The Patek Philippe Calatrava is a line of dress watches built by Swiss watchmaker

Patek Philippe Patek Philippe SA () is a Swiss luxury watchmaker and clock manufacturer, located in the Canton of Geneva and the Vallée de Joux. Established in 1839, it is named after two of its founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the comp ...

. Known for its simple and elegant design, the Calatrava wristwatch has been a flagship model of Patek Philippe since its introduction. The first version of the Calatrava was launched in 1932, inspired by the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...

principle.

History

Patek Philippe Calatrava wristwatch was introduced in 1932, and the first model was Ref. 96. It took its name from the

Order of Calatrava The Order of Calatrava (, ) was one of the Spanish military orders, four Spanish military orders and the first Military order (society), military order founded in Kingdom of Castile, Castile, but the second to receive papal approval. The papal bu ...

, one of the most notable Christian knighthood orders, which played a major role during the

crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. The watch was originally designed by Henri Stern soon after his father, a dial manufacturer, acquired Patek Philippe in 1932. Calatrava was introduced to help the company pass through the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

smoothly. The original Calatrava Ref. 96 was produced for over 40 years. Its successor models include Ref. 2526, Ref. 3520, Ref. 5196, and so on. Introduced in 1985, Ref. 3919 was the most popular model in the Calatrava range, with its signature

guilloché Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning m ...

"Clous de Paris" bezel. After 21 years, it was replaced in March 2006 by the slightly larger 5119 model. This change in size reflected a growing trend for larger watches.

Watch specifications

Patek Philippe has developed a

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

movement, but it is not currently used in the Calatrava range. The only Calatravas earlier using a quartz movement were the 3744 (E27 movement, no date, no second hand) and 3944 (E23 movement, date, second hand). Some Calatravas (such as the 5227) feature a date function, whereas others (such as the 5116, 5119, 5120, 5123, 5196) display only hours and minutes and, in some cases, seconds (such as the 5026, 6119).

Price record

A Calatrava 2526 model retailed by Tiffany & Co. in 1954 was sold for US$642,500 at an auction in 2018. As of 2025, the highest auction price reached by a Calatrava is CHF3,297,000 (or around US$3,618,645) for a ref. 570 from 1942. This watch, called "Calatravone" by Italian collectors due to its case size, features a stainless steel case, a two-tone silver dial and black enameled Breguet numerals.

References

External links

Patek Phillipe website - Calatrava models
{{Patek Philippe Watch models Patek Philippe