What if I informed you that I drove a Lamborghini, however you knew I lived on a farm? You is perhaps skeptical. But you ask to go to and go for a journey, and I fortunately invite you over. While you arrive, I take you out to the barn and pull open the doorways to disclose my wonderful Lamborghini LM002, a V12 powered, four-door, sport utility truck.
All of a sudden all of it turns into clear.
That car, barring the tractors that originally wore the Lamborghini badge (and nonetheless do) earlier than Lamborghini made automobiles, isn’t what one expects whenever you say you personal a Lamborghini. In truth, within the thoughts of any fanatic it’s most likely the least “Lamborghini” Lamborghini on the market. However the truth stays it’s a true Lamborghini, all the way down to the V12 borrowed from the long-lasting Countach.
This situation represents the disconnect one might really feel when one thing with very sturdy and outlined traits breaks its personal guidelines and forges a singular path. It may be a bit of disorienting and arduous to simply accept the change. Most passionate individuals who comply with one thing lengthy sufficient will undoubtedly expertise this, whether or not with motion pictures, music, literature, merchandise, or another artistic style.
Heck, if we lived for just a few hundred years then just about the whole lot concerning the world would in some unspecified time in the future go down a brand new path we don’t acknowledge. However this isn’t a foul factor, no matter what some traditionalists say; it’s the pure evolution of time and concepts. And it demonstrates how new concepts might or might not stick round, however they nonetheless have to occur for development to happen.
On this planet of watchmaking, there’s a sturdy divide between individuals who need issues to remain the identical and people who benefit from the experimentation that comes with time. Normally the parents who worth custom and consistency select manufacturers additionally utilizing these ideas.
Custom is superior, don’t get me flawed: one may argue that with out that strong basis of custom, the experimentation would have much less impactful that means.
However what occurs when a usually conventional model takes a set that’s thought of certainly one of its most traditional and understated and does one thing decidedly not understated and solely loosely tied to its classical roots?
Enter Patek Philippe and the ever well-liked Calatrava, a line that has all the time stored issues clear and easy with an aesthetic ceaselessly in search of magnificence.

Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
Nevertheless, Patek Philippe’s newest launch inside the Calatrava line principally gave a giant outdated “meh” to holding it easy, forging a more moderen path. Most appropriately, its launch was a celebration for the opening of the brand new manufacture constructing taking Patek Philippe from a much less centralized manufacturing chain (very historically Swiss) to a extra fashionable built-in manufacturing facility with most manufacturing below one roof.
The Calatrava Reference 6007A marks a bodily and religious shift for the model and could also be some of the un-Calatrava Calatravas of current reminiscence.
Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A
The brand new piece is a fundamental three-hander plus date – nonetheless within the wheelhouse for Calatrava fashions – however the dial design and a few particulars have strayed so removed from the “typical” Calatrava that it was sure to trigger fairly a stir. That is an simply comprehensible response when you take into account what Patek Philippe itself says concerning the Calatrava line.
I’ve taken the outline for the gathering immediately from the web site, and it’s as follows.
“The Calatrava Assortment – Legendary purity. With its pure strains, the Calatrava is acknowledged because the very essence of the spherical wristwatch and one of many most interesting symbols of the Patek Philippe type. Supremely elegant, it charms every new era of watch lovers by its timeless understated perfection.”
Now take one other take a look at Reference 6007A and ask your self if it’s the essence of understated perfection. Go forward, I’ll wait.

Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
I’m certain you’ll see that it’s something however understated, and I don’t know if anybody may argue that it’s timeless on this iteration. In fact, that’s most likely why I prefer it a lot.
Reference 6007A takes related design cues from the considerably current 5212 Calatrava Weekly Calendar and the marginally older Reference 6000 and 5296 fashions for various points of the dial.
Most particularly, it options an hour chapter ring with triangular markers on the fives and a railroad monitor for the one digits that was discovered on Reference 6000, solely now with the colours reversed and matching this dial.

Tremendous-LumiNova-filled utilized gold numerals on the Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
Exterior of this ring is a second set of hour markers, once more just like Reference 6000 however now as a substitute of pad printed, the Arabic numerals are utilized and white gold, full of Tremendous-LumiNova, a particular change for the standard “costume” Calatrava.
Lastly, on the skin fringe of the dial is a chapter ring bearing numerals and hash marks to point minutes and seconds, one thing taken from Reference 5296, solely this time no hash marks for the beats of the stability are on exhibition.

Dial of the Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
The middle of the dial additionally options an embossed damier checkerboard sample, which Patek Philippe labels a “carbon”-style texture. Anybody acquainted with guilloche is aware of precisely what that’s. However surprisingly this isn’t precise guilloche, even when the handcrafted kind has been featured on different Calatrava dials up to now, so it’s one other shift away from the requirements of the gathering.
Particulars create a unique aesthetic – however not out of left discipline
The fingers of Reference 6007A are a thicker baton type full of Tremendous-LumiNova, two components frequent to sport watches and remarkable for the fashionable Calatrava. Lastly touchdown on the date show, we see the ultimate change that appears out of character for the Calatrava: a date disk that doesn’t match the dial shade, a design component seen on different Calatrava fashions with an identical date window.
None of that even touches on the truth that Reference 6007A can be cased in chrome steel (therefore the A within the reference quantity, standing for acier in French), one thing often solely seen on sporty fashions just like the Nautilus and Aquanaut or in one-off editions. Undoubtedly not within the Calatrava line. These are treasured metals solely, please. Apart from that 5212 Weekly Calendar, which additionally was in metal, however that’s one other “offender” to purists.

Crown of the Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
When you think about that the design aesthetic matches just a few beforehand launched Calatrava fashions, a minimum of in sure points, it turns into a bit extra obvious that this design isn’t out of left discipline however immediately from the archives of Patek Philippe, even when simply the previous few a long time.
However whenever you examine it to the general assortment, and what the final amassing neighborhood and even Patek Philippe itself say, the Calatrava is perhaps some of the un-Calatrava items ever to grace the Calatrava assortment.
For a lot of, that’s an issue. For me, that’s the spotlight.
After I appeared for these design components in previous fashions, I actually favored what I discovered. A lot in order that the predecessors are a few of my favourite fashionable Patek Philippe fashions. I’ve even written concerning the 5212 Weekly Calendar and mentioned as a lot. However at the same time as a lot as I like them, I must agree with the neighborhood that Reference 6007A doesn’t appear to suit inside the Calatrava assortment.
In fact, the watch remains to be traditional in comparison with many watches I really like, and the case dimensions – 40 x 9.07 mm – are nonetheless nicely inside costume watch requirements. However the particulars simply create a unique aesthetic that breaks away from the normal Calatrava costume watch.

Material sample embossed on the blue leather-based strap of the Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
The printer dial heart, the utilized lume, the material texture embossed on the leather-based strap: all of those particulars present a good quantity of contemporary progressive design that isn’t making an attempt to remain hidden below the cuff of a tuxedo.
However, then, I believe that’s sort of the purpose. The watch commemorates the opening of the brand new manufacture, a distinctly fashionable constructing that’s something however conventional in seems to be or perform.
In 1996 when Patek Philippe moved into a brand new manufacturing facility at Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Henri Stern, the present model president’s grandfather, is alleged to have scrunched his nostril on the new place. However his son, Philippe Stern, knew updating wanted to occur.
Now Thierry Stern continues his father’s legacy within the hopes of constant his grandfather’s legacy by opening the built-in manufacturing facility, which can be in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva.

Patek Philippe automated winding Caliber 324 S C seen by the show again of the Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
I see Reference 6007A as a symbolic marker. Not solely as a result of the rear sapphire crystal is inscribed with “New Manufacture 2019,” however as a result of, just like the 1996 facility, it has up to date probably the most classical method of constructing watches.
The brand new Calatrava is moderately in contrast to the standard Calatrava, and it could make no sense for it to be if it had been meant to rejoice industrial progress.
We will debate aesthetics all day, and most traditionalists and Patek Philippe purists will undoubtedly have their issues with the piece, however as an individual with a extra progressive mindset and one which likes shaking issues up a bit, I welcome the aesthetic shift.
Maybe it isn’t what a Calatrava often is, and Patek Philippe may have chosen to not put it into that assortment and as a substitute make it a standalone watch, however then I do assume the message may need gotten misplaced a bit of.
It’s like in motion pictures when an uncomfortable theme is offered in a barely disturbing method, many critique how the filmmakers selected to include the thought. Individuals have a tendency to love to counsel methods to melt the influence or make it extra delicate, ensuring it isn’t so in your face. However filmmakers often do what they do for a purpose: they need that theme to hit arduous to make individuals squirm.

Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
I could also be flawed, however I truthfully surprise if that isn’t what Patek Philippe did with the Calatrava Reference 6007A: deliberately make individuals squirm in order that they perceive that the model could be very conscious that custom isn’t all the time the reply and generally we have to shake issues up.
It could possibly be an indication that the powers that be inside Patek Philippe may not be so mesmerized by the custom of the model and are able to not take it fairly as critically. Or possibly all of the loyal Patek Philippe collectors are right and the model simply made a really un-Calatrava Calatrava reference.
Might be each.
In case you haven’t had a breakdown from my appreciation of this watch, let’s all break this down collectively.
- Wowza Issue * 9.1 It’s a very good watch, however a majority of the wow issue is because of how atypical it’s as a Calatrava reference!
- Late Evening Lust Attraction * 81.0» 794.338m/s2 It’s a powerful quantity of lust if not merely for the way it tries arduous to not be too sq., as a substitute intending to enliven the celebration!
- M.G.R. * 55 Additional-solid automated Patek Philippe motion with Spiromax silicon stability spring and Patek Philippe Seal, nice coronary heart for a watch!
- Added-Functionitis * Gentle It’s received a date, which is greater than might be mentioned for a lot of Calatrava fashions. Nonetheless, you could want youngsters’s power Gotta-HAVE-That cream for the very minor horological swelling!
- Ouch Define * 9.2 That point you by chance received duct tape wrapped all the way in which round your very bushy man leg! Many ladies perceive the ache and are possible used to it. The primary time it occurred to me, I used to be not ready for it. Now I do know higher. I’ve gotten used to it sufficient that I’ll gladly have my legs by chance “tape waxed” if it means I get certainly one of these on my wrist!
- Mermaid Second * Nicely, that’s totally different! Generally simply not following precisely in your predecessor’s footsteps is sufficient to make you stand out from the group!
- Superior Complete * 716 Take the variety of items within the restricted version (1000) and subtract the caliber quantity (324), then add the diameter of the case (40) for a barely atypical superior complete!
For extra info, please go to www.patek.com/en/firm/information/calatrava-ref-6007a.
Fast Information Patek Philippe Calatrava Reference 6007A-001
Case: 40 x 9.07 mm, chrome steel
Motion: automated Patek Philippe Caliber 324 S C bearing the Patek Philippe Seal, Spiromax silicon stability spring and Gyromax stability, 28,800 vph/4Hz frequency, 45-hour energy reserve
Capabilities: hours, minutes, seconds; date
Limitation: 1,000 items
Value: $28,351
* This text was first printed on August 16, 2020 at Patek Phillipe Calatrava Ref. 6007A: A Very Un-Calatrava Calatrava.
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