The short answer
A replica 5320G can look convincing in photos and still be nothing like the real watch where it counts. The genuine reference runs a true perpetual calendar: date, day, month, moon phase and leap year all advance on their own and stay correct through February 2100. Nearly every "1:1" copy on the market fakes that part. You get a day, date and month display driven by a standard calendar module, sometimes with a leap year window that is painted on or wired to a fixed four position wheel that will never track a real four year cycle. If the complication is why you want a 5320G, a rep will disappoint. If you want the look on a wrist for a fraction of six figures, you need to know exactly which corners get cut.
What the real 5320G is
The 5320G is a white gold perpetual calendar with a 40 mm case, a lacquered cream dial, applied gold numerals and syringe style hands. Inside sits calibre 324 S Q, a micro rotor automatic perpetual calendar. The whole design is built around a long service life and a calendar that corrects itself. Retail sits in the six figure range and secondary prices have run higher. That context sets the bar any replica is judged against.
Where replicas break down
The calendar logic
A real perpetual calendar needs a program wheel that knows which months have 30 days and which February gets 29. Replica factories do not build that. They bolt a calendar module onto an existing movement and stop there. What you end up with:
- The date has to be advanced by hand at the end of February and after every 30 day month.
- The leap year indicator is decorative, or it cycles on a loop that has nothing to do with the actual year.
- The moon phase disc runs off the hour hand on a 24 hour or 29 day cycle, so it drifts and never matches the lunar month.
- Date change snaps with a cheap click, or it creeps through the night.
Case and thickness
Adding a module adds height. A rep often measures a millimetre or two thicker than the real 40 mm by roughly 11 mm profile, and the lugs and bezel step look chunkier as a result. White gold has a specific heft. Steel or plated brass does not replicate that in the hand.
Dial and finishing
Check the printing under a loupe. On the genuine dial the apertures are crisp, the applied numerals have polished bevels, and the font weight is consistent. On a fake, look for fuzzy edges on the day and month windows, numerals that sit flat instead of standing up, and moon phase discs printed with a flat look rather than a raised gold moon on a grained sky.
Movement finishing
Turn it over. Real Patek finishing means Geneva stripes with sharp edges, anglage with polished bevels, and jewel sinks that catch light. Replicas show shallow or printed striping, no real bevel, and rotor decoration that reads flat. Some use solid casebacks to hide the whole problem.
Questions to ask before buying
- What movement is inside, and is the calendar a real program wheel or a bolt on module?
- What is the measured case diameter and thickness, not the quoted spec?
- Does the leap year aperture track a genuine four year cycle, or is it fixed?
- What is the case material, and is it solid or plated?
- What does the warranty cover, and who services the watch?
Legal and practical reality in the US
Counterfeit watches are illegal to import and to traffic in the United States. Customs can seize a shipment, and selling a counterfeit is trafficking regardless of what the buyer is told. Patek Philippe will not service or authenticate a fake, so once it stops running you are on your own with a movement no local watchmaker stocks parts for. Resale value is close to zero, and there is no warranty path back to the maker.
Bottom line
A replica 5320G buys you the silhouette and the dial layout. It does not buy you a perpetual calendar. If the appeal is the complication, save for something real with a calendar, even from another brand. If the appeal is the look, go in knowing the calendar will need resetting, the moon phase will drift, and the watch is a disposable object rather than an heirloom. Judge it against that honest standard and nothing about it will surprise you.