Posts Tagged ‘Calatrava’
3417 Patek Philippe Amagnetic
I would be willing to bet a great bottle of Glenrothes that, if you asked industry luminaries for their top five most beautiful Patek Philippe references of all time, the 3417 Amagnetic would feature in the majority. This is an elegant Calatrava belying the soul of a steel tool watch. It’s like seeing Tom Ford,…
Read More2508 Patek Philippe Calatrava
Very little can truly be described as timeless. A Patek Calatrava deserves that laudable adjective like little else. The 2508, produced between 1951 and 1960, is a high point of the Calatrava lineage for many. It debuted a larger 35mm case manufactured by Taubert & Fils (later known as Borgel) which echoed the design elements…
Read More2597 Patek Philippe ‘Travel Time’ Calatrava in Pink Gold
Developed just after the initial Worldtimers by Louis Cottier, the ref. 2597 is damn cool ‘Travel Time’ from 1956, the very start of the jet age. The reference can be thought of as a 570 Calatrava with a little je ne sais quoi complication. The watch featured an early iteration of a Travel Time, effectively: its wearer…
Read More3864 Longines Sei Tacche
Through the post WWII era, Longines’ engineering, quality, and design were nearly unrivaled. This era gave us the 13ZN, 12.68Z fly-back, 6630 ‘Swiss Air’, 3592 Type A-7, ‘Tasti a Spillo’, and many other. Among this innovative era were a series of extremely handsome calatrava-styled pieces with restrained aesthetics. The most famed of these are known…
Read MoreCal. 853 Pellaton IWC Calatrava in Yellow Gold
Watches from IWC which predate their major sports lines are a bit under the radar today. This simple three-hander proves the point. Exquisite 35mm proportions, a restrained dial, vintage IWC script signature, alpha hands, competent automatic calibre . . .I could go on. Yet, little ink has been spilled on behalf of this period in…
Read More3796G Patek Philippe Calatrava
Patek Philippe’s Calatrava is the final word in understated elegance, a pinnacle of three-handers. Since the ref. 96 of 1932, the Calatrava has always underpinned Patek’s entire collection. This 3796 carried the flag from 1982 until 1999. In doing so, it maintained the classic 30.5mm (or 31, depending on who you ask) case proportion but…
Read More2508 Patek Philippe Calatrava
Very little can truly be described as timeless. A Patek Calatrava deserves that laudable adjective like little else. The 2508, produced between 1951 and 1960, is a high point of the Calatrava lineage for many. It debuted a larger 35mm case manufactured by Taubert & Fils (later known as Borgel) which echoed the design elements…
Read More20218 Universal Genève Calatrava
When one contemplates all that is Universal Genève, sport watches almost always come to the fore. Things like the Compax series and Polerouters dominate their easily-recalled legacy. However, a part of Universal’s charm is the incredible depth that manufacture had achieved before folding. One forgotten reference was quite popular just before the Monodate yet seems…
Read More3466 Patek Philippe Steel Calatrava
There’s a lot of buzz around Cartier these days. Thin, elegant, significant, and discreet . . .these are the attritbutes collectors seem to hold dear today. We are witnessing an equal and opposite reaction to the ostentatious Stallone Luminors and endless Offshore LEs of the early 00s. The era of stealth wealth, Santos, and endless…
Read More4217 Vacheron Constantin Calibre 454/5B Calatrava
This humble calatrava is arguably thee quintessential Vacheron dress watch, which is to say the archetypal watch from the archetypal, storied 1755 marque. Mid-century modern designs don’t come minimal or romantic. While unadorned dress watches have recently been seen as less-desirable (as opposed to complication or sporting credentials), their restraint and lack of pretense is…
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