NETJETS US VOLUME 9 2019

on the pulse
IT’S COMPLICATED
Perpetual calendars are the connoisseurs’
wristwatch, and in the age of smartphones
they are trending once more
By Laurie Kahle
O
ur Gregorian calendar is full
of quirks, with some months
ending at 30 days, others
at 31—and then, of course,
there’s February. Highly skilled watchmakers
have long addressed this vexing system
with a perpetual calendar complication, also
known as quantième perpétuel (QP), which
automatically adjusts for months of varying
lengths, including leap years.
Theoretically, if you kept these impressive
mechanical wrist computers fully wound and
optimally running, no calendar adjustment
would be necessary until 1 March 2100, when
Pope Gregory XIII’s idiosyncratic, 16thcentury
calendar dictates we skip the leap year.
The mechanism’s inherent technicity
makes it a testament to the skills of any
watchmaker who can master it. And, as a
result, perpetual calendars have long been the
provenance of the most discerning collectors.
This year, several brands are offering new
takes on the perpetual calendar, from
classical to contemporary, elegant to sporty.
A few other manufacturers have adjusted
their models to make the connoisseurs’
complication more broadly appealing.
With a history that spans 264 years,
VACHERON CONSTANTIN (vacheronconstantin.com)
has more experience than
46 NetJets