Golden Ellipse 5738 Yellow-Crested Cockatoo

In Context

At 34.5 mm it is classically proportioned: the size a dress watch was understood to be for most of the twentieth century, and small enough to sit under a cuff. The 5.9 mm case is genuinely slim and goes under a shirt cuff without argument. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. Rated to 30 m, it is protected against rain and splashes and nothing beyond that.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 48 hours of reserve is enough to set it down on Friday evening and find it still running on Monday. At 21,600 vph the seconds hand advances 6 times a second, the slower and more audible rate of an older design.

5738/50J-011 stands on its own in this catalogue — no other reference here shares its base number. It pairs a multi-color dial with a white gold case. It was a limited edition.

Patek's ultra-thin automatic, introduced in 1977 as a mechanical answer to quartz on the one ground quartz had won: thinness. A 22K gold micro-rotor recessed into the mainplate rather than sitting above it holds the movement to 2.53 mm across a 27.5 mm diameter. The 3 Hz balance is deliberate — a slower beat draws roughly a fifth less energy than 4 Hz, which is how a rotor that small still keeps the mainspring wound. It runs a Gyromax balance, and underpins the thinner Calatrava, Nautilus and Aquanaut references.

149 other watches in the library run the Patek Philippe 240.

Patek Philippe

Calatrava Lake Geneva Barques 5089

5089G-011 · 38.6 mm

Patek Philippe

Calatrava London Landmarks

5089G-040 · 38.6 mm

Patek Philippe

Calatrava On the Lake 5089

5089G-033 · 38.6 mm

Patek Philippe

Calatrava 5089 Whit e Gold / Orchids

5089G-085 · 38.6 mm