Patek Philippe

PP 5550P Advanced Research Perpetual Calendar – some live pictures …

 

It was already introduced in 2011 and we have seen it here several times. Our dear Dje wrote an interesting post about it
(April 2011; please use our search function if you are interested in more technical details).

There have been some more posts here and additionally I was reading about the watch in several magazines, press text and so on.

How could it happen that I missed two things – at least?

 

Let´s start from the beginning

 

Technical (key) features :

GyromaxSi balance wheel

Pulsomax escapement

Spiromax balance spring

GyromaxSi + Pulsomax + Spiromax=Oscillomax

One of the benefits is a plus of 50% power reserve, compared to a regular cal. 240 Q.

The movement looks like something well-known for PP connoisseurs, except the new “high tech features”.

Anything else?

Well, let´s compare the Ref. 5550 with another perpetual calendar/family member the Ref. 5140.

Once more, anything else to observe?

5550

5140

No, I don´t talk about the “loupe”.

What I totally missed so far is …

… the different shape of the balance cock.

Of course it is just a tiny detail, but we talk about Haute Horlogerie and therefore tiny details make huge differences – quite often. 

Doesn´t it look more vintage and/or sophisticated? An Advanced Research watch with a “vintage style” balance cock.
Nothing was mentioned about in the official press text, but for sure it was part of their requirements specification.
I really like that kind of attention to details, by Patek Philippe.

 

On more comparison – dial side.

5550 vs 5140

5550

5140

Ref. 5550 - the silvered brushed finish of the dial is just beautiful and we have seen it at other Advanced Research
watches before. The gold indexes and hands complement the dial very well. Once more, "vintage" comes to my mind.

In my book I prefer the luminous hands over the Dauphine hands and not only because of readability, at night.

I was aware of the latter details, but I was not aware what would happen when I put it on my wrist.

What do you think, what happened?

Surprise, surprise I fall in love with a perpetual calendar. Me, who just claimed that he is not seriously interested in that complication.

The size was perfect on my wrist and the charm was just soooo addictive. It was almost impossible to take it away from my wrist.

So what I was missing so far is the different shape of the balance cock and the very addictive charm in general.

Never say, never … and never ever judge a watch until you saw it on your wrist

 

Oliver