Patek Philippe

This is a brief follow up on my thread from April.  I had been doing a lot of internal debating prior to April, and have done even more internal debating since then.  I tend to obsess about things, and this decision has honestly been rather difficult!  But I wanted to follow up on my prior thread.

To provide some backstory:  my introduction to Patek was the 5146 - this is the watch that I distinctly remember being in ads that I used to look at, and my mom always used to talk about Patek as being the watch (and recently, I purchase her watch for her, a Cartier Tank) when she worked at an AD in the 90s.  I think I cut one such ad out from a magazine, and have it somewhere.

The 5146 is a watch that does not appeal to me as much now as it did then - but my introduction to Patek was always the annual calendar complication.

When I started back down the Patek path, I strongly considered the 5205G - it had a blue dial, it was an annual calendar, it was sporty, the right size, etc.  However, I drifted away from it a smidge, because of the 24 hour subdial.

Then, I started dreaming bigger - perhaps the 5231; perhaps the 5236.  In order to do that, however, I'd have to go to the grey market.  And shortly after making that realization, I switched gears to the 5320 - which I could get for about $20k+ less on the grey market, making it reachable with my budget.  And the 5320 led the charge for a while!  But with my ruddy complexion, the watch did not really look great on my skin tone, particularly in artificial light.  And I kept asking myself - when I pictured myself in a Patek, did I picture myself with the 5320?  To this day, I still love it - but could I live long-term with the faux-vintage?

After all this internal warring, I had something of an epiphany after reading a comment on another forum, specifically:  "[y]ou start looking at [Patek], but you just can't quite find that 'one'.  The one that makes you say yes this is it.  So you just try to figure out what the best you have to offer."  And I realized - the only reason I had dismissed the 5205G, which ticked off numerous boxes (it is blue, it can be dressed up/down, it has a calendar function, it has a beautiful (perhaps one of the most beautiful) cases, etc.), was because of what someone else had said about the 24 hour subdial.  The 24 hour subdial did not bother me when I first saw it (well, I saw a 5205R).  And, quite frankly, it still does not bother me personally, particularly in the metal.  And I kind of realized that I dismissed a watch that looked great on my wrist for some pretty awful reasons.

In addition, I came to the conclusion that I do want to buy from an AD.  Although I am excited to have my name on the papers, I was starting to feel increasingly antsy about where my watch was coming from.  I feel a sense of relief knowing that I am going to be the one to cut the seal (or at least watch when it happens).

In any event, I put down a deposit on the 5205G and will be picking it up when it comes in next month.  I ordered a deployant and a blue strap to go along with it.

I look forward to updating this post with some pictures!

J

More posts: 514652055205G5320complicationsgrand complications

  login to reply