WATCH
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP:
RED GOLD ‘SENATOR
EXCELLENCE PERPETUAL
CALENDAR’, $49,300,
BY GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL;
EVEROSE GOLD ‘CELLINI
MOONPHASE’, $33,900, BY
ROLEX; GOLD ‘CLASSIQUE
7787’, $38,200, BY
BREGUET; WHITE GOLD
‘REF. 5320G’, $107, 600,
BY PATEK PHILIPPE AT
KENNEDY BOUTIQUE.To the
moon
and
back
P
erpetual calendar watches
predict the future.
Programmed for years to
come, they display the day,
date and month accurately for a
century, taking into account leap
years, without the need for manual correction.
Having developed the first perpetual
calendar wristwatch in 1925, Patek Philippe
has spent the ensuing decades making the
complication its own. Indeed, many of the
most expensive watches ever sold at auction
are Patek Philippe perpetual calendars.
This year’s ‘Ref. 5320G’ is a direct
descendant of the originals – from the
‘19’975’ in 1925 to the ‘Ref. 1518’ and ‘Ref.
1526’ of the early ’40s – with day and month
apertures at 12 o’clock and a moonphase and
date dial at six o’clock. The modern 40mm
white gold iteration has been updated with
a leap year indication between four and five
o’clock, and a day-night indicator betweenAnyone with ambitions to be a pilot, Ball’s new ‘Engineer
III Bronze Star’ will garner kudos in the cockpit.
Everyone else happy just to feign pilot status through
what’s strapped to their wrist, this piece is for you
too. Limited to 3000 pieces, the 43mm bronze case
eludes manliness, houses its own automatic caliber
‘RR1102’ while the numeral hour markers and seconds
hand illuminate without contact from any light. Plus, its
SpringLOCK and Amortiser anti-shock systems help
provide accurate timekeeping for anyone actually
realising said pilot dreams. $3595; ballwatch.comFLIGHT
MODE
seven and eight o’clock. A cream lacquer
dial completes the vintage aesthetic.
In 2014, Rolex reintroduced its ‘Cellini’
collection. This year the brand bolsters
the family with a perpetual calendar, a first
since the ’50s. Astronomically accurate for
122 years, the ‘Cellini Moonphase’ features
a blue enamelled disk at six o’clock, on which
the brand has applied a full moon made of
meteorite, which rotates in time with the
lunar cycle. A centre hand with a crescent
moon at its tip points towards a date ring
around the watch’s dial.
Other standout moonphases this
year include Breguet’s supremely
elegant ‘Classique 7787’, now available
in 18-carat white gold, and Glashütte
Original’s ‘Senator Excellence
Perpetual Calendar’, sporting the
brand’s characteristic oversized date
window at four o’clock. patek.com; rolex.com;
breguet.com; glashuette-original.comP I L O T