Watches And Wonders 2025: Patek Philippe Calatrava Ref. 6196P Offers A Contemporary Makeover To A Classic Dress Watch
2 min read
On many levels, the Patek Philippe Calatrava of 1932 offers the quintessential and emblematic dress watch aesthetic. This slim and elegant watch has undergone generations of refinement and many technical progressions to evolve into the Calatrava Ref. 6196P which Patek Philippe introduces at the Watches and Wonders 2025. This time-only ultra-slim timepiece is classically styled and is presented in a platinum case with a rose-gilt salmon-hued dial. This watch is the absolute end game in dress-watch collecting.
The Classically Styled Calatrava Gets A Platinum Upgrade
The Calatrava Ref. 6196P introduced by Patek Philippe at Watches and Wonders 2025 is a worthy successor to the Ref. 5196 models. For its latest reincarnation, the brand welcomes a new model in platinum crafted from a 38mm case. This manually-wound dress watch also gets a mechanical upgrade with a better fitting time-only 30-255 PS caliber. The watch features an understated profile at just 9.33mm thick and its smooth, beveled bezel gets a contrast of the satin-finished flanks and slender lugs. It’s paired with a shiny chocolate brown alligator leather strap.
A Delectably Warm Dial
The rose-gilt dial featured on the new Calatrava Ref. 6196P introduced at Watches and Wonders 2025 delivers a salmon-pink hue. It’s completed with the dial furniture consisting of anthracite white gold applied faceted “obus”-style hour markers serving the timepiece a contemporary aesthetic and feel. Together with the anthracite white gold hands, the hour indexes offer a strong contrast with the subtle warm hue of the dial.
A Larger Diameter Caliber
The manually wound 30-255 PS caliber fits better within the platinum case of the Calatrava Ref. 6196P. The 31mm caliber fits snugly in the 38mm case and is wonderfully finished in signature Patek Philippe style. Its two mainspring barrels deliver 65 hours of power reserve and the movement also features a hacking seconds mechanism for accurate time setting.
The Quintessential “Elegant Timepiece”
The Patek Philippe Calatrava is a textbook benchmark in dress watch aesthetics and in many ways the modern purveyor of classic watchmaking execution. In its latest incarnation, the Calatrava Ref. 6196P offers a more refined overall execution with a better sized ultra-slim caliber. This watch is characteristic of a very unique watchmaking style which offers an aesthetic that’s rare in the contemporary realm of its execution. It is in many ways the ultimate example of a classic dress watch.
