24 Perpetual Calendar Watches from The World's Leading Luxury Watchmakers

The most sophisticated type of calendar watch, a perpetual calendar is endowed with a mechanical “memory” that enables it to record and display the time, day, date, month, and often the moon-phase, accurately for many years. The complex movement in a perpetual calendar compensates for the length of every month, including February in both leap years and non-leap-years, meaning that it should not need adjusting until the year 2100, which is the next annum in which the Gregorian calendar’s leap-year cycle is disrupted (it will be the first year since 1900 that is exactly divisible by 100 but not by 400, and thus not a leap year). As you'd expect, perpetual calendar watches (called "quantième perpétuel" in French) are extremely complicated in their mechanics and design, representing one of the highest pinnacles of high horology and priced accordingly. Throughout the modern wristwatch industry, only a relative handful of brands have mastered the art of the perpetual calendar: we showcase some of them, and their most impressive perpetual calendar timepieces, here. 

A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar

Introduced in 2021, the Lange 1 Perpetual Calendar adopts the new approach taken to perpetual calendar design that the Saxon maison established in 2012 with the Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar. In typical Lange fashion, the technical approach taken is complex in the service of user-friendly practicality. Its in-house, self-winding movement, Caliber L021.3, uses a peripheral month-indicator ring that advances every month rather than the 48-step cam control system — a more challenging mechanism that requires substantially more power than those traditionally found in perpetual calendar wristwatches. The ring encircles another meticulously reworked and aesthetically balanced iteration of the classic Lange 1 dial: retrograde day-of-the-week display at 9 o’clock; leap-year indication at 6 o’clock; an ornate and sophisticated moon-phase display at 7 o’clock; and the emblematic “outsize” date display at 10 o’clock, all floating harmoniously around the dominant hour-and-minute subdial at 3 o’clock. The automatic movement inside amasses a 50-hour power reserve and beats inside a 41.9mm-diameter case in either rose gold or white gold.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar

Audemars Piguet’s flagship product family, the Royal Oak, added a perpetual calendar model in 1981 and has released that high-complication classic in numerous iterations since, including this all-blue-ceramic version in 2022. The 41mm case features the hallmark octagonal bezel of the Royal Oak collection and the matching blue dial is decorated with the “Grande Tapisserie” pattern of subtly raised three-dimensional squares that has been a hallmark of the model since its debut. The calendar displays are on prominent subdials at 9 o’clock (day), 12 o’clock (month and leap-year), and 3 o’clock (date). In addition, an astronomical moon-phase display appears at 6 o’clock and the week of the year appears on a numbered 1-52 chapter ring surrounding the dial. Like its predecessors in precious-metal cases, the ceramic watch contains the self-winding Caliber 5134, carrying a minimum guaranteed power reserve of 40 hours. The emblematic integrated bracelet, with its blue ceramic links, fastens to the wrist with a clasp made of blackened, polished steel.

Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Perpetual Calendar

Brothers Louis-Victor and Célestin Baume founded Frères Baume in 1830 and partnered with Paul Mercier in 1918 to form the Baume & Mercier firm that we recognize today. Since joining the Richemont Group in 1988, Baume & Mercier has offered tastefully designed Swiss-made timepieces at solid values compared to many of its peers, and has even began equipping many of those watches with versions of its own in-house Baumatic movement. At the highest echelon of horological complexity for the brand is the Clifton Perpetual Calendar, whose well-balanced dial features subdial-type displays for the month and leap year at 12 o’clock, day of the week at 9 o’clock, date at 3 o’clock, and moon-phase at 6 o’clock. The modular version of the Baumatic caliber developed for this high complication is called Caliber BM13 and, in keeping with its level of complication, also boasts a high degree of decorations, visible through the model’s sapphire caseback, in addition to its five-day power reserve. While it is by leaps and bounds the most expensive timepiece in Baume & Mercier’s collection, the Baumatic Clifton Perpetual Calendar is one of the most attainable Swiss-made perpetual calendar watches out there, coming in under $25K.

Blancpain Villeret Quantième Perpétuel

Blancpain’s Villeret collection is named for the Swiss village where the historical manufacture was founded way back in 1735, and distinguished by classical design elements of earlier eras. The first Villeret models emerged in the 1980s, back when most other heritage Swiss watch manufacturers were either hibernating or struggling through the Quartz Crisis, and the collection continues to expand to this day, now encompassing an array of styles and complications. On the upper echelon of horological savoir faire is 2019’s Villeret Quantième Perpétuel 6656, in a 40-mm platinum case and limited to 88 boutique-exclusive pieces. The model’s sunray blue dial hosts its perpetual calendar elements in a sublimely symmetrical arrangement, with subdials at 3, 9 and 12 o’clock — for the date, day, and month/leap-year, respectively — and the Villeret’s familiar anthropomorphic moon-phase at 6 o’clock. Blancpain has installed the self-winding manufacture Caliber 5954 inside the case, showing off its a solid gold rotor behind a sapphire window. The round, polished case is subtly equipped with user-friendly under-lug correctors, which the wearer can use to easily set and reset the watch’s array of functions.

Breguet Classique Quantième Perpétual 7327

Founded in 1775 by legendary watchmaker and tourbillon inventor Abraham-Louis Breguet Breguet, Montres Breguet is today a paragon of horological innovation as well as historically influenced designs that hearken back to the pocket watches created by its eponym for clients that included Napoleon Bonaparte and other crowned heads of the day. Case in point, the recently released Classique 7327, a perpetual calendar that pays tribute to Breguet’s perpetuelle timepieces from the 1780s. Its dial is adorned with a hobnail Clous de Paris pattern and features a moon-phase between 1 and 2 o’clock with a realistic, hammered-surface moon on a blue lacquer sky;  the day, date and year in a trip of overlapping subdials in the dial’s lower half; a quarter-circle indicating the months between 10 and 11 o’clock with a retrograde hand; and the secret Breguet signature, a historical anti-counterfeiting elements, subtly etched in the dial between 11 and 12 as well as between 12 and 1. The 39mm case in rose-gold or white gold contains the ultra-thin Breguet Caliber 502.3, whose four-year mechanical “memory” is based on a gearing system from the hour wheel and a large central lever that drives the entire movement daily. Composed of 294 parts and offering a 45-hour power reserve, its gold rotor is engraved with a circular barleycorn motif and its bridges are embellished with côtes de Genève. 

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar

Italian watchmaker-jeweler Bulgari has made ultra-thin watches its stock-in-trade for the better part of a decade and has set or broken multiple records in its Octo Finissimo series, which now includes high complications like the perpetual calendar it introduced in 2021 — the world’s thinnest, with a 40mm titanium case that measures just 5.8mm thick. The model’s calendar displays are distinctly arranged in all-analog fashion, including a retrograde date display that dominates the upper half of the sandblast-finished dial and a pointer-type leap-year indicator that balances it out at the bottom. Two parallel subdials at 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock reveal the month and day, respectively, while the two central skeletonized hands display the time. The case is shaped in the familiar style of Bulgari’s Octo series, with angular lugs and sides topped by a round bezel; inside is the record-setting, automatic Caliber BVL 305, which self-winds by means of a micro-rotor and measures an astounding 2.75mm in thickness despite its array of functions. 

Chopard L.U.C Perpetual T

Named for the initials of founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard, the L.U.C collection represents Chopard’s pinnacle of high watchmaking — perhaps nowhere more impressively than in the L.U.C Perpetual T, released in 2020, which melds two of high horology’s most complex mechanisms, a tourbillon and a perpetual calendar, inside a 43-mm case made of 18k white gold that watchmaker-jeweler Chopard dubs “ethically sourced” — a signature precious metal that the company has been introducing steadily into both its watches and jewelry. Its copper-colored dial is also made of solid gold and decorated with a hand-engraved guilloché pattern that radiates not from the dial’s center but from the large date display at 12 o’clock. Along with that eye-catching date display, the dial hosts a month and leap-year display at 3 o’clock; the tourbillon, with a polished steel bridge and small seconds hand, at 6 o’clock; and the day-of-the-week and day-night display at 9 o’clock. The movement inside, Chopard’s in-house L.U.C Caliber 02.15-L, incorporates the brand’s patented Quattro technology, which uses four mainspring barrels to store an impressive nine-day power reserve — the analog indicator for which is found on the back side of the movement, glimpsed through a sapphire exhibition caseback.

F.P. Journe Octa Quantième Perpétuel

Francois-Paul Journe plied his trade as an independent watchmaker and restorer of complicated timepieces before starting his eponymous brand in 1999. Then as now, his motto is “Invenit et Fecit,” meaning “invented and made,” which means that all of his watches are both conceived and built under the same roof. F.P. Journe produces a limited number of timepieces each year and is known for cdistinctive aesthetic elements like the silk-rope-pattern crown on the cases and blued teardrop-shaped hands on the dials. Among Journe’s horological triumphs is the Octa Quantième Perpétuel, which puts an emphasis on easy readability with its clean, uncluttered dial with four large apertures — two for the day and month calendar, two for both digits of the large date display, a feature on many other F.P. Journe watches. A special system designed by Journe controls the instantaneous jump for each of the calendar features, accumulating energy to release at the moments whenever a date, day or month changes, and then slowing back down. The watch also emphasizes ease of use, with all corrections made via the three-position crown except for the quick correction of months, which uses a hidden ever beneath the lug at 1 o’clock. The months with 28, 29, 30 and 31 days are automatically taken into account, and leap years are indicated in the center of the dial, under the hour and minute hands. The movement, automatic Caliber FPJ 1300.3, holds a 120-hour power reserve, which can be seen on the dial in retrograde analog fashion at 9 o’clock. 

Frederique Constant Highlife Perpetual Calendar

Frederique Constant rolled out its original Highlife collection in 1999, shortly after the brand established itself, and revived it in a big way, after a long hiatus, in 2020. Modern Highlife models are defined by their curvilinear tonneau-shaped cases, integrated and interchangeable bracelets and straps, and a textured globe motif on the dial. The Highlife Perpetual Calendar is the most complex timepiece in the modern collection, housing Caliber FC-775,  the value-oriented brand’s first in-house-developed perpetual calendar movements, inside its 41-mm barrel-shaped case. The calendar functions are designed to be more user-friendly than most, settable and adjustable via inset buttons on the case: the button near 5 o’clock advances the moon-phase display (at 6 o’clock on the dial); another button at 10 o’clock simultaneously advances the day and date, on subdials at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock; and the one near 11 o’clock simultaneously adjusts the month and the leap year, displayed on the same subdial at 12 o’clock. The movement is also a marvel of minimalist complexity, consisting of 191 parts and measuring just 6.7 mm thick, while holding a power reserve of 38 hours.

Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar

Glashütte Original’s Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar sports an assortment of delicately balanced displays, combining indications for the time, weekday, month, and leap-year with the German luxury watchmaker’s own meticulously engineered moon-phase display and its hallmark Panorama Date. The 42mm case has discreetly placed correctors in its sides to make easy adjustments to the weekday, month, and moon-phase displays, along with a  “universal” corrector to set or change the day, date, and month simultaneously. The case is water-resistant to 50 meters; its varnished, silver-grained dial is bordered by a classical railroad chapter ring, hosts laser-cut, galvanic black hour indexes, plus Roman numerals at 6 and 12 o’clock. Both versions of the watch, in steel or rose gold, have striking, traditionally blued hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds. The movement inside, behind a sapphire caseback, is Caliber 36-02 — the base Caliber 36, introduced in the brand’s original Senator Excellence models in 2016, with an in-house-made perpetual calendar module. The case is water-resistant to 50 meters and its dial hosts laser-cut, galvanic black indices (Roman numerals at 6 and 12 o’clock) and a classical railroad chapter ring. In a bit of aesthetic subtlety, the leap year “4” numeral and the minute numerals are printed in black on the stainless steel model and in red on the rose-gold watch (pictured). Both versions have striking, traditionally blued hands for the hours, minutes, and seconds.

Greubel Forsey QP à Equation

Frenchman Robert Greubel and Brit Stephen Forsey teamed up in 2004 to establish this Swiss brand that occupies the highest echelon of complicated watchmaking. Greubel Forsey made an instant splash by introducing the world’s first watch with two tourbillons and has pushed the envelope of innovation ever since, particularly in its series of boldly complex “Invention Pieces.” The seventh of these, the QP à Équation, debuted in 2015; the most recent version (pictured) has an 18k rose gold case and chocolate-colored gold dial. What makes the watch special is its movement, equipped with an ingenious mechanism that Greubel Forsey calls a “mechanical computer” — a sub-assembly within the 624-part caliber partly inspired by the systems used in large astronomical clocks since the 15th century. The movement’s mechanical “brain” is composed of rotating, co-axial coded elements within a system of programmed movable sections, each of which is capable of generating its own indication in a cyclical, pre-programmed manner. This enables the movement to display all the indications of a perpetual calendar, each generated by its own co-axial coded element — date, day, month and four-digit year — along with seasons, equinoxes, solstices, and the equation of time — i.e., the measure of the difference between mean time and solar time — that lends the model its name. Despite its immense complexity, the watch is surprisingly simple to operate, with all its indications controlled by a single selector set into the crown. 

H. Moser & Cie. Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum

Headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland along with the larger and more well-known IWC,  H. Moser & Cie was founded in 1828 and relaunched in 2005. The modern Moser has garnered acclaim for its highly streamlined, minimalist aesthetic as well as its impressive technical acumen; both are on display in the watch that arguably defines the brand, its Perpetual Calendar, whose subtly complex design has been adapted into several variations since its debut. The latest and most noteworthy is the Endeavour Perpetual Calendar Tantalum Blue Enamel, which offers the rare combo of a tantalum case (Moser’s first) and an “Abyss blue” fumé dial executed in enamel with an eye-catching hammered texture. “Minimalist” barely begins to describe the dial, which achieves its unique look through a Grand Feu enameling process: two leaf-shaped central hands for hour and minute, small seconds at 6 o’clock, date at 3 o’clock, and subtle analog power reserve indicator at 9 o’clock, along with a double index marker at 12 o’clock for orientation. An additional, tiny center-mounted hand keeps track of the month on the same scale as the hours. Inside,the manually wound Caliber HMC 800 stores a weeklong power reserve while tracking the hour, minute, month, day, date and leap year, the latter of which can be read on the back of the movement through the sapphire caseback. 

Hermès Slim d'Hermès Quantième Perpétuel

Luxury leather-goods giant Hermès has come into its own as a purveyor of high watchmaking in recent years, as evidenced by the introduction of a bonafide perpetual calendar timepiece into its portfolio in 2015. The latest version of the Slim d’Hermès Quantième Perpétuel joined the brand’s elegant Slim d’Hermes family in 2021, distinguished by its anthracite-colored dial that features hour numerals in a Hemes-exclusive font created by Paris-based graphic designer Philippe Apeloig. Arranged harmoniously on the dial is a four-year display encompassing months and leap years at 9 o’clock; subdials for a dual-time/GMT function and date, at 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock, respectively; and a moon-phase display, with a white mother-of-pearl moon disk against an aventurine sky, at 3 o’clock. The watch’s assortment of functions is powered by an exclusive automatic movement that Hermes calls Caliber 1950, produced by the Swiss high-end movement specialist Vaucher. Enhancing the Vaucher base caliber is a perpetual calendar module from industry legend Jean-Marc Wiederrecht and his team at Aghenor. The complete package does justice to the understated thinness of Slim d’Hermes collection: Caliber 1950 measures just 4 mm thick, nestling perfectly into the 39mm case’s own 8.14mm-thick profile.

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar

IWC’s first Big Pilot’s watch, made for the German Air Force in 1940, basically defined the look of a classic military aviation watch and its return to the modern lineup in 2002 kicked off an entire family of Pilot’s timepieces that has taken center stage in the Schaffhausen brand’s portfolio. IWC has since flown its Big Pilot model to the most rarefied air of high complication with the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar, which contains the in-house Caliber 52615. The timepiece sports a stately 46.2-mm case and a complex dial with indications for the date, day, month, and four-digit year, plus an ultra-precise moon-phase display that depicts the moon as seen from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and which will deviate from the natural lunar cycle by just one day after 577.5 years. IWC even managed to fit a power-reserve indicator, for the watch’s lengthy seven-day running autonomy, on the same 3 o’clock subdial that hosts the 31-day analog date display. True to the Big Pilot’s utilitarian roots, the movement is robust and reliable, featuring IWC’s friction-resistant Pellaton winding system and a hacking seconds function. 

Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Perpetual Calendar

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Polaris collection, its sportiest product family, debuted in 2018 but really traces its origin back to 1968 and the influential, alarm-equipped divers’ watch JLC produced that year, the Memovox Polaris. The modern collection welcomes its highest complication yet, the Polaris Perpetual Calendar, in 2022. The watch’s gradient lacquered blue dial hosts an assortment of indications on its quartet of subdials - the month at 12 o’clock, day of the week at 3 o’clock, date at 9 o’clock, and at 6 o’clock a display of the moon’s phases in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The all-new manufacture movement that Jaeger-leCoultre developed to drive this impressive array of functions, the self-winding Caliber 868AA, beats inside a 42mm round case made of steel or rose gold, amassing an extended 70-hour power reserve. Consistently with the design language of the Polaris family, the case has two screw-down crowns, one to operate a rotating inner bezel that can be used to measure elapsed time, the other to wind and set the watch, along with a single pusher to adjust the calendar functions.

MB&F Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO

MB&F stands for “Max Büsser and Friends,” and since its launch in 2005 it has been a workshop for Maximillian Büsser, a former executive at Jaeger-LeCoultre and onetime CEO of Harry Winston’s Timepiece Division, to apply his considerable engineering chops and artistic vision to create “Horological Machines” that are wildly different from anything seen before in the timepiece arena. Case in point: the Legacy Machine Perpetual EVO (LM Perpetual EVO for short), which upon its release in 2020 became the first watch with a case made of zirconium. Subsequent versions of the watch use other metals, including grade 5 titanium, and feature a palette of vibrant colors on the CVD dial plate. The LM Perpetual EVO’s 44-mm case boasts a “no-bezel” construction that opens  up the openworked dial’s architecture and has a domed sapphire crystal fused directly to the case by thermal bonding. The perpetual calendar’s adjustment pushers have been ideally designed for tactile comfort and ease of use. The movement, designed and developed in cooperation with Irish independent watchmaker Stephen McDonnell, is built entirely from the ground up — no base caliber, no module — and boasts many of its most visually arresting elements directly on the dial side, including its large, center-mounted balance wheel.

Montblanc Heritage Perpetual Calendar

Montblanc, founded in 1906 in Hamburg, Germany, has a longstanding and well-deserved reputation as a purveyor of high-luxury pens, and the company has been striving to apply the same standards to its relatively young watchmaking division, which sprung up in 1997. The brand’s historically influenced Heritage collection welcomed a perpetual calendar model in 2019, with a 40mm round case and an in-house movement, the self-winding Montblanc Caliber MB 29.22. The three-register dial with openworked sword hands displays the day, date, month, moon-phase, and leap-year status on large subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, and also hosts an additional shortened hand to indicate a second time zone in 24-hour time. The movement, which Montblanc’s engineers took three years to develop, uses a construction based on wheels rather than the levers found in most perpetual calendar movements, enabling the wearer to set the watch in both directions, and includes a safety feature that prevents time-setting between 8 PM and 12 midnight, the window in which the correctors are locked, and thus avoiding damage to the movement. 

Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar

Panerai is known for a bold, stripped-down military aesthetic in even its more complicated watches, and the first perpetual calendar to join its flagship Luminor collection carries on the tradition admirably — and even adds a dual-time-zone display. The 44-mm case, constructed in either Goldtech or Platinumtech, two proprietary Panerai precious-metal alloys, features the familiar cushion shape and patented Safety Lock crown protection device that helps ensure the watch’s 50-meter water resistance. The case middle is brushed while the bezel has a polished finish. The sun-brushed “sandwich” dial is decidedly minimalist and eminently legible in its layout despite the multiple functions enabled by the in-house Caliber P.4100 inside: hours and minutes on central hands, plus a GMT hand in the center; \day and date in a double window at 3 o’clock, and a combined small seconds/day-night indicator at 9 o’clock. The only outward acknowledgement of the timepiece’s inner complexity is the Italian-language “Calendario Perpetuo” inscription at 6 o’clock. A sapphire caseback reveals the self-winding movement, upon which the month, year, and leap year status, plus the remaining power reserve, can all be read. Also on display is an off-centered, solid gold micro-rotor that supplies the movement with its three-day power reserve. 

Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Quantième Perpétuel Rétrograde

Parmigiani’s Toric collection is based on the first wristwatch designed by its eponymous founder, restoration specialist Michel Parmigiani, and takes many aesthetic cues from the so-called Golden Ratio of proportions found in nature. The Toric Quantième Perpétuel Rétrograde is a perpetual calendar with a retrograde date and an ultra-precise moon-phase. Its polished gold case measures 42.5mm and features the collection’s characteristic hand-knurled bezel. The crown is topped with a blue cabochon, and the slate-gray dial boasts the decorative radiating pinecone guilloché finish that adorns several of Parmigiani’s most elegantly appointed timepieces. Inside the case, behind a sapphire caseback, is Parmigiani’s self-winding manufacture Caliber PF333, which drives the indications on the dial: a semicircular date scale around the edge, with the date indicated by a red-tipped, central retrograde hand; hours and minutes on partially skeletonized javelin-shaped gold hands; day and month in two parallel windows in the center; leap-year indication via a Roman numeral in a small round window at 12 o’clock; and the a moon-phase at 6 o’clock on an aventurine disk with a starry sky motif and two moons representing both hemispheres.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5270

Combining perpetual calendars with chronographs is a Patek Philippe specialty, and one that few other watchmakers even attempt. Patek was the first to merge these complications in a wristwatch, with the Ref. 1518 all the way back in 1941. From this groundbreaking design sprung all of the perpetual calendar-chronograph models that followed, including the one whose look most famously defines that grand complication, the classic Ref. 5970 (pictured), introduced in 2004. Its successor, Ref. 5270, came in 2011 and featured a similar dial layout but a slightly larger 41mm gold case. The opaline dial hosts gold leaf hands, day and month in windows below 12 o’clock, subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock for elapsed minutes and running seconds, and a combined analog date display/moon-phase at 6 o’clock, accompanied by day-night and leap-year indications. The dial is busy yet eminently readable, with a tachymeter scale occupying the periphery. Like all Patek Philippe watches, it features a manufacture movement inside, Caliber CH 29-535 PS Q, which packs a complex split-seconds chronograph along with an ultra-thin calendar mechanism.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5940

Patek Philippe allows the perpetual calendar complication to take center stage — minus the added chronograph functions — in the cushion-shaped Ref. 5940, an emblematic watch from the Swiss manufacture with a distinctive vintage flair. Introduced in 2012 in yellow gold, and subsequently in other precious metal variations, the watch has an elegantly curving case, measuring 37mm by 44.6mm in diameter and only 8.7mm thick, and houses the similarly ultra-thin in-house Caliber 240 Q. This movement, which has been in use in Patek Philippe’s complicated watches since 1977, has been optimized with a gold micro-rotor and a 48-hour power reserve. The silvery dial is notable for its golden Breguet numerals and its tricompax layout of calendar displays: month and leap-year at 3 o’clock, date and moon-phase at 6 o’clock, weekday and 24-hour display at 9 o’clock, all swept over by gold leaf hands. 

Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar

While it’s more widely known for its jewelry these days, Piaget, founded in the small Swiss village of La Cote-aux-Fées by Georges Piaget in 1874, has been a watchmaker from the beginning; its original trade was making movements, and the company began making complete watches in 1911. Piaget’s Polo watch, introduced on the cusp of the 1980s, became an iconic timepiece in that decade, and its signature style has been updated for the 21st Century. The first perpetual calendar in the Polo collection has a 42mm stainless steel case in the Polo’s familiar cushion-shaped dimensions with a variety of brushed and polished finishes. The model pictured sports a bright green dial with a carefully arranged layout of subdials for the calendar indications: month and leap year at 12 o’clock, analog date at 3 o’clock, day of the week at 9 o’clock, and moon-phase at 6 o’clock. The in-house movement responsible for all these functions is the automatic Caliber 1255P, based on Piaget’s ultra-thin base Caliber 1200P, whose 4mm-thick profile fits easily within the 8.65mm case. 

Vacheron Constantin Overseas Perpetual Calendar

For its 220th anniversary in 1977, Vacheron Constantin released the 222 model (Ref. 44018), deemed radical at the time for its use of a monobloc steel case with scalloped, screw-down bezel and its integrated steel bracelet with hexagonal center links. The so-called “Triple Two” was short-lived in its original release, but its spirit and many of its elements were resurrected in the first Vacheron Constantin Overseas in 1996, the sport-luxury collection widely regarded as its modern successor. The Overseas Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin joined the collection in 2016 and lives up to its name with a 41.5mm gold case that measures just 8.1mm thick.The bright blue dial features an analog date at 3 o’clock; a moon-phase at 6 o’clock; an analog day indicator at 9 o’clock; and an unusual, integrated four-year month counter at 12 o’clock that tracks the leap year without adding an additional indicator for it. Behind the complex dial beats Vacheron’s manufacture Caliber 1120 QP/1, with a 40-hour power reserve, an array of haute horlogerie finishes, and a 22k-gold, skeletonized rotor with a compass rose engraving swinging around the outermost edge. The case has the Overseas collection’s hallmark layered bezel, inspired by the Maltese cross that has long been the Genevan watchmaker’s emblem, and an easily customizable construction with a gold bracelet, blue alligator strap, and blue rubber strap all included. 

Vacheron Constantin Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar

Vacheron’s Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar is quite simply the most “perpetual” of any perpetual calendar out there, incorporating a patented technology that enables it to potentially run for at least 65 days without winding or re-setting. The watch’s groundbreaking movement, Caliber 3610, uses two separate balances oscillating at two frequencies — an energy-saving 8,640 vph and a speedy 36,000 vph — and a mode selector that enables the wearer to switch from one to the other. The slower “Standby” mode can be activated when the watch is not worn for extended periods. The balances are driven by a single mainspring barrel for efficient energy distribution, and the balance wheels, only one of which can operate at a time, are linked by a differential. The openworked dial hosts both a dual-scale power reserve indicator in a single subdial at 12 o’clock and a mode indicator at 9 o’clock; the day and date appear in parallel subdials in the dial’s lower half, with the leap-year status sandwiched between them on another smaller subdial. The main hour and minute hands and indexes are in white gold, and the 42.5mm case is made of 950 platinum and checks in at a relatively slender 12.3mm thick despite the array of complication and horological sophistication offered by its inner mechanism.