Launched at Baselworld 2012 as the successor to the 5040 and 5041, the 5940 is a tonneau-cased perpetual calendar in yellow gold. Though it is just a facelift, the movement remains the micro-rotor cal. 240Q from the 1980s, the 5940 is by far my favourite of the novelties from Patek Philippe this year.

Patek Philippe 5940J perpetual calendar

The design is classical and elegant, as a Patek should be. The sleek lines of the tonneau case are complemented by the leaf hands and the applied Breguet Arabic numerals. All the subdials are well proportioned, with no overlapping or cutting into numerals.

And the Patek logo is not too large, something which disturbs me on several of today’s Pateks. And I especially like the serif fonts used on the dial. 

Here are a dozen more images of the 5940J from the Patek press kit.

– SJX