For me, it feels strange to think that the Annual Calendar that takes into account the days of each month except February, was only invented just over 60 years after the first perpetual calendar wristwatch was made. As many of you know, a perpetual calendar is far more complicated and takes into account every month, including February and leap years. It was perhaps not that the horological know how wasn’t there, but just that no one realised it as a practical complication as it seemed neither here nor there. Only in 1996, did Patek Philippe realise the pragmatism in a complication like this, as it provided customers the convenience of not having to set their watch every month without having to shell out for a Grande complication in the form of a perpetual calendar. It was a good compromise between cost, complication and convenience as the name Annual Calendar’ derives from the notion that the user only has to set the watch once a year.