Patek Philippe

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Happy forthcoming 50th JASNY--there is no cure, resistance is futile

Not that you need any encouragement, the 5980 seems to have a love/hate following. Nevertheless from reviewing posts it seems to have proven its reliability and I will share my daily wearer experience since delivery in April 2008 (it's been on my wrist 350+ days).

1. Easy to wear and no worries about wet weather

2. The weight is balanced with slight heft and very comfortable on my wrist

3. Wears visually smaller than specs since dial is 28 mm even thought case is 44mm including wings

4. No problems for me with 12.5 mm thickness since it sits well on my wrist

5. I like the aesthetics of dial and virtually every woman in my life finds watch attractive and no "dated" comments

6. I feel that the bulls-eye chrono counter overcomes any non-contemporary styling

7. Versatile watch that can be worn casually in jeans or shorts or dressy in a suit

8. Even though I use the chrono feature often it is not always early to read when minute hand covers the counters

9. Back end of chrono minute counter covers the chrono hour counter which is the same length--suggestion to fix would be either to use different colors for these hands like 5960 or eliminate/shorten back end of chrono hands

10. Feel of chrono pushers is nice and wings provide an unexpected ergonomic feature since perfect resting places for your thumb or index finger when pressing pushers

11. Scratches easily but I don't expect a watch in constant use to be pristine

12. Bracelet is supple for all metal and similar to my impression of first RO that I held

13. Bracelet double deployant clap is fairly secure and even when I failed to close the locking clasp the watch has never fallen off my wrist

14. Prefer 5980 to 5712 because I'm not seduced by the latter's aesthetics (too similar to 5035/55/85) and their list prices are relatively close plus 5980 movement is unique in comparison

15. Did consider 5960 versus 5980 but for my lifestyle the Nautilus is a hands down winner

16. Marketing description of continuous moving seconds hand is somewhat misleading since really only accurate as chrono feature although one might use is as a pseudo time-related second hand

17. Accuracy is good to outstanding--my early tests were +/- one or two seconds a day but stopped tracking several months ago

18. Since the rotor and bridge word hides much of the movement a non-display case back would have been just fine

19. Finishing is acceptable although since marketed as dual purpose sports and dress watch perhaps portions that are sand blasted might have been upgraded?

20. Value and price; well that's all relative within the context for each individual isn't it

Bottom-line: the 5980 it is a robust and flexible watch that does what it is advertized to do--a keeper. Cheers and live well!