The Road to Patek Philippe 5327 Perpetual Calendar Replica Watch in Rose Gold

The Perpetual Calendar is one of the cornerstone complications in the Patek Philippe 5327 watch replica stable. And all throughout, keeping the venerable Patek Philippe Caliber 240Q which has remained since 1985. The Patek Philippe Ref. 3940 has long been the reference standard by which other classical perpetual calendars are measured by. Patek have revised this icon twice, first with the Ref. 5140 (now discontinued except for the platinum version with a black dial), and now with the Patek Philippe Ref. 5327.

Pure design, classical 36mm case, and now iconic and much copied dial layout. It was one of the first complicated Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Moon Phase Ref.5327 copy watches that Patek produced in series. Earlier complications were typically special orders. And it was one which guaranteed Patek’s place in the history books. It was a watch that we have seen on the wrist of Philippe Stern himself. Not the watch of the year flavor, but year in year out. In Baselworld and when we met him during his travels around the world. For decades. We won’t be surprised if the 3940 is still his daily watch today. We consider the Patek Philippe Ref. 3940 to be the reference standard for the modern Patek Philippe as well as for the classical perpetual calendar. It first debuted in 1985 (together with the other Patek icon – the Ref. 3970), while the industry was still in the throes of the Swiss economic turmoil. It was described as the quintessential Patek.

The Ref. 3940 was replaced by the Ref. 5140 in 2006. For many connoisseurs, the 5140 doesn’t cut it. But for others, it is still a complicated Patek, and worth the effort to acquire one.

A. Lange & Söhne had just begun to gain popularity, and the attention of the cognoscenti. This new recognition and muscling in at the top end started to put pressure on the grand old dame. Interestingly, Lange had introduced the Langematic Perpetual in 2000 at Baselworld, and it had a dial layout which took reference from the Ref. 3940.It is larger…37mm. This is a mere 1mm gain in diameter, mostly shown on the bezel, but it throws the perfect proportions of the 3940 out the window. At this level, we are talking about nuances, and tiny changes make big differences. It had a came at a time when the pressure was being felt from across the German border.

The date was a subdial around the subsidiary seconds hand at 6 o’clock like it had been on the Ref. 3940. But for some reason, Patek designed the numerals 5 and 27 to be smaller than the other dates. It looked like these were being squashed.  During its release in Baselworld 2006, many of us remarked the similarity of the new case to that of the Glashütte challenger. Design wise, the Ref. 5140 was received with mixed feelings. Furthermore it retailed for US$ 91,000 when the 3940 hovered around the US$ 35,000 mark. Of course, we note that from 2001 till about 2008 or so, we saw the almost relentless upward spiraling of watch prices, each Baselworld/SIHH seeing the introduction of mega-buck rose gold fake Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Ref.5327 watches by the dozens. Punters quickly snapped up the last remaining 3940s in 2006, and drove secondary prices up.