Patek Philippe reference 5050, along with its officer-cased siblings ref. 5059 and then 5159, was introduced at Basel Fair in 1993 and is the sole model featuring the unusual complication of a perpetual calendar with retrograde fly-back date and center seconds mechanism. For the first time in Patek Philippe history, a perpetual calendar is fitted with both an automatic movement and center seconds, integrating the two distinguishing qualities of antique perpetual calendar references 3448/3450 (automatic) and 2497/2438-1 (center seconds). It also has a retrograde date, allowing for a dial design that had only been seen on Patek Philippe watches of the past - and never on a regular production model. Only a few pieces with a similar arrangement are known, such as the modified reference 96 with perpetual calendar.

Synonymous with beauty and class, the timepiece was produced in four metals: yellow gold, pink gold, white gold, and platinum. The initial examples, which had railway divisions and Roman numerals, were quickly phased out, and were replaced by the baton indexes variation. Discontinued in 2003, according to research, roughly 150 pink gold examples were made.

From the original owner, the current wristwatch is in excellent condition and comes with an extra solid caseback and setting pin.