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on the pulse<br />
These watches demonstrate the<br />
wearer’s appreciation for craftmanship<br />
Above: IWC Pilot’s Watch<br />
Perpetual Calendar Chronograph<br />
“Le Petit Prince”<br />
Below, from left to right:<br />
Blancpain Villeret<br />
Quantième Perpétuel 6656;<br />
Girard-Perregaux Laureato<br />
Perpetual Calendar<br />
collection grew this year as the brand cased<br />
the Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital<br />
Date-Month in lightweight yet robust grade<br />
5 titanium, a sporty update from the 2017<br />
version in gold. The brawny 45mm flyback<br />
chronograph, limited to 100 pieces, features<br />
double-digit month and date displays in the<br />
sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock, and a leap year<br />
aperture in the running seconds sub-dial at 6<br />
o’clock. IWC also launched the Pilot’s Watch<br />
Perpetual Calendar Chronograph, marking<br />
the first time it combined a chronograph and<br />
perpetual calendar in a pilot model.<br />
Value is not a term one typically associates<br />
with perpetual calendars. But a few brands<br />
have managed to produce handsome,<br />
more affordable watches within the genre<br />
typically limited to horological connoisseurs.<br />
Take MONTBLANC (montblanc.com), which<br />
followed up on its 2014 Meisterstück<br />
Heritage Perpetual Calendar with this year’s<br />
Heritage Perpetual Calendar, limited to 100<br />
pieces in rose gold and unlimited in steel.<br />
The brand spent three years developing the<br />
new manufacture automatic caliber MB<br />
29.22, which replaces the typical lever-driven<br />
construction with a more user-friendly<br />
architecture using only wheels, allowing you<br />
to set the calendar in both directions. It also<br />
adds a dual-time function for travelers.<br />
Meanwhile, BAUME & MERCIER (baumeet-mercier.com)<br />
added a perpetual calendar<br />
module to last year’s milestone Baumatic<br />
line, featuring an exclusive state-of-theart<br />
movement developed with Richemont<br />
Group’s movement manufacturer Horlogère<br />
ValFleurier. Like the Montblanc Heritage<br />
Perpetual Calendar, the 42mm Clifton<br />
Baumatic Perpetual Calendar is classical by<br />
design and endowed with technical advances,<br />
such as a silicon balance spring, magnetic<br />
resistance, extended power reserve and more.<br />
Taking the notion of value-driven<br />
complications to extremes, FREDERIQUE<br />
CONSTANT (frederiqueconstant.com) introduced<br />
two new versions of its Perpetual Calendar<br />
Tourbillon Manufacture, launched last<br />
autumn to mark the brand’s 30th anniversary.<br />
Available in stainless steel and rose gold, the<br />
limited editions are priced at a fraction of<br />
what you would expect for a pairing of two of<br />
watchmaking’s most illustrious and technical<br />
complications.<br />
In our modern age, when smartphones<br />
deliver the day, date and month at your<br />
fingertips—as well as a whole lot more—a<br />
mechanical perpetual calendar on the wrist<br />
is inevitably an anachronism, but it is also a<br />
demonstration of the wearer’s appreciation<br />
for human ingenuity and craftsmanship. As<br />
we digitize ever further, there is something<br />
wonderful in this mechanical precision,<br />
especially when it comes in such a beautiful<br />
package, and without ever needing to charge<br />
the battery.<br />
ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE WATCHMAKERS<br />
50 NetJets