Credits: Article and images by Joshua Munchow @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/07/29/patek-philippe-5212a-calatrava-weekly-calendar-pateks-first-production-steel-dress-watch-in-decades-reprise/
I really like stainless steel. I even wrote about why I think stainless steel is the most precious of metals.
Stainless steel is one of the most versatile and functional metals in watchmaking, and a large percentage of watch cases and other components are made of it. But that doesn’t hold true across the entire industry, specifically in the upper echelon of watchmaking where precious metals reign supreme.
Stainless steel has an image problem; it just seems too pedestrian. When people spend upwards of $20,000 on a timepiece, they want to know that it is exclusive and of the utmost quality.
This often leads to the inclusion of precious metals, diamonds and gemstones, and extravagant métiers d’art techniques applied in a variety of ways. Sometimes we also find ceramic and titanium because they are considered more exotic and high-tech. Some brands use expensive cases as a point of pride, claiming that its watches will only ever be made in precious metals like gold and platinum.
This creates a side effect for those brands: the precious-metal watches are considered “normal” while the unlikely and often rare moments when a watch is released in stainless steel creates a buzz of excitement and a collectors’ rush to get their hands on the coveted, elusive steel edition.
Some brands house sporty models in stainless steel, but never dress watches – usually because it seems too mundane. In the extremely rare occasions when a prototype slips out or a one-off piece is made in steel (as in the case of the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Homage To Walter Lange), it becomes a unicorn, a legend from the start.
Patek Philippe Calatrava Weekly Reference 5212A
The most recent steel surprise comes from Patek Philippe, which at Baselworld 2019 released a new dress watch in stainless steel for the first time since the 1970s. The 5212A Calatrava Weekly Calendar is a mix of modern technology, classic style, and a couple of unique touches that help it stand out from Patek Philippe’s typical offerings, making it one of my favorite watches from this brand in a while.
Patek Philippe 5212A: “A” stands for “acier”
The magic A at the end of the reference number stands for acier, the French word for steel, which rarely shows up on a dress watch by Patek Philippe (and if it does, it is usually for a limited edition).
With the new 5212A, Patek Philippe is reaching out to a very specific segment of the brand’s base that is always calling for steel options outside of the Nautilus and Aquanaut lines. Fans are usually appeased every so often with a small limited edition, but with the 5212A Calatrava Weekly Calendar you get a complicated dress watch underneath the steely exterior.
The piece is based around the brand-new Caliber 26 330 S C J SE, a reworked and updated sibling to Caliber 324 featuring an additional 92 components for a new semi-integrated weekly calendar feature.
The Calatrava Weekly Calendar displays the date, day, and week with a passive month indication tied to the week display. The weekly calendar is separated into 53 weeks around the periphery of the dial, allowing for the eventuality of the 52 standard weeks spilling over into 53 weeks (according to ISO 8601) every five or six years (on years not divisible by seven) depending on what day of the week January 1 falls on.
Patek Philippe Calatrava Weekly Reference 5212A
The day, week, and month display is rather specific and has a few nice touches some might find unusual on a Patek Philippe timepiece.
First, the displays are all coaxial from the center (minus the date window, though the date disk is technically concentric) with five hands/pointers emanating from the center of the dial. This provided one of the bigger technical challenges when adding the weekly calendar function to the movement design, and as the only week-displaying calendar in the collection has no parallel within the brand’s collection.
Second, besides the “Patek Philippe Geneve” logo and the words “Swiss Made” at the bottom of the dial, all of the numerals, months, date, and days of the week are in an atypical handwritten type font, apparently copied from a designer at Patek Philippe known for very neat handwriting.
Dial details of the Patek Philippe Calatrava Weekly Reference 5212A
Going further, the typography didn’t just copy one version of each letter or numeral, but instead it appears that every single instance is slightly different and unique as if the entire dial was truly handwritten.
The details extend to the elongated hook of the 1s and crossbar on the 7s (the typical depiction of the numeral 7 in Europe), which add the human touch and turn the 5212A into something that feels utterly personal while remaining very technical.
It is something akin to a vintage instrument, one finished by hand as a proof of concept. Given that every Patek Philippe is so carefully considered and precisely executed, the loose style of this dial is kind of fun.
Lug detail of the Patek Philippe Calatrava Weekly Reference 5212A
The case style is a definite throwback to the Calatrava Reference 2512 from 1955, which was an oversized 46 mm unique piece featuring the same uncommon stepped lugs extending over the central case band to meet the bezel.
——————————————————————————————-
Credits: Article and images by Joshua Munchow @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2023/07/29/patek-philippe-5212a-calatrava-weekly-calendar-pateks-first-production-steel-dress-watch-in-decades-reprise/
