One of the most spectacularly well-preserved examples known, the present 2497 in pink gold is an absolute pinnacle of watch collecting both in terms of aesthetics as well as in terms of rarity and horological refinement.

It features the highly charming and desirable First Series dial, defined by Arabic and dot numerals (Second Series dials feature baton numerals) with sharp calendar windows and strong graphics. Furthermore, it feature an extremely uncommon details: a lens to magnify the calendar windows. Beyond remarkably altering the looks of the watch with a hint of quirkiness, this makes this watch one of the rarest iterations in all Patek Philippe’s perpetual calendar production. In fact, already a pink gold 2497 is an absurdly rare timepiece: with less than a dozen (either 10 or 11) known examples, this makes it much more rare than a pink gold 1518 or 2499. Furthermore, in depth analysis of catalogue pictures of the other known pink gold examples appears to single this specimen out as the only pink gold 2497 with magnifying glass.

Beyond rarity, aesthetics and condition, the present watch even offers a layer of intellectual intrigue when examining its caseback. The inside is stamped with French import marks (the “Owl”) - certifying an original sale in France, as fully supported by the French calendar - and it also presents a hand-engraved service mark ending with “+Z3”. This code was employed by hallowed Zurich retailer Beyer, indicating that at some point of its life the watch most likely found a new home in Switzerland.

Unusually, two case makers were employed for the reference (akin to ref. 2499), each producing slightly different cases. Among other differences, Wenger cases - exemplified by the present watch - sport a “bombé” caseback while Vichet cases feature a flat back. This example boasts a superbly well-preserved case with intact grooves to the lugs, one of the most unusual and appreciated design details of this model, directly inherited from its chronographic brethren ref. 2499.

Indeed, alongside that famed perpetual calendar chronograph reference, Patek Philippe released the pure perpetual calendar reference 2497, just as it had released the predecessor reference 1518 alongside the reference 1526. The references 2497 and 2499 were designed with larger diameter cases featuring more robust and elaborate lugs compared with their predecessors. Additionally, a waterproof companion was introduced shortly after the reference 2497, the rare reference 2438/1. Established scholarship tells us that there were a combined total of only 179 total examples made across both references 2497 and 2438/1, with movement numbers spanning from 888’000 to 888’178. Some two thirds of these movements were placed within the reference 2497 over a production span of over 10 years. In fact, Patek Philippe took the challenge of creating a so-called “simple” perpetual calendar (if such a thing is not an oxymoron) to heart, adapting their much-lauded caliber 27 SC (SC for “seconde au centre”) to have a perpetual calendar function, transforming it into the 27 SC Q (Q for “quantième”). The sibling references 2497 and 2438/1 were the world’s first perpetual calendars with center seconds, and such is the impact of this detail that among Italian collectors both models are collectively known simply as “Secondi al Centro” - “Center Seconds”.