Calatrava

Debuting in the early 1930s, the reference 96 laid out the blueprint the whole Calatrava line would follow. Its gold case carries early modernist lines, with lugs that flow out of the caseband rather than sit on top of it. Applied hour markers and Dauphine hands keep the dial legible without decoration, close to the austere watch Patek first intended for everyday wear. Collectors value it as the purest original expression of the most famous dress watch in watchmaking, the point from which every later Calatrava is a variation.