AIR May 2019
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The performance-optimised 5212A<br />
Caliber “ 26-330, which premieres in this<br />
timepiece, is the apex of reliability<br />
”<br />
All images:<br />
Patek Philippe 5212A<br />
Calatrava Weekly Calendar<br />
one-of-a-kind Ref. 2512, which was first<br />
created by the brand in 1955.<br />
The 2512 was actually also produced<br />
in steel, and this was a feather in<br />
Patek’s cap at the time – for most,<br />
limited production methods of the day<br />
made steel too complicated to work<br />
with. The brand’s coveted sports watch,<br />
the Gérald Genta-designed Nautilus,<br />
was a steel stronghold at that time.<br />
With a present day scarcity of those<br />
steel Caltravas to satisfy collectors,<br />
the <strong>2019</strong> iteration will likely be in<br />
high demand. (In a casual, post-<br />
Baselworld video recap, Hodinkee<br />
founder and respected watch savant<br />
Ben Clymer revealed, “I can tell you,<br />
based on feedback from a few retail<br />
friends, that the demand for this<br />
watch is ‘bananas.’”)<br />
The 1955 original had a large, 46mmsizing,<br />
and a sign of the modernity of<br />
this travel-friendly interpretation is its<br />
more restrained 40mm case size.<br />
Remaining with aesthetics, the dial<br />
is worth further inspection. From<br />
centre-out, the four facets indicate the<br />
day, week number (up to 53), date and<br />
month, while the indexes are, in fact,<br />
blackened 18k white gold. “Stacking<br />
the five hands [hours, minutes,<br />
sweeping seconds, day and week] was<br />
a technical challenge,” admits Philip<br />
Barat, Head of Watch Development at<br />
Patek Philippe.<br />
The truly modern element is the<br />
Calatrava’s all-new new function for<br />
calendar watches: a semi-integrated<br />
mechanism which, in addition to the<br />
day of the week and the date, displays<br />
the current week number.<br />
The latter detail holds more<br />
functionality than it may first seem.<br />
The timepiece could have particular<br />
appeal, for instance, in numericallyinclined<br />
cultures such as Sweden where<br />
weeks – among other measurements<br />
– are referred to by number. (For<br />
orientation, this month’s edition of <strong>AIR</strong><br />
was printed in Week 18 of the year).<br />
Meanwhile, the need for a 53 rd week<br />
inclusion is due to an additional week<br />
occuring every five to six years; the<br />
Calatrava’s timely release date of 2020 (a<br />
year when the extra week pops up) will<br />
cater to this occasional calendar quirk.<br />
Powering the timepiece is the<br />
5212A / Caliber 26-330, which has a<br />
minimum of 35 and a maximum of 45<br />
hour power reserve, and also caters to<br />
unidirectional winding.<br />
Barat describes the “performanceoptimised”<br />
movement which premieres<br />
in this timepiece as “the apex of<br />
reliability.” A friction spring, just one<br />
of the changes, “reduces seconds-hand<br />
chatter,” he explains. “Friction costs<br />
torque and energy.”<br />
In all, it’s an idiosyncratic release<br />
from one of the masters of the dress<br />
watch, and though historically inspired,<br />
the <strong>2019</strong> Calatrava is a bold direction<br />
for the fabled brand (which, along<br />
with Audemars Piguet and Vacheron<br />
Constantin, is among the ‘Holy Trinity’<br />
of luxury watchmakers).<br />
Granted, the omission of precious<br />
materials means that the new steel<br />
Calatrava may not be the rarest of<br />
them all, but it’s easy to see how<br />
this charming Patek release has left<br />
industry observers ‘week’ at the knees.<br />
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