Patek Philippe Calatrava Automatic 6006g-001 Review
Some watches are designed to a trend and then some others are designed to be simply timeless.
Patek Philippe Calatrava Automatic 6006g-001 Review
Any time that I review a Patek Philippe watch, I feel it requires some special attention. As possibly the most respected high horology brand in the business, a certain level of tact and finesse is necessary.
While the Calatrava is one of the most classic Patek Philippe watches with many models designed with what they call ‘legendary purity’. Most Calatrava watches are classically designed with simplistic dials consisting of either a three-hand design with a date window or a two-hand design with a small running seconds sub-register.
The model that we are reviewing here is the Calatrava 6006G. Some design elements were clearly adopted from earlier models of the Patek Calatrava such as the offset small seconds sub-dial which can be found on reference # 5000 and #6000 which were produced in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
The watch features a slick black sunray dial which uses a sans serif font for its white printed numerals. A central minute’s track and offset seconds track is also printed on the dial in black and white. A close look will show you how this dial is made, and it is quite impressive, to say the least. There is an intimate peek with a loupe would let you see the level of detail in the sub-dial. Its ribbed texture has a radial pattern reminiscent of a classic vinyl record, only in white.
The main dial uses polished skeletonized hands for the hour and minute hand and a thin polished hand for the date hand. The date hand has a bright red arrowhead at the end which points to the day of the month. The small running seconds hand is also polished and rectangular in shape and looks about as thin as the date hand.
Index hour markers are more commonly found on a Calatrava watch than regular numerals keeping the design clean and simple but the Patek 6006G-001 is arguably the busiest looking Patek Calatrava currently in production when compared to most Calatrava models. The designers at Patek Philippe implemented printed Arabic numerals for both the hour markers and for the date track which is printed around the perimeter of the dial.
The Patek Calatrava 6006G has an 18kt white gold case measuring at a classic men’s size of 39mm in diameter. The case is finely polished with a very thin profile at a thickness of only 8.86mm. The case only offers 30m/100ft of water resistance, not that you would ever think of taking this swimming. When the case is flipped over, the transparent sapphire crystal case back reveals the beating heart of the 6006g-001. This, of course, is the Patek Philippe caliber 240 self-winding movement.
This ultra-thin automatic caliber has been celebrated since it was first unveiled by Patek Philippe in 1977. It has been a constant ever since then. As a way of celebrating its 40th anniversary Patek introduced a new Calatrava watch with the reference number 6006g using the 240 caliber at Baselworld 2017 along with a few other watches that use this caliber which include the Calatrava Squelette (ref # 5180/r), the Calatrava Haute Joaillerie (ref # 4899), and the Calatrava “Azuelos” (ref # 5089g).
The Patek Philippe caliber 240 automatic movement is intricately detailed and conspicuously finished to perfection using a combination of both Côte-de-Genève striping patterns and circular perlage patter on the various components and plates. An off-center miniaturized solid gold weighted rotor is finished with Côte-de-Genève striping and hand-engraved with the Calatrava cross and the Patek Philippe Seal; Patek Philippe’s symbol of their commitment to perfection in horological craftsmanship.
This caliber resonates at 3Hz or 21,600 oscillations per hour and uses some of Patek Philippe’s most innovative proprietary components and materials such as their Gyromax balance and their Spiromax balance spring. The 27-jewel Patek Philippe 240 PS C self-winding caliber measures 30mm across and only 3.43mm thick. It contains 191 components, features eight bridges and has an approximate power reserve of up to 48 hours.
The Patek 6006G comes on a glossy black hand-stitched alligator strap with a folding clasp. The deployant buckle crafted in solid 18kt white gold and is elegantly designed with a Calatrava cross.
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