Posts Tagged ‘Calatrava’
3864 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…
Read MoreVZASC Audemars Piguet Calatrava
Valjoux’s VZ series of calibres has been found under the name of Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and what we see here: AP. What is not as easily understood is just why that series of movements deserved to prove so popular among the most esteemed manufactures of the 1940s and 50s. The sheer levels of quality…
Read MoreNivram (Marvin) 1930s Tuxedo Calatrava
I have never more lamented my Neanderthal wrist proportion more than just Monday. Let me explain. One of the great joys in this small project are the watches you all send in. Over the weekend, reader @brendano11 threw this in my inbox and my, was I disappointed. Disappointed only that I could not purchase it…
Read MoreTissot 6916 Chevron Dial
In the Mad Men era of pie-pan Constellations, UG Monodates, and waffle Princes, value alternatives existed alongside these heavyweights. Tissot may be largely famed today for quartz consumables and bright orange adolescent designs, but it wasn’t always so. Seeming acknowledging their sinful modernity, Tissot have released one or two throwbacks to their unimpeachably great back…
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