Hands-On: The Patek Philippe Reference 5316/50P Is The Brand At Its Best

The reference 5316/50P-001 is the best, most representative Patek Philippe being made today. That’s my opinion, sure, but unlike my frequent “strong opinions, loosely held,” it’s one that I feel unwaveringly; certainly more so after finally getting to handle, wear, and chime a watch that had, for some reason, become something of a white whale to me.

It’s not the most complicated (that’s the ref. 6300 “Grandmaster Chime,” with the next most complicated being the ref. 6002 “Sky Moon Tourbillon”) nor the most expensive (the Haute Joaillerie ref. 6300/403G-001 takes that crown at just over $5.6 million). But in the face of other heavy-hitters with challengingly wearable designs or sizing, Patek’s ref. 5316/50P stands as the best balance of the brand’s history, complication, and design in a way that has captivated me since it was released in 2023.

The ref. 5316/50P is an incredibly rare watch. Only a handful are being made each year, and it’s incredibly unusual to get a chance to go hands-on with the watch. It wasn’t available to the press when it launched at Watches & Wonders 2023. Nor was this year’s ref. 5308G “Quadruple Complication” (based on the Watch Art Grand Exhibition Tokyo ref. 5308P) available for photography, as they only had a partially finished prototype. 

We’ve been granted the unusual opportunity to look at both and will do so over two articles. The ref. 5308G represents the hyper-modern maximalist approach of Patek Philippe, while the ref. 5316/50P is the lineal representation of the most outstanding achievements (and designs) of the brand. It’s effortlessly wearable despite its complications and has a touch of modernity with nods to the past. To borrow a phrase from Field of Dreams, “It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.” Ah… baseball.

The History of Patek Philippe Retrograde Perpetual Calendars

Patek Philippe’s chronographs are the watches that make waves on the secondary market. Part of the success is the sexiness of a chronograph — the romantic idea that you, too, with enough money, can be the captain of industry, timing your laps in your brand new Ferrari 250 GTO wearing a first series Wenger ref. 2499. However, you could easily argue that perpetual calendar chronographs aren’t the most representative models in the brand’s catalog.

Of course, there’s the Calatrava, which collectors (Ben Clymer included) are back to fawning over with the ref. 6196P. But in my mind, a “plain” perpetual calendar from Patek Philippe is the underappreciated heart of the brand’s modern wristwatch identity. Classic, complicated, and still within reach of “serious” collectors, Patek’s perpetual calendars have a lineage that runs back to 1925 to history’s first QP wristwatch, the Patek Philippe movement number 97975.

What’s more important here is that, prior to launching the first serially produced perpetual calendar wristwatch in 1940 with the ref. 1526, Patek made the world’s first retrograde QP wristwatch in 1937, with the ref. 96 Quantième Perpétuel, movement number 860183. Forgotten in the discussion of the complete calendar versions of the ref. 96 (which was reignited with Phillips’ “Puyi” sale), no. 860183 is the ultimate version of the ref. 96, using an 11 Ligne movement, cased in a tiny 30mm diameter. 

The idea was that the retrograde display of the date was far more legible in its larger format. However, Patek had issues with the function of the watch and abandoned the idea for over five decades until the launch of the references 5013 in 1992 and references 5016 and 5050 in 1993. Meanwhile, the Patek ref. 96QP was sold at Antiquorum in 2002 for CHF 1,433,500, and it is now part of the Patek Philippe Museum collection.

Fast-forward 55 years to 1992 and the release of the ref. 5013 was a watershed moment for Patek Philippe. There was a kind of arms race of complications going on at the time, pushed ahead by the success of IWC, which would, one year later, release the Destriero Scafusia, or “The Warhorse of Schaffhausen,” with a perpetual calendar, minute repeater, flying tourbillon, and split-second chronograph. The ref. 5013 was staid by comparison (in terms of complications). Still, as the first automatic perpetual calendar with a retrograde display, the brand had solved the major issues associated with such a complex design, and then added a minute repeater. The Caliber R 27 PS QR was a remarkable feat of micro-engineering at the time, featuring a small 22k gold micro-rotor that provided up to 48 hours of power reserve.

While it didn’t have a chronograph, the ref. 5013 made up for in aesthetics. Patek’s ref. 5013 was elegant, featuring a beautiful, sloping tonneau-shaped case measuring 37mm in diameter, 46.5mm lug-to-lug, and only 12mm in height (compared to the 42mm by 18mm IWC). The watch largely came with elegant Breguet numerals (except for a known example with diamond hour markers) and was quintessential Patek.

A year later, in 1993, Patek released the ref. 5016 and 5050. The 5016 is the one we care about for the sake of this story, as it added a tourbillon as a regulator (though it removed automatic winding). But first, we should touch on the ref. 5050, which distilled the trio into its simplest form with an automatic perpetual calendar. The caliber 315 S QR features a full rotor, based on the 315 SC that was launched in 1984. Funny enough, the 315 SC was used in the ref. 5711 Nautilus when it was launched in 2006 (but only for a short six months).

The aesthetic design left something to be desired (in my opinion). The Calatrava-style case is an obvious callback to the early ref. 96 calendars, and the dial now features an aperture at 12 o’clock to display where you are on the leap year cycle. However, the brand included a central seconds display that feels superfluous and cluttering, and wrote the word “automatic” on the dial (which seems more in service of marketing than design). 

Probably the most desirable versions are those with unusual colored dials or eschewing Roman numerals for baton indices or, in rare cases, Breguet numerals. In 1998, a similar version, the ref. 5059, was released, with scrawl lugs and an officer’s caseback. The lug choice, especially, made the watch feel anachronistic. The ref. 5050 had a nine-year run and was discontinued in 2002, while the ref. 5059 ran until 2007. The ref. 5159 and ref. 5160 would eventually follow.

The ref. 5016, however, was a masterpiece. Launched in 1993 with a retrograde perpetual calendar, minute repeater, and tourbillon, it was Patek’s most complicated watch for 8 years until the 2001 release of the ref. 5002 Sky Moon Tourbillon. I’ve heard time and time again from collectors that the reference has quietly become the watch you should have in your collection if you’re in the upper echelon of buying, and it’s likely worth expanding into an in-depth look of its own. The watch featured a round, stepped case with stepped lugs, beautiful Breguet numerals, and measured 37mm by just over 13mm thick.

The watch used the Caliber R TO 27 PS QR, which has a very similar aesthetic to similarly complicated watches that would follow (like the 5207, which had the slightly different Caliber R TO 27 PS QI). The watch was so beloved, coveted, and successful that it was made until 2011, when it was replaced with the brief successor 5216. The ref. 5016 had a brief comeback in 2015 when the brand released a stainless steel version for the OnlyWatch auction 2015, selling for CHF 7.3 million (which was a record at the time), emphasizing the preference collectors had for the original over the successor.

When the Patek Philippe ref. 5216 was introduced in 2011, it came at a strange time for the brand. It was far from the most complicated watch in the catalog, now ranking fifth behind the 5207, 5208, 6002 Sky Moon Tourbillon, and 6300 Grandmaster Chime. The case was upsized to 40.2mm, which fit a modern clientele, and it arguably sounded better; however, it also featured a Calatrava-style case that returned to the design of the reference 5050.

The brand also moved largely to using baton hour markers, a touch that felt more in line with the case design. But the ref. 5216 didn’t find much love compared to its predecessor (or successor). It’s possible people were looking for a more modern and fresh design, not just modern proportions, and pushed for watches like the 5207 or 5208, which were more novel. The ref. 5216 was discontinued in 2017.

The ref. 5316 uses the same Caliber R TO 27 PS QR LU that has been used since the reference 5016. Now over 30 years old, some would say the movement is out of date, but it was so ahead of its time and has proven to be a reliable workhorse (something that can rarely be said about such complicated movements). But in 2017, the ref. 5316 looked far different from what it does today.

The case was still 40mm, but it had reverted to the 5016 design, now featuring a black enamel dial with faceted baton hour markers. It was a stunning watch in 2017, but it’s the combination of aesthetic touches from the ref. 5016 and 5216, along with some new twists that make the latest version incredible.

Today’s Patek Philippe 5316/50P-001

The strength of Patek Philippe lies in the combination of history, design, and steadfast incrementalism. You could say the same about Rolex, though, like Patek, Rolex has become more experimental with its design. The “Celebration” and “Puzzle” dials may not be as radical (or, more so, depending on your view) as the Aquanaut Luce minute repeater, nor was the Land Dweller as shocking or divisive a design as the Cubitus; however, both brands take a longer view of product development and design. Other brands in the “Holy Trinity” excel at micromechanics or hyper-complicated yet sometimes difficult-to-wear watches. However, Patek has a reserved elegance of design that, in its finest watches, achieves the perfect combination of aesthetic appeal, wearability, and complication.

The success of the most recent ref. 5316 is composed of many small parts, but perhaps the largest factor is that it represents that older, more incremental, historical approach to watch design and development. Patek Philippe made 349 examples of the 2499 over its 35-year production run and only made slight (but meaningful) improvements to the aesthetics while keeping the Caliber 13-130 (based on an in-house modified Valjoux ébauche) the same. While times have changed and the brand would never again make a reference that lasted 35 years, this is, in many ways, not that different a prospect.

Let’s start with the main difference between this generation (the ref. 5316/50P-001) and the previous one from eight years ago. The sapphire dial was both captivating and contentious upon release. More than one netizen commented that they felt Patek Philippe was taking a page from A. Lange & Söhne’s playbook with the Lumen series. In the metal, it’s more apparent that criticism is far from true. 

Patek is no stranger to open dial designs, and their ref. 5303R was the first from the brand to show its repeater mechanism on the dial side and the only watch in the brand’s catalog (alongside its diamond-set counterpart) to show the tourbillon on the front of the watch. That’s always been a bit of a faux pas for Patek and something I don’t find as quintessential to the brand. 

The watch is, in fact, not luminous, but it remains incredibly legible, not just for daily time-telling, but also for the calendar functions. The white gold hour and minute hands have three visible surfaces, faceted with side angles and a flat section in the middle, which catches the light in almost all circumstances, as do the “obus” style white gold markers. 

The blued hue of the sapphire dial stops the under-dial movement from being a distraction. The retrograde date sits on a black central track that runs 270º around the dial, accompanied by a smaller white hand with a diamond-shaped tip, enhancing legibility. The day, number of the year in the leap-year sequence, and month are also all legible on black discs with white lettering.

You can see that in a variety of lighting situations, even when the dial “inverts” in bright light, the ref. 5316/50P-001 just plain works. It’s a modern evolution from Patek, but not far from the original ref. 5316 dial, nor is it all that different than the ref. 5216 dial indices. It’s the kind of modern, incremental development you want from Patek—punchy but not entirely out of left field. There are obvious comparisons to the “baby brother” reference 6159G, which was announced this year (with a retrograde perpetual calendar), which also features a smoked sapphire dial. A closer look reveals how similar the technological approach to the dial is.

The ref. 5316/50P-001 has a blued hue to the sapphire (compared to just pure black for the ref. 6159G), but neither has a true smoked treatment. The combination of smoked sapphire, which has been used by brands like Audemars Piguet and F.P.Journe on their repeaters (as well as many others), and a fumé treatment, which is gaining popularity thanks to brands like anOrdain and H. Moser using fumé enamel, is unusual. I can’t find any real fumé effect in photos of the Zeitwinkel 273° Sapphir Fumé, which seems to be the only result.

Instead of the sprayed effect typically associated with most fumé finishing on dials, a close examination reveals a pixelated pattern designed to create the ideal gradient from the blue/purple center to the darker outer ring. On the 5316/50P, this is actually a blue metallized sapphire. 

It’s creative and unobtrusive, resembling film grain or noise in a digital photo, even up close, rather than any kind of printing. The treatment is maybe less apparent on the 6159G because the dial is more monochromatic. Either way, I wouldn’t say that it’s noticeable from the wearer’s view, and it is most apparent where the gradient overlaps the moonphase discs. 

Patek’s continued use of the Caliber R TO 27 PS QR, 32 years after launch, is a good thing. It might seem counterintuitive, but after speaking with collectors, it seems I’m not alone in my thinking. Chalk it up to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but the benefits are more than that. The 1990s was the time before, leaning into the cusp of the era of highly complicated yet oversized watches. The late 1990s and early 2000s marked a time when brands were going all out to create the most complicated movements (and therefore watches) possible, size be damned. Had the R 27 base caliber (which has been used in watches like the ref. 3973 and the 33mm Caliber RO 27 PS) been made a few years later, it might not have been as versatile or easy to wear.

Judging by modern user demands, it’s also possible that Patek Philippe might have preferred an automatic caliber for current customers. Brands frequently tell me that a limiting factor in creating smaller movements is that customers want an almost impossible combination of water resistance, ease of use (with easy setting and automatic winding), long power reserves, and longer service intervals. That leads to over-built, extra-thick, automatic watches. Patek, however, creates their own demand. Anything they produce will sell. They can be a bit more resistant to customer pressure and, in this case, continue to manufacture a compact 28mm by 8.61mm manually wound movement with a 48-hour power reserve.

Aesthetically, the Caliber R TO 27 PS QR has everything you would expect from Patek Philippe’s meticulous finishing at their highest end of watchmaking. Yes, it’s representative of a different era, without such extreme focusing on deep anglage or maximization of internal angles Ben was referring to when he said that “finishing is the new complication.” Here, complication is—well—the complication. However, the Geneva stripes, black polish on the tourbillon bridge, and repeater hammers are all well-appointed. The large “Octopus” wheel, with five waving spokes, connects the tourbillon (beating at 21,600 vph) to the rest of the gear train. The governor for the minute repeater has an engraved gold-toned Calatrava cross. 

Then, there’s the minute repeater chime, which, due to the 3mm larger diameter than the original 5016, has a more resonant chime when less restricted by the case. It’s an oft-repeated phrase that rose gold gives the warmest and most enjoyable sound, which always seemed slightly silly to me. You’d have to take the same movement and case it in three identically-sized cases to prove that point, but a case with a “warmer” color having a “warmer” tone is a bit too perfect. But yes, platinum is denser and therefore less conducive to a chiming watch. And still, the 5316/50P is one of the best-sounding classic gong repeaters I’ve heard in recent memory. The sound is loud, powerful, but warm and full.

All those thoughtful, incremental tweaks mean nothing if the whole isn’t a perfect sum of its parts. Vintage-oriented collectors will still likely gravitate toward the 5016, with its combination of a smaller case size and Breguet numerals serving as a siren song for those with an eye toward history. However, Patek carried forward the historically oriented stepped case and lugs, which feel more aligned with a complicated watch (rather than the flat-bezeled Calatrava style that feels more utilitarian). The brand toned back the formality with the inclusion of a textured calfskin strap with fabric pattern and a platinum fold-over clasp.

Of course, there’s a diamond between the lugs to denote the platinum case. Measuring 40.2mm by 13.23mm thick, it’s maybe the perfect size for a complicated watch, though unsurprisingly it lacks any water resistance due to the minute repeater slider. Only about a millimeter thicker than a Rolex GMT-Master II or Daytona, with lugs that drop off the midcase, it sits low and comfortably on the wrist. In fact, it was so wearable—and yes, I know this is a ridiculous statement for such an expensive watch—I can imagine a world in which someone wears this in a near-daily two-watch rotation.

After two and a half years of waiting, my dream of seeing the ref. 5316/50P-001 finally came to fruition. At $1.2 million, the watch is likely one of the most sought-after pieces in the brand’s catalog, but for the very top tier of collectors, it’s one worth aiming for. With the combination of everything you’d want from Patek Philippe and without a touch too much of anything that would put it over the top, the ref. 5316/50P is the next step in a long, quiet lineage of the brand doing things of which very few others could ever dream.

For more information on the Patek Philippe ref. 5316/50P-001, visit the brand’s website.