpetual calendar. The architecture of the movement and its refined finissage, including the bridges with chamfered and polished edges as well as the Calatrava cross engraving on the winding rotor, can be admired through the sapphire-crystal display back.
The characteristic design of the bezel is emphasized by vertically satin finished surfaces that contrast against polished chamfers. The dial is decorated with raised horizontal embossing, a typical facet ofmen’s Nautilus watches, and features the same sunburst blue that graced the versions released on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Nautilus in 2016. The porthole-inspired case design gave this model its name. Legibility in daylight and in the dark is optimized with broad hour and minute hands as well as the applied white-gold hour markers with luminescent coatings. The three subsidiary dials of the perpetual calendar with analog displays (day of the week and 24-hour dial at 9 o’clock, month and leap-year cycle at 3 o’clock, date and moon phases at 6 o’clock) are integrated in the subtly rounded octagon of the dial. The subdial for the date, the most important calendar indication, is slightly larger than the two others. The 24-hour display simplifies calendar settings. The moon-phase display is extremely precise. It is controlled by a mechanism that deviates from the actual position of the moon by merely one day every 122 years.
The correctors of the perpetual calendar (day correction at 9 o’clock, date correction between 11 and 12 o’clock, month correction between 12 and 1 o’clock, moon-phase correction at 6 o’clock) were optimally positioned with an ingenious system of deflection mechanisms and seamlessly integrated in the Nautilus case design.
The white-gold bracelet, also integrated in the case, echoes the finissage of the case and bezel, alternating polished central links with satin-finished lateral links. To improve wearing comfort, Patek Philippe has introduced a totally new, patented fold-over clasp. It features four independent catches to optimize opening and closing and to prevent the unintended release of either of the two clasp segments. (Price CHF 105.000)
