Reference 5970 has by now ascended to its rightful place as one of the most appreciated and coveted neo-vintage Patek Philippe references.

The proud heir to Patek Philippe’s legacy of perpetual calendar chronographs starting with the reference 1518, followed by the famous 2499 and 3970, it was launched in 2004 and remained in the catalogue for only 7 short years (the shortest span for any perpetual calendar chronograph model by Patek Philippe). In 2011, the model was replaced by reference 5270 that houses Patek Philippe’s first in-house chronograph caliber, making reference 5970 the last perpetual calendar chronograph to employ the heavily modified and much appreciated Nouvelle Lemania-based movement - considered a Patek Philippe technical masterpiece.
In fact, the reference sports a highly peculiar production run, with the white and pink gold models in catalogue from 2004 to 2007, the present yellow one in 2008 only, and finally the last two years 2009/2010 send the model off with the platinum version. Consequently, the present yellow gold version is speculated to be the rarest of them all - a highly uncommon occurrence for Patek Philippe, where yellow gold is usually the most common metal, at least until the early 2000s).

Aesthetically, we can see a “return to the origin”: whereas reference 2499 (2nd series onward) and reference 3970 featured round pushers, reference 5970 goes back to rectangular pushers giving it a resemblance to the first models of the series: the ultra-collectible references 1518 and 2499 1st series. The present yellow gold model further amplifies this vintage feeling in virtue of its case metal, which was as mentioned above the norm for vintage Patek Philippe complicated pieces.

While already much appreciated by connoisseurs upon its launch, the increased amount of knowledge in the market spurred in recent years more and more collectors to appreciate the model, with some scholars going as far as calling it “the single most beautiful classic wristwatch ever created.”.