Patek Philippe’s reference 5013 is among the most complex wristwatches made by the Geneva maison. It was the first automatic minute repeater perpetual calendar with retrograde date function. The watch’s design was a nod to a historically important tonneau-shaped yellow gold minute repeating wristwatch no. 97589 made for Henry Graves, Jr.

A minute repeating wristwatch has traditionally been run by manual-winding movement, so the development of a self-winding version from Patek Philippe in 1989 was quite a technical feat. The development of the Ref. 5013’s movement (Cal. R 27 PS QR) was a result of the R&D that went into developing the brand’s first set of automatic minute repeaters in 1989 to mark the brand’s 150th anniversary. The movement alone is made up of 515 parts.

The reference 5013 was launched in 1992 and remained in production till 2011. The platinum examples were initially produced only with silver dials and over the years only a few examples with a black dial have appeared at the auctions. The present watch is in great condition and is accompanied by its original Certificate of Origin and presentation box.