REF. 5013R-001, MOVEMENT NO. 1'908'037, CASE NO. 2'928'004, CIRCA 1999

Part of Patek Philippe's "Grand Complication" series, reference 5013 is the first minute repeating wristwatch featuring an automatic movement combined with a perpetual calendar and retrograde date. The retrograde date hand moves along a 270 degree arc and at midnight of the last day of each month, it flies back to the first of the month. During this precisely controlled fly-back phase, the hand is disconnected from the drive train and is cleverly captured back on the 1st of the month to ensure it does not slip forward by a day. At the time of its introduction in 1992, it was the firm's most complicated wristwatch ever made. It is fitted with Patek Philippe's legendary calibre R 27 PS QR, self-winding with minute repeating, distinguished by a chime of exceptional quality. Extensive researches in metallurgy and acoustics where necessary to achieve a sound of such perfection and unrivalled purity.