By Meor Amri Meor Ayob
For Baselworld 2014, Patek Philippe unveiled a new chronograph watch in a steel case, the Annual Calendar Chronograph (ref: 5960/1A-001). This model comes from a line of Annual Calendar Chronographs first introduced in 2006. Then, the choice of metal was platinum. Subsequent editions use other precious metals. In fact, the original 2006 release, the Annual Calendar Chronograph (ref: 5960P) was the first automatic chronograph from Patek Philippe.
I am actually surprised that Patek Philippe would choose to use stainless steel for this model. As far as I know, Patek Philippe seldom make watches in stainless steel, outside of its Nautilus and Aquanaut collections. This could be a shift in the marketing strategy to ensure there are models with complications that would still be affordable to a larger market.
Patek Philippe plays with the colour black on the white dial to effect an efficient contrast for effective referencing. Using a generous amount of  Super-LumiNova on the hour and minute hands as well as the hour market dots, the Annual Calendar Chronograph becomes more of a sportier watch. Red was chosen for the chronograph hand and the hand of the 60 minute counter. On the mono-counter sub-dial, the 12 hour counter scale is on the outside, the 0 to 30 minute counter scale is in the middle and the 30 to 60 minute scales is the inside.
The day, date and month complications can be seen in their respective window at the 10-, 12- and 2-o’clock positions. The small power reserve indicator is located at the 12-o’clock position.
This watch uses the Caliber CH 28-520 IRM QA 24, which is equipped with column wheel and disk clutch, also powers a day/night indicator at 6 o’clock.
It looks good with the more contemporary feeling of a typical sports watch. For more info, please visit patek.com
Meor Amri Meor Ayob – Contributing Editor
Meor Amri is a passionate watch collector from Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Having bitten by the horology bug in 2010, he has written extensively about the watch scene and has assembled a large collection of watches (excessively!!) on his own free time.
His blogs on the same subject are: Watch Collection Hobby & My Horological Photos
