High polished applied Breguet numerals, pomme hands, feuille hands, sigma dial, rose gold, and microtor, all words that are sure to get any watch collector’s heart racing, and attributes that most any will find objectively beautiful. In the reference 5040, you get all of those, and then some. Take Patek’s first serially produced perpetual calendar movement, an ultra-thin, 22K gold microtor that is both beautiful and robust and reliable. The beautiful and very lovely wearing Tortue case, which is said to be monobloc in construction, absent of any hard lines or transitions, save for the sapphire case back. Or the nerdy details, like an early series example with the hallmarks well preserved on the side of the case and the subtle gradient in the 24-hour subdial. This particular example of the reference 5040 perpetual calendar offers so, so much, and delivers in the most elegant way.

Case: The 35 x 42 x 9 mm rose gold case is in excellent condition with some light surface swirls highlighted (exaggerated) in the polished case surfaces, as photographed. With its elongated shape but manageable lug to lug measurement, the Tortue case wears exceptionally well due to the slight downward curvature of the case and lugs and the profile. Similar to a 5065 aquanaut, it’s a lovely design that works so well across wrist sizes with a lot of presence, but still fitting and not too big for smaller wrists. This example is an earlier or “first series” case with the hallmarks on the 9 o’clock side, flanking the calendar corrector.

Dial: An absolutely stunning, every so subtly vertically brushed silver dial that almost takes on a champagne appearance due to the warmth of the applied rose gold numerals and rose gold hands. The dial is free from any imperfections, and features a correct early style dial with day/night gradient in the 24-hour register and stepped registers at 3 and 9.

Movement: The caliber 240Q is a fan favorite, most popular in the adjacent (and significantly higher priced) 3940 perpetual calendar, it was Patek’s first serially produced perpetual calendar movement utilizing the robust microtor automatic movement found in the 5026J listed here. The Geneva seal movement exhibits classic, beautiful finishing and fills the case perfectly. The watch is winding, setting, and running smoothly, at approximately +5 s/d, averaged across 6 positions.

Includes: The watch is presented on a Patek Philippe signed strap with matching rose gold pin buckle. The original Certificate of Origin is included noting a March 21, 1998 date of sale.