The perpetual calendar queries the 2022 calendar, and the perpetual calendar queries the auspicious days of the zodiac

Perpetual calendar query 2022 calendar

Why can a perpetual calendar watch become the "grail watch" or the ultimate goal of life for watch lovers? This is a detailed analysis of the fascinating subtleties behind the perpetual calendar, one of the three major complex functions in the watchmaking industry, as well as its historical story.

What is a perpetual calendar?

Perpetual Calendar, also known as QP, the French abbreviation of annual calendar, is one of the three major complex functions of advanced watchmaking. Mechanical watches can basically be divided into common calendar functions, annual calendar functions and perpetual calendar functions.

Unlike calendars that must be manually adjusted in months with less than 31 days in a year, or annual calendars that can identify large and small months but must be manually adjusted on March 1 every year, The perpetual calendar mechanism not only takes into account all the different dates in the 12 months of each year, but also takes into account the leap year that occurs every four years. It has a "mechanical memory" and can still display the correct date, day of the week, month, and month of the leap year cycle for hundreds of years.

Behind the seemingly simple date display mechanism lies major structural and technical challenges. Hundreds of parts are used to create a perpetual calendar mechanism. This is why watch enthusiasts regard it as a dream product.

Patek Philippe 5327J (?patek philipe)

Interestingly, despite the name of a perpetual calendar, according to the Gregorian calendar, there are The year 300 is not a leap year, so the perpetual calendar we buy now still needs to be adjusted manually in 2100. After 78 years, it should be our children or grandchildren’s turn to take it to the watch shop for adjustment; as Patek Philippe’s classic slogan says: No one really owns Patek Philippe, it is just kept for the next generation. ?

The history of perpetual calendar?

Can you imagine that this complex and meticulous mechanism, which is like having a mechanical brain executing set operating rules, has been around as early as 1762?

The person who created one of the history’s perpetual calendar pocket watches was the British watchmaker Thomas Mudge (also the inventor of the lever escapement). He built two perpetual calendar pocket watches in 1762 and 1764, and these two historically significant pocket watches are also collected in the British Museum and the Patek Philippe Museum.

The first perpetual calendar pocket watch collected in the British Museum (source: research.britishmuseum.org)

When talking about perpetual calendar watches, naturally one of them comes up The brand that comes to mind is that one of the history’s perpetual calendar watches was indeed produced by the Patek Philippe watchmaking workshop.

Sketch of the first perpetual calendar movement (?Patek Philippe)

In fact, the brand had already launched a women’s pendant equipped with a perpetual calendar movement as early as 1898 It's a pity that I haven't found the right person for a long time. It was not until 1925 that the brand re-installed this movement in a gold watch, and the first perpetual calendar watch in history was born.

The first perpetual calendar watch in history, Patek Philippe 97975

Since then, two major watchmaking workshops, Patek Philippe and Patek Philippe, have launched models in 1929 and 1937 respectively. A watch with a branded perpetual calendar movement.

In addition, it also plays an indispensable role in the development history of modern perpetual calendar watches.

Audemars Piguet was the first watch manufacturer in history to set a leap year display on a perpetual calendar watch. Although other watch manufacturers did not follow suit in the 1980s, most perpetual calendar watches we see today are equipped with this feature. show.

Audemars Piguet ref. 5516 (?phillips)

The key brand that must be mentioned in the development history of the perpetual calendar is the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar released in 1985. Chronograph ref. 3570 perpetual calendar chronograph watch. This perpetual calendar watch designed by Kurt Klaus, the famous watchmaker of the brand, abandons the perpetual calendar mechanism that generally requires multiple buttons for adjustment, and refines it into one that can be adjusted through the winding crown. It has a performance that cannot be ignored. invention.

1998 IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Flywheel Watch (?iwc)

The above is related to the perpetual calendar query for the 2022 calendar, which is about the perpetual calendar share. After reading the Perpetual Calendar Checking the Auspicious Days of the Zodiac, I hope this will be helpful to everyone!