Patek Philippe

I joined this Forum a couple weeks ago, stumbling across it while doing research on the Patek Philippe Reference 3940. I have been interested in watches since college days (a long long time ago). The first watches I acquired, thanks to my parents, were 1980s fashion pieces from Movado and Ebel, finally learning 10 years later, in the 1990s that there was a very special watchmaker named Patek Philippe. As I turned 40 I became determined that I would purchase a Patek as soon as possible.

My chance came on a family holiday in 2002 to St. Thomas. I visited the local Patek Authorized Dealer at the time, my first opportunity to actually see the watches in person. I remember seeing a World Time on display, a 5110J, and falling madly in love. I felt it was out of my price range, so after looking at the widely advertised 3919J my wife convinced me to chose the 5022G-001 instead. 

I have enjoyed that watch through the years, but due to it's small size and other factors I wear it rarely, at formal events mainly. Since then I've acquired two other Patek Philippe references -- the 5146G-001 from the Salon in London, and finally my World Time 5230R from an AD in Florida two years ago. That brought to THREE the number of Patek Philippe watches in my collection. Along the way I've acquired six other watches from Rolex, JLC, Panerai, and Cartier (2), which along with a vintage Omega my father gave me for my 40th birthday brought my collection to NINE  fairly diverse pieces.

As a person who wears Hawaiian shirts to the office and bespoke tailoring out to bars, I don't put much stock in the sport/dress watch distinction. As a watch collection grows, I find that my mood and some kind of instinctive inner voice tells me what watch to wear in the morning. In this Lockdown Era, I've had the chance to change watches multiple times throughout the day, as a boredom release and learning exercise to fine tune my collecting tastes and goals. What has emerged is a conviction that I want to focus my collecting around Patek Philippe, and to gain as much knowledge about this incredible watchmaker as possible. My first subject and acquisition in this regard would be the Perpetual Calendar alluded to in this post's title.

Thanks to comments and articles posted in this Forum lately, I was able to learn some important information about the 3940 that helped me to fine-tune my criteria and avoid poor examples in the market. I had tried a number of 3940s on in the past, mostly at the well-known dealers in Manhattan who of course, raved about the reference. I knew that in time, it was the watch for me. This week, I finally pulled the trigger, selecting a second series example in Rose Gold as it is warmer and rarer than yellow. That brings my collection to FOUR Patek Philippe watches -- and here is the new member of the family:

I am going to need to adjust the date, but as tomorrow May 1 is my wedding anniversary, I consider the irregularity upon receipt to be a good omen.

So what can I say in conclusion? OH boy, I'm so glad to own this watch, and so glad I discovered WatchProSite to help lead me to it!

More posts: 391939405110513051465146Gcalatravacomplicationsgrand complications

  login to reply