It’s not every day that Patek Philippe offers up a watch with a titanium case. So when one comes up, it garners a fair amount of attention. The Patek Philippe Annual Calendar 5396T-010 is such a watch. But don’t bother rushing to your local retailer to put in an order. This particular edition was built specifically for the annual auction of Swiss charity organization Children Action. By the time the March 9th auction closed and the dust had settled, this unique watch had sold for an eye-popping CHF 1 million (about CA$ 1.26 million or US$ 1 million).
Introduced in 1996 and patented by Patek Philippe, the Annual Calendar is the first timekeeping mechanism that automatically displays the month, the day of the week, and the correct date under consideration of months with 30 and 31 days, so it must be adjusted only once a year on March 1.
Its construction represented a formidable challenge. To eliminate springs and levers to the greatest possible extent, Patek Philippe’s engineers designed an architecture that relies mostly on wheels and pinions. The caliber 324 S QA LU 24H movement consists of 347 parts, whereas a conventional perpetual calendar with a moon-phase display needs only about 280 components.
The Reference 5396T-010 sports a 38.5mm titanium case and a sapphire-crystal case back marked with “Children Action 2015.” The dial sports a silvery gray, vertical satin finish with blue hands and accents. It comes with a hand-stitched alligator leather strap with titanium buckle.
Acknowledging that the price was likely inflated due to it being sold at a charity event, it’s clear that the very high-end luxury watch market has little to worry about from smartwatches for now. But the same likely does not hold true for lower segments.
Sources : Patek Philippe // Hodinkee