Patek Philippe Complications watches

Patek Philippe Complications is the brand's collection of watches that do more than tell the time: annual calendars, chronographs, world time, travel time and moon phases. A Patek Philippe world time watch shows the time in at least 24 cities at once, and a travel time watch uses two hour hands, one for home and one for local time, with day/night indicators.

The annual calendar is the collection's backbone. Patek Philippe patented the mechanism in 1996, and the reference 5035, which debuted that year, was the brand's first wristwatch with an annual calendar; it needs setting only once a year and was discontinued in 2005. In 2006 Patek Philippe paired the annual calendar with a chronograph in the platinum reference 5960, powered by the CH 28-520 IRM QA 24H, which Phillips describes as the brand's first integrated automatic chronograph movement. The 5905 later replaced it.

Most of these watches are in white or rose gold, with platinum, yellow gold and a few steel and titanium cases besides, from 31.4 to 42.2 mm. Around the annual calendars, among them the 4947, 5146, 5205 and 5396, sit the World Time 5130, 5131, 5230 and the smaller 7130, the Chronographs 5170, 5172 and 7071, the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time 5524 and 7234, the Moonphase 4968 and 7121, the Gondolo Calendario 5135 and the 5180 and 7180 skeletons.

Limited runs go from unique pieces to the World Time Moon 5575, made in 1,300 pieces for the 175th anniversary. The World Time 5230 has city editions for Bahrain, Mexico and New York, and the Chronograph 5070 London Exhibition was made in platinum and in white, rose and yellow gold, 5 pieces of each.