50 MOST IMPORTANT
THE 50 MOST IMPORTANT WATCHES EVER
FROM DESIGN LANDMARKS TO TECHNICAL FIRSTS TO MODELS THAT INVENTED A WHOLE NEW CATEGORY, THESE WATCHES HAVE HAD THE MOST SUBSTANTIAL IMPACT ON WATCHMAKING
PATEK PHILIPPE CALATRAVA REF. 96 (1932)
THE WATCH THAT BUILT PATEK PHILIPPE
Hyperbole? Perhaps — certainly very few mega-brands owe their success to just one single watch — but there is a strong case to be made. As the 1930s began, Patek, Philippe & Cie was in financial trouble, and in 1932 was acquired by the Stern family, which remains in control today. Seeing the need for a simple, easily marketable watch to put the business on a stable footing (in contrast to the complicated watches that were its stock-in-trade), they introduced the first Calatrava, the reference 96 in the same year, a 31mm design that espoused Bauhaus principles. Details of its genesis are scant, its designer unknown; the name comes from a symbol used by 12th-century Castilian knights, registered by Patek Philippe 45 years earlier but never used. No one knows why. It’s not even clear why it started with number 96. (Don’t believe stories online that the Calatrava was designed by British antique watch dealer and enthusiast David Penney; he was commissioned in the 1980s to illustrate an authoritative hardback book on the brand’s history, and journalists mistook his signature against drawings of the ref. 96 for the name of the original designer. Penney was born well after 1932 and is alive and well today.) What is more certain is that ref. 96 was a hit; powered by a respected LeCoultre calibre it provided a blank canvas for all manner of dial designs and iterations, and remained in production for 40 years. It might not leap immediately to mind when you mention the brand name — with the Nautilus on its books, and a formidable history of perpetual calendars, split-second chronographs, worldtimers and minute repeaters, you can hardly blame fans for sometimes overlooking the humble Calatrava — but it is the bedrock upon which so much great watchmaking stands.
