REF. 5316P-001, MOVEMENT NO. 5'176'185, CASE NO. 6’218‘989, CIRCA 2018

Reference 5316P, is one of the marvels of Patek Philippe’s contemporary ‘Grand Complication’ timepieces and undoubtedly one of the greatest Patek Philippe watches of the 21^st century. Not only an awe-inspiring technical masterpiece, it is also extremely scarce, few collectors have had the opportunity to see or handle one of these exceptional complications. Due to the immense skills and time required to produce a watch of this nature, very few pieces have been made and naturally, only Patek Philippe’s most important clients were offered or could apply for the chance to own an example of this spectacular watch.

Christie’s is greatly honoured to present this remarkable tourbillon perpetual calendar minute repeater with retrograde date to international collectors, offering the exceptional opportunity to acquire a timepiece featuring three of Patek Philippe’s most significant complications. The present watch is, to the best of our knowledge, only the second example of reference 5316P-001 to be presented at auction since the model was introduced in 2017. Moreover, it is presented in pristine, almost new condition and complete with all accessories.

Introduced in 2017 as an evolution of the Grand Complication line, reference 5316P-001 was only produced in a platinum case with a signature diamond set into the side of the case at 6 o'clock, larger than its predecessors at 40.2mm, it features a black enamel dial. A successor of the prestigious references 5016, and 5216, it inherited the same movement, the manually wound caliber R TO 27 PS QR with 48-hour power reserve. With minute repeater, retrograde date perpetual calendar, tourbillon and moon phases, reference 5316 is truly a landmark of horological high complication that succeeds equally in being a watch of supreme elegance and proportion. It was quietly discontinued in 2023.

Reference 5316 has a striking and compelling aesthetic and a quite incredibly complex movement, the caliber R TO 27 PS QR. An extraordinary tour-de-force of watchmaking at the highest level, it features a perpetual calendar mechanism that is one of the most sophisticated in existence whereby the calendar functions are instantaneous so that all the calendar displays advance at precisely the same time.

In addition to the perpetual calendar, reference 5316P also unites the audible charms of a two-gong minute repeater with the gravity-defying precision of a tourbillon escapement. The minute repeating mechanism is one of the most challenging and expensive for modern watchmakers to create, not only in the miniaturization of the mechanism but also in its acoustic qualities and tone. When the slide is activated on the side of the case, it strikes the hours, quarter-hours and minutes on two finely tuned coiled gongs. For the 5316P, the larger case volume helps improve the acoustic resonance of the minute repeater's gongs. Understated elegance has always been a hallmark of Patek Philippe and rather than display the revolving tourbillon cage, it is in fact concealed, and for a very practical reason - the oil used to lubricate the mechanism is sensitive to ultraviolet rays and will decompose when exposed to daylight, thus losing its beneficial tribological properties. A fascinating aspect of reference 5316 is that Patek Philippe submitted each watch of the series to be tested for precision timekeeping and superlative accuracy – a remarkable achievement in a highly complicated watch because any additional function in a watch, such as minute repeating, often adversely affects its timekeeping qualities. The rationale for this was that Patek Philippe treats the tourbillon, not as a novelty, but as a serious chronometric device. For many years, Patek Philippe was the only brand to subject their tourbillon watches to such rigorous testing.