Looking good matters more than showing off

The 5712 nobody recognises
There is a certain kind of watch you only understand once you have crawled a little too far down the rabbit hole. The 5055G is exactly that watch. From the outside it is a discreet, round white-gold dress watch with a moon phase and a power reserve – polite, quiet, just a touch old-fashioned. But flip it over, look at the movement, and you realise the truth: the very same heart beats here as in the cult-favourite Nautilus 5712.
The difference is that the 5712 everyone lusts after is the steel one – the stainless-steel sports watch with the waiting lists and the absurd premiums – while the 5055G wraps that same engine in solid white gold and never once makes a stranger talk to you at a cocktail table. So my personal motto for this reference is this: if you want the same calibre as a 5712, and white gold on top, but only fancy paying a fraction of the price, you really ought to take a long look at this model.
The 5055G is, in effect, the 5712 for people who have nothing to prove – except to themselves.

The same heart, a tenth of the drama
The 5055G runs the Calibre 240/164 – the famous 240 PS IRM C LU, the very same lineage that powers the 5712. It is an ultra-thin automatic with a 22-karat gold micro-rotor, 29 jewels, 21,600 vibrations per hour, the Geneva Seal, and roughly 48 hours of power reserve. It displays hours, minutes, small seconds (at 4 o’clock), a pointer date and moon phase (at 7 o’clock), and a beautifully fan-shaped power reserve indicator (at 10/11 o’clock). That is precisely the complication menu of the 5712 – simply served in a classic round case instead of a steel sports case with a waiting-list surcharge. You get the full Patek movement experience, micro-rotor and all, and that rotor spins so discreetly that you are occasionally unsure whether the watch was even listening. A treat for connoisseurs. A mystery to the person sitting next to you.

The case: as thin as a good alibi
The white-gold case measures 36 mm and, at roughly 9 mm tall, is pleasantly flat – it disappears under any cuff without so much as a thank-you. White gold is arguably the most thankless precious metal in all of watchmaking: it costs like gold, looks like steel, and is recognised by exactly two people – your jeweller and yourself. But that is precisely the appeal. This watch does not shout “Patek,” it whispers it. The case-side corrector pushers for the date and moon phase are cleanly integrated and work flawlessly – provided you have not, as I have, reliably stored the supplied setting tool in the wrong drawer.

Yes or No?
If you run through the following points, you may find the answer to the “Is-the-5055G-the-right-watch-for-me Question”:
1. You like the idea of owning the movement of a 5712 without being put on a waiting list for it.
2. You still find a moon phase romantic, even though at night you are usually looking at a different watch anyway.
3. You appreciate a power reserve indicator because it lets you watch the watch slowly dying and warns you in time.
4. You enjoy wearing white gold and take quiet pleasure in the fact that nobody notices.
5. A diameter of 36 mm is not “too small” to you, but “elegant at last.”
6. You can live with an automatic movement that treats your patience as an optional accessory whenever you set the hands.
7. You do not need a stop-seconds function, because you are never on time anyway.
8. You rate a movement bearing the Geneva Seal more highly than the number of likes a steel sports model collects.
9. You are elegant enough to wear a watch that is cleverer than its entrance.
10. You understand that the greatest luxury today lies in not being noticed.

Pros
– the same calibre DNA as the steel 5712, at a fraction of the price – and in white gold, no less
– a fully loaded movement with moon phase, pointer date, power reserve and small seconds
– a thin, discreet white-gold case – the very definition of “quiet luxury”

Cons
– no stop-seconds – if you like syncing your watch to the atomic clock down to the second, you will have to make peace with the resulting loss of inner control
– you have to turn the crown a great, great deal to set the time – Calibre 240 evidently regards the spring and autumn time change as a cardio session for your forearm
– nobody recognises white gold – a curse and a blessing at once

Quality
96

Style
93

Value
92

Wearability
95