Indeed, what makes the 35 millimeter diameter steel case 1518 so remarkable is that it represents the first and only time that Patek produced a perpetual calendar chronograph using the lowly metal alloy, known for its durability. None of the 1518’s Patek successors, from the 2499, which is most desirable in platinum, to the later 3970, were ever produced in anything but precious metals.Â
Way back in 2014, Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer, in the first edition of a now legendary and much imitated series called “Reference Points,” zeroed in on Patek’s perpetual calendar chronographs, while calling the steel 1518, quite simply, “the holy grail.”
