A triple calendar is a complication that shows the day of the week, the date and the month. It is also known as a complete or full calendar. It gives more calendar information than a date alone. It cannot tell how long each month is, though, so it needs correcting by hand after short months.
How does a triple calendar work?
A common layout prints the numbers 1 to 31 around the edge of the dial. A separate hand points to the current date. The day of the week and the month need their own displays. On a vintage Rolex triple-calendar chronograph, for example, the day and month sit in small windows below 12 o’clock, alongside the chronograph counters. The triple calendar is often combined with a moon-phase display. In French watchmaking, the word quantième refers only to the number of the day within the month.
How do you correct a triple calendar?
The mechanism does not know how long each month is. After any month with fewer than 31 days, the date will be wrong, so the owner has to correct it regularly. To do this, the wearer moves the date forward by hand to the first day of the next month. Short months are the ones to watch. Anyone wearing a triple calendar should expect to check the date at the end of each one.
Where it comes from
The complete calendar has existed since the first few decades of the twentieth century. Rolex launched its Ref. 6062 at the 1950 Basel Fair, combining a triple calendar with a moon phase. Phillips calls it the first self-winding wristwatch with a triple calendar and moon phase in a waterproof case. Later, as part of its 1983 commitment to mechanical watches, Blancpain released the Complete Calendar Moon Phase. It was a thin 34 mm watch, cased in gold and platinum.
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