Four Perpetual Delights To Cherish Forever

A perpetual calendar remains one of the most coveted complications. While there is in today’s high-tech world no particular need anymore for such a mechanical timepiece, its complexity remains mesmerizing. Unlike an annual calendar, does a perpetual one not even need adjusting in the leap years. This unique feature is very challenging to make and means that, when it runs continuously, it doesn’t need manual adjustment for decades, sometimes even centuries. Watch brands also love to take this esteemed complication to the next level, from both a technical as well as an aesthetical point of view. The following four are perfect examples of this and crafted to be cherished forever.

Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar
Panerai doesn’t have a whole lot of history when it comes to the perpetual calendar, yet when they introduce one, they do it right. The Luminor Perpetual Calendar measures 44mm in diameter and is equipped with the signature crown protection. It is available in either Platiumtech, with a green dial, or pink gold, combined with a blue dial. It is not your average interpretation of this complication, as Panerai kept it very practical. This means that you see the day and date on the dial side, along a second time zone and am/pm indicator.  The back shows further the month, leap year, year, and power reserve. This makes the Panerai Luminor Perpetual Calendar a rare machine, completely in line with the DNA of the brand.

Bovet Virtuoso VII
Bovet is another brand that also enjoys taking roads less traveled. With the Virtuoso VII, they created a perpetual calendar that has a dial on both sides and can be worn on the wrist and utilized as a desk clock or pocket watch thanks to the patented Amadéo® convertible system. Both dials feature an intricate guilloche pattern in a stunning shade of green, with plenty of space left to highlight the other features or give an insight into this watch’s mechanics. While windows indicate the day and month, the date itself has a retrograde scale, indicated by an arrow coming from behind the dial. The leap year indicator takes on the twelve o’clock position, and we find the power reserve indicator on the opposite side. While this watch only has a single mainspring barrel, its power reserve is still a generous 5-days.

Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar
Also in Germany, there is a longstanding tradition of making watches with a perpetual calendar. While rooted in heritage, Glashütte Original loves to apply a modern take on this complication with the Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar. Offered in stainless steel, even with the optional stainless steel bracelet, does this watch have a distinctly sportive side. Thanks to its diameter of 42mm, is there plenty of space to show all the calendar functions, which includes the traditional oversized date of the brand. It is fitted with manufacture caliber 36-02, equipped with the traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate, and modern features such as a silicon balance spring.

Parmigiani Toric Quantieme Perpetual Retrograde
Just like the Bovet, does also this Parmigiani indicate the day on a retrograde scale. Here it offers a nice contrast with the rich guilloche and the knurled bezel that is one of the hallmarks of the Toric collection. Day and month are indicated through modest windows, and the moon phase on this watch shows both the northern and southern hemispheres. That is not all that is special about it, as it is so precise that it only needs manual adjusting once every 122 years. A sapphire insert in the caseback shows the beautifully decorated gold rotor and the back of caliber PF333, which offers a power reserve of 50-hours.