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Skeletonized Pateks are like a beautiful woman in skimpy lingerie, it doesn’t happen too often you get to see, let alone touch, one in person.In fact, the ref. 5180 is one of the very few skeleton watches Patek has ever made and, boy, is it a sight to behold. It takes the classic dressy round Calatrava case, executed here in luscious 18k rose gold, and increases it to a modern 39 mm. The case is connected to a mindbogglingly smooth 15-link 18k rose gold bracelet with an exquisite concealed clasp. The construction of the bracelet is so flexible and comfortable, it almost feels like the bracelet becomes part of the wearer’s wrist.But back to the main attraction. Patek took the 40 year old ultra-thin caliber 240 automatic movement and painstakingly skeletonized, decorated, and engraved it by hand. According to the company, this process alone takes a whopping 130 hours of work. That’s about 16 workdays of 8 hours for just one movement.The result, obviously, is breathtaking. Just look at that wonderfully engraved Calatrava seal on the micro rotor. One of the downsides of using an older movement is that it’s often too small for the large cases of this day and age. However, on the ref. 5180 Patek used the smaller sized caliber to its advantage by using stretched out hour markers that serve as bridges between the ring holding the movement and the perimeter of the case. This is a wonderful example of purposeful design.This amazing 5180 dates back to 2019 and comes as a full set with the original box and papers.