Long regarded as well-established and comfortable with its characteristics, the perpetual calendar is currently experiencing a technical and aesthetic revival designed to reassert its longevity.
Classics are intended to endure, which is precisely why they evolve, adapt and explore new realms of possibility. The new models unveiled since the start of 2025 and notably during Watches and Wonders Geneva confirm that this is indeed the case for one of the key horological complications. The perpetual calendar has entered a period of effervescence that is all the more surprising in that some had regarded it as already set in stone, as its definition certainly is. It is a mechanism capable of displaying the date regardless of varying month lengths of 28, 29, 30 or 31 days according to the Gregorian calendar’s various rules and exceptions. Building on this foundation, it can also display the day, month, type of year (leap year or not) and other refinements that make it so appealing. Watchmaking applications are indeed always flexible, especially when brands decide to stretch them. When it comes to the calendar or perpetual calendar, this relates to its operation, adjustment, display and more generally its style.
VARIABLE DEGREES OF OPENNESS
For years, it has been by far the most affordable of all. Frederique Constant’s perpetual calendar has come up with a salmon-toned dial for the 2025 edition, adding a chic touch to its Classic Perpetual Calendar. And chic, in its purest form, is in fact the word that immediately springs to mind upon seeing the Toric Perpetual Calendar. Since updating this collection in 2024, Parmigiani Fleurier, a specialist in calendars and notably ‘exotic’ ones, has enhanced it with one of its signature complications. In this instance, the calendar in question is Gregorian and extremely refined, with two subdials each bearing two concentric indications minimally occupying the frosted gold surface. The perpetual calendar complication thus navigates between a stripped back and more dense appearance such as the Chopard L.U.C Lunar One, whose guilloché dial radiates from the moon, or the semi open-worked version by Vacheron Constantin.
By opening up the surface of the Traditionnelle Perpetual Calendar Retrograde Date Openface, the Maison reveals the wealth of levers, cams, jumper springs and strangely shaped wheels driving this fascinating complication. The information on the sapphire display discs stands out against blue markers that match the retrograde date hand’s color. Perpetual calendars are not averse to multiplying the number of display areas and combining with other complications. More than any other, this function comes in the form of a module. which is embedded more or less deeply into the base movements. The combinations are therefore endless and this year, A. Lange & Söhne has chosen to pair a perpetual calendar with a minute repeater. Framed by the platinum case of the Minute Repeater Perpetual, the four display spaces shine with the shimmer of a black Grand Feu enamel dial highlighted by white gold Roman numerals.
AT A MERE TOUCH
However, if one were to choose this genre’s most modern expression, it would be that of Audemars Piguet who have decided to tackle the weak point of perpetual calendars: i.e. date setting. This process involves adjusting three or four indications and in the case of the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 41, six non-synchronized displays. Perpetual calendars usually use correctors located in caseband recesses and which are operated by correcting styluses. Very few movements are entirely controlled via the extremely user-friendly appendage dedicated to corrections: the crown. Audemars Piguet has surpassed IWC, Ulysse Nar- din and Greubel Forsey’s methods by enabling all adjustments to be performed using the crown.
Caliber 7138 achieves this by offering four posi-tions, the last of which is only accessible after pulling the winding stem out completely and pushing it back in, like a second encore… This is combined with the crown’s rotational direction that further increases the possibilities. Affording even greater ease of use, albeit in a completely different format that changes the nature of the feat, Patek Philippe’s Reference 27000M-001 desk clock – of which the first example was donated to Only Watch in 2021 – has now joined the current collection. To set the perpetual calendar on this model, the user can simply select the desired date using the large pushers marked D, M, W or a crescent moon. Exactly the kind of simplicity made possible by a timepiece measuring 130 by 80mm !
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