Calatrava Travel Time


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Patek Philippe Watches

Calatrava Travel Time

he Calatrava Travel Time is a complicated wristwatch by Patek Philippe that combines two venerable traditions of the last independent Geneva watch manufacturer. It unites the classic form of the Calatrava line with the complication of a movement that simultaneously indicates the time in two different zones.

With its two superimposed hour hands, the Calatrava Travel Time displays the time in two different time zones at a single glance.

It thus ranks among the particularly convenient complications which serve a useful purpose in everyday life. For decades, Patek Philippe has been crafting wristwatches that simultaneously display the time in different zones and today, its famous World Time watches built from 1930 to 1960 fetch record prices at auctions. As a dual-time-zone watch, the new Calatrava Travel Time offers a uniquely practical benefit. In our era, travel across all 24 time zones has become commonplace, particularly for people involved in global business. For them, the Calatrava Travel Time is an ideal watch. It instantly informs them not only of the local time at their current location but also lets them keep track of the time at home.

The case of the Calatrava Travel Time conceals the manually wound calibre 215 PS FUS, a mechanical masterpiece composed of 178 individual parts, each one meticulously finished by hand. All movement edges are bevelled and each individual tooth of every single gear is hand-polished in an additional process using a rotating hardwood disk.

This degree of perfection is not an end in itself. Polishing reduces friction at the tooth contact surfaces, thus contributing significantly to the timekeeping precision and longevity for which Patek Philippe watches have a legendary reputation. Because of the painstaking processes and work-intensive steps needed to test timekeeping accuracy, it takes months to complete each movement. The result is a flawless marvel of precision engineering worthy of the prestigious Geneva Seal embossed on its bridge, the highest official hallmark of quality awarded to mechanical timepieces.

A movement of rare excellence deserves a similarly unique exterior: a precious case crafted from 18K yellow, rose, or white gold reflecting the classic Calatrava design. The Calatrava line dates back to 1932 when Patek Philippe created the Ref. 96, a round watch in a compellingly modern style. Given the simplicity and perfection of its design, the Calatrava soon became an icon of the classic art of watchmaking. As the first model in the line, the Ref. 96 inspired the exquisitely aesthetic styling of all subsequent models. The clarity of its lines was perpetuated throughout several collections and today is still considered archetypal. Calatrava, incidentally, is the name of a Spanish Order of Knighthood established in 1158. Its emblem - the Calatrava Cross - was adopted by Patek Philippe as the company's brand logo.

The Calatrava Travel Time has two elongated buttons on the left side of the caseband, allowing local time to be advanced or set backwards, depending on whether the owner travels east or west. The wedge form of these buttons and the extended ridges that protect the crown on the opposite side accent the irresistible symmetry of the case.

To expose the equally aesthetic appeal of the exquisitely decorated movement, a sapphire crystal caseback reveals the Gyromax balance and the beautiful Côtes de Genève decoration of the bridge. The watch is on a crocodile strap with a folding clasp made of 18K yellow, rose, or white gold.

Patek Philippe's Calatrava Travel Time is a traveller's watch that simultaneously indicates the time in two different time zones. The black hands display the local time at the owner's current location, and the gold hour hand indicates home time, i.e. the time at the owner's residence or company headquarters. A small gold hand in a 24-hour subsidiary dial at 12 o'clock provides the day/night information for home time. Because the passage from one time zone to the next is always equivalent to a time change of one full hour, the minutes and seconds indications apply to both local time and home time.

Calatrava In the home time zone, the two hour hands are precisely superimposed: the gold hand is concealed by the black hand. In a different time zone, the black hand can be moved forward or backward hour by hour with the buttons in the case band on the left to display the local time at the traveller's destination. Travelling east, the owner would press the button at 8 o'clock to advance the time in hours by the number of time zone passages. The button at 10 o'clock makes the hour hand jump backwards in one-hour increments when the owner is travelling west. Since the local hour hand is uncoupled from the movement when this feature is used, the timekeeping accuracy of the minutes and seconds displays remains unaffected. The gold hour hand continues to indicate home time - the day/night information is provided by the 24-hour subsidiary dial which also has a gold hand. If both buttons are inadvertently pressed at the same time, a special isolation mechanism prevents the movement from being damaged by automatically defaulting to the advance button at 8 o'clock. When the time is set with the crown, the minute hand and all three hour hands - black local time, gold home time, gold 24-hour home time - move in unison; special coupling devices prevent the gold hour hand and the black hour hand from wandering relative to one another while the time is being set.

Patek Philippe

Complicated Wrist Watches

Giorgio Gregato, Paolo De Vecchi

Full details at: Greenwich Book

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