Jules Audemars 30th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar by Audemars Piguet

Thirty years ago Audemars Piguet revealed world’s first ultra-thin self-winding perpetual calendar watch.

This year, the Swiss watch manufacture presented its special anniversary edition Jules Audemars 30th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar (Ref. 26000PT.OO.D028CR.01).

Limited to only 90 copies produced each year, this wonderful watch features the Caliber 2120/2802 mechanical automatic movement, which is only 4 millimeters thick.

Now, try to imagine its price.

The ultra-thin movement is built on 38 and comprises whole 355 parts, most of which are less than 1 millimeter thick.

Yes, you can find thinner automatic movements on the market, but most of them will offer you a less spectacular micro-rotor design and the list of their functions will be significantly shorter.

And, frankly, I highly doubt that you will be able to find another ultra-thin perpetual calendar watch that features not only the usual day of week, date, and months, but also less frequently occurred moon-phase and leap year cycle complications.

Company says that the watch’s perpetual calendar will not require correction before March 1st, 2100 meaning that even your grandson won’t have to bother every four years with these annoying leap-year cycles.

Like it always the cases with any perpetual calendar, the timekeeper’s face is overloaded with information looking like a dashboard in the cockpit of a bomber plane.

While the pair of sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock that indicate date and day of week respectively are clean and easy to read, the sub-dials at 6 and 12 o’clock are not that easy to deal with.

Besides the usual moonphase indicator, the display at 6 o’clock also shows a scale for the moon-month, while the sub-dial at 12 o’clock has a pair of hands, the longer indicating current month and the shorter indicating leap years.

On the other hand, the design of the sub-dials is quite logical: you can easily read the most important data (current day and date, as well as time,) while the moonphase and leap year indicators are here more for esthetic and technical purposes.

It would be logical, too, that the leap year would be printed in the same red color as the smaller hand, but (possibly trying to preserve the monochromatic pattern of the dial) AP’s designers decided to print them in the same white as the rest of the numerals and abbreviations.

Well, the watch still looks quite legible and, once you get used to it, won’t require unnecessary effort to read all the presented data with a short glance.

Jules Audemars 30th Anniversary Perpetual Calendar by Audemars Piguet specification:

Price range: $100,000
Movement: Calibre: 2120/2802, ultra-thin, self-winding
Complications: Day, date, month, moon-phases, leap-year cycle
Power reserve: 40 hours
Case material: Platinum
Case diameter: 41mm
Case height: 9.15mm
Dial: Tuscany blue dial with white gold applied hour-markers. White gold hour and minute hands.
Water resistance: 20m
Strap: “Large square-scale” hand-sewn alligator leather with platinum AP folding clasp
Crystal: Sapphire