Patek Philippe

Chromatic Fugue
1850

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Out with the old Calatrava, in with the new

I bought my first Calatrava in 2008 — a flat-bezel 5107J. I was in love with it until I realized one day that yellow gold doesn’t look good on me at all. I kept it for 11 years anyway and finally sold it last year. I’ve always wanted another Calatrava, though. The classic is the Ref. 96, but that seemed too small for daily use (at least to my eye). I thought long and hard about the 5196P, but it bothered me (as it bothers some of you) that the movement was designed for the much smaller Ref. 96 and thus isn’t even deemed suitable for a case back display. I also no longer had any watches with a center sweep hand, and I wanted one. I looked at some of the more modern Calatrava automatics with the center sweep, but found them too big for my wrist, whether because their cases were wider than my old 5127J’s, because their bezels were thinner and their dials correspondingly wider, or both. And I’ve liked the the simple heft of platinum. So what did I get today? Another 5107 ... with a P on the end. Here it is, posing for my phone this afternoon. Better photos in a few days.

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