Patek Philippe

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Calatrava 5119 vs 5196: some thoughts and comments

Hello everyone.

I was motivated by the question of 'ange', posted earlier this month (on Dec 3rd), concerning the 'classical' dilemma between Calatrava 5119 and 5196.

I just want to share 2-3 thoughts with you and send you 2 pictures.

Apparently, there are many people who have had the same dilemma (and I used to be one of them, too). That's because both watches belong to the same price range, both are simple (hour-minutes, seconds), with long history, classical (with small seconds-hands) and classy.

I find both watches beautyful. I have chosen to buy the 5119j mainly because of the transparent case back. It is a pitty to decorate a mechanism, to award it with the Geneva seal and than to hide it from its owner (as it is the case with the 5196 and used to be with the 3919). I was not necessarily looking for an every day  watch. The 3919 was a watch that I started addoring in the 90's. In that era I could not afford it and later on when it was possible for me to buy it I had started to find it too small and I was also waiting for an open case-back model. So the 5119 was an easy choice for me. I nevertheless like very much the 5196 too and my coice would have been really hard if it had an open back. One more comment : earlier in 2007 when I bought my watch there were no 5119j on stock in the market of Geneva and Lausanne and I had to order it and wait for 4 months. However there were some available 5119r and 5196 j and g (red and gray gold).

Some comments : I am very satisfied from my choice but I have to notice that the 5119 is more dressy than I thought it to be.  It's black leather strap (which is not that shinny as it looks initially and i.m.o it is really wonderful) makes it look even more dressy. In my opinion it's not possible to wear it with jeans. This is not a problem for me as my work doesn't permit me to wear a leather strap watch for everyday use (I have decided to wear a steel bracelet chronograph a long time ago when I had to replace my Rolex Cellini's strap every year, which was too costy...!).  I thinkg however that the 5196j with its design and brown strap would alllow me to wear it more often (for example on saturday and sunday mornings...).

Greetings to everyone.