Watch the Icon: Patek Philippe Calatrava

by Dara Morgan

Watch the Icon: Patek Philippe Calatrava — the Art Of Enough

18 Aug 2025

Episode 10 of Watch the Icon is now live — and we are closing Season 1 with the quietest of heavyweights.

This week, we tell the story of the Patek Philippe Calatrava — a circle of pure proportion, born in 1932 at the height of the Great Depression, inspired by Bauhaus principles, and still the gold standard for the dress watch almost a century later.

When Patek Philippe needed to save itself from financial ruin, it didn't launch a complicated showpiece or a diamond-studded extravagance. It drew a perfect circle. Slim bezel. Clean dial. No fuss. The Calatrava was not made to chase fashion — it was made to outlast it.

In this episode, Sofia Brontvein explores how a watch with no obvious tricks became the ultimate expression of Geneva watchmaking — a piece as admired by design purists as it is treasured by collectors, royals, and those who prefer understatement over spectacle.

Here are five things you (probably) didn't know about the Patek Philippe Calatrava — unless you have been quietly chasing references since the Stern brothers took over the maison:

1. It was born as a survival strategy. In 1932, Patek Philippe was on the brink. The Stern brothers bought the company — and the Calatrava was their first move to save it.

2. Its design was pure Bauhaus. “Form follows function” meant no Roman numerals, no engraving — just geometry, balance, and restraint.

3. Some of the rarest are the simplest. Steel Calatravas from the 1940s, made in tiny numbers, can fetch more than complicated Pateks at auction.

4. It has quietly graced famous wrists. Paul Newman, Brad Pitt, Eric Clapton, and Audrey Hepburn have all worn Calatravas — usually without telling anyone.

5. It is the watchmaker’s watch. Philippe Dufour, one of the greatest living watchmakers, has called a vintage manual-wind Calatrava “the real thing.”