Seeing both the RG 2499 pulsations dial and the platinum Breguet 2497 in real life must have been a wonderful experience: lucky you!
I completely agree with you concerning the link between the 2497 and the 5396. Hopefully, I'll be able to try on a 5396 next week: now that I better understand this reference, which I have been overlooking, I really want to see how it looks in the metal (btw, this reference is almost 20 years old and has never left the catalogue since 2006, which is quite meaningful).
Thanks again and have a great weekend. Best, Emmanuel