News
Introducing the Calatrava Ref. 6007A Celebrating New Manufacture Building
News
Introducing the Calatrava Ref. 6007A Celebrating New Manufacture Building
Many watchmakers went ahead, utilizing digital platforms and there were yet many others that have simply held back. Patek Philippe has been of the latter group. That is, until now.
Patek Philippe not only managed to launch one of their 2020 novelties, it also made sure it was in Singapore on the day of its launch. Which is epic for several reasons, 1) because Singapore comes out of its initial set of movement restrictions in view of Covid-19 and the lockdown that was put in place (or, circuit breaker as it was termed here). And 2) because the first novelty that we managed to handle post lockdown season, just happened to be a Patek Philippe.
1996 – Plan-les-Ouates
The new watch that’s been announced today was created to mark the completion of Patek Philippe’s latest manufacture building, PP6. But before we get to that, here’s a quick look at the watches that were launched when Patek Philippe last inaugurated a new manufacture building in 1997.
This was the building they established in Plan-les-Ouates bringing together the maison’s business activities strewn about the city under one roof. It didn’t take long for them outgrow the new building and spill over to an alternate facility at the nearby neighborhood of Perly, in 2003. It’s not like the maison was suddenly producing more watches, but with nearly half of their watches forming the complicated category alone in present day, space and resources had to expanded to accommodate Patek Philippe present and its future.
2009 – “Plan-les-Watches”
Patek Philippe bought more land to expand on its existing plot in Plan-les-Ouates, in 2009 with two intentions in mind. First to bring its operations in Perly, back to Plan-les-Ouates grounds and secondly, to accommodate increasing needs for production and training.
It would be yet another six years until a groundbreaking ceremony was held to kick off the construction on this new site, in 2015. And yet another four years until the first few bits of activities could be housed in the new building, in 2019.
Reference 6007A-001 Calatrava
The dial is in brass with circular and radial graining with the centre bearing a fine-grain “carbon” pattern. Just around that you have a printed railway scale with triangular markers, placed atop a concentric pattern stamping. Then comes the 18k white gold applied Arabic numerals, which are white lacquered and have luminous coating — reminiscent of the 2017 ref. 6006. On the perimeter of the dial is a white-printed 5-minute scale.
Self-winding Caliber 324 S C with a Gyromax® balance and a Spiromax® balance spring; hour, minute and running seconds; date; 45-hour power reserve
Case
40mm in stainless steel; 10.34mm height; water-resistant to 30m
Strap
Calfskin, matt blue-gray, hand-stitched with white decorative seams, delicately embossed with textile motif, stainless steel prong buckle
Price and Availability
CHF 25,000; available immediately with all authorized Patek Philippe retailers[/td_block_text_with_title]