Patek Philippe

The ref 5035 may be one of the sleeper watches to buy of our era, and it is just starting to attract the attention it deserves. It was the world’s first annual calendar wristwatch. Released in 1996, this watch was central to Patek Philippe’s strategy of introducing ‘small complications’ in the late 1990s. At the time, there was a noticeable jump in price between a time-only and a complicated watch, and this was a way for the brand to fill the price difference in between and open the brand up to a new generation of collectors. Phillipe Stern wanted to provide a complication that was useful, rather than just another complication that would only be used occasionally, and thus the annual calendar wristwatch was created. The newly introduced caliber 315/198 allowed for the calendar to take longer months into account and to be set only once a year. The ref. 5035 was made in yellow, white, pink gold and platinum, and available in 2500 pieces in each metal, before it was discontinued in 2005.