Great Gift For Dad: His Perpetual Calendar Watch Will Track Time Until At Least 2100

With Father's Day around the corner, we think it is a good time to take a look at a gift that will track time for him until the year 2100 (at least): a perpetual calendar watch. Essentially, a perpetual calendar watch is a mechanical timepiece that tracks a wealth of calendar information and properly displays it. That information typically includes day of the week, date of the month, leap years and moon phases.

The most important thing to understand about a perpetual calendar watch is that the mechanics inside the watch accurately and automatically track and portray the exact date of the month, whether the month has 28, 30 or 31 days in it. It even accounts for leap year.

Most are built to track time until the year 2100, when they will need to be opened and readjusted by a watchmaker (ideally on March 1) because in the year 2100, we will be skipping our regularly scheduled leap year. Leap years occur every four years, with the exception of century years. There is an exception to the exception, however. If the century year can be divided by 400 (as in 2000), it remains a leap year.

Perpetual calendars are extremely complex and typically hold hundreds of tiny mechanical parts inside. Among those parts are date, day and month wheels, and, in the case of a moon phase indication, a specially made disk. Because of the extensive work that goes into building one, a perpetual calendar watch generally commands higher prices, but these are very popular watches today thanks to the useful functions and classic look. Each watch brand that offers a perpetual calendar has a slightly different design or display. We invite you in to take a look at our perpetual calendars perfect for Father's Day.