Launched in 2011, reference 5073 is among Patek Phllippe's most lavish and luxurious creations to date. Fitted with baguette diamonds to the bezel and lugs, the model's diamond weight adds up to an impressive 5.288 carats, giving it an unmistakable presence on the wrist.

Reference 5073 was only available to Patek Philippe's most exclusive clients and produced upon special request. It was incredibly time consuming for the firm to find such well-matched diamonds, and setting the baguette stones was extremely laborious. As a result very few examples were manufactured, making this reference exceedingly rare, as confirmed by the fact that the present watch is only the third reference 5073 to ever appear on the auction market thus far.

Fitted with a perpetual calendar complication, reference 5073 also has a minute repeating mechanism which chimes with great clarity and tone. Of note are the particularly long cathedral gongs, which are almost twice as long as conventional gongs. These ensure that watch has a deeper tone with longer resonance. This is particularly noteworthy as the present watch is cased in platinum, which can cause the watch to chime less brightly than their gold counterparts, due to the density of the metal.

This watch is furthermore accompanied by its original certificate and portfolio photograph and Extract from the Archives. It is interesting to note that the sale date on the Extract does not match the date on the Certificate. This because Patek Philippe archives record, for watches sent to the USA, the date the watch is sold to their American distributor - the Henry Stern Agency - while of course the Certificate mentions the sale date to the final client.