Retrograde Annual Calendar: Glashütte Original PanoMaticCalendar

As watch enthusiasts, we are a funny bunch. We either focus on the practical date-only complication, or the impractical perpetual calendar complication — impractical because it is one of the most difficult mechanisms to create, having been invented to automatically adjust the day, date and month, and account for leap years, essentially, in perpetuity. It is also prone to error and easily damaged. Its “sibling” complication, the annual calendar, is infinitely more reliable, yet just like Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no love.

Patek Philippe was the first watch company to unveil an annual calendar wristwatch, the reference 5035, in 1996. Simply put, this is a complication that can calculate day, date and month, but requires a manual adjustment at the end of every February. The adjustment can be done relatively easily, without too much worry about damaging the mechanism. The annual calendars’ rotating gear wheels remain in constant contact with each other, thereby eliminating potential errors. In contrast, perpetual calendars can be easily damaged because of the on-off interplay between levers and cams.