Patek Philippe has a unique status in the watch industry. It is a name well known in many households along with other luxury powerhouses like Rolex, TAG Heuer, Omega, and Audemars Piguet. Some of these brands have seen record demand and success in recent years thanks to an interesting mix of hype culture, features on television and in movies that often flaunt wealth and prestige, and the oversharing nature of our social media era. Despite the unprecedented success Patek Philippe has seen, it still retains a uniquely classical position in the social hierarchy of brands. Even with the casualization of wealthy lifestyles that has been going on for decades, the brand image remains traditional. This “old money” lifestyle is something that appeals to a massive segment of luxury buyers, but few watch brands have been able to retain this image as well as Patek Philippe. The proliferation of rubber-mounted sports watches may have been the first sign, but it wasn’t until the Calatrava was touched that it truly occurred to me that not even Patek can resist the tides of social change. The Calatrava is the epitome of a classic dress watch, and in the form of the 6007G, it is anything but classic, but that might not be such a bad thing.

After seeing the news of the Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007G at Watches and Wonders 2023 you may think it’s not anything new, and well, it isn’t. To celebrate the new Patek Philippe manufacture that opened in 2019, Patek released this same watch, albeit in a steel case with a blue dial, in 2020 as a run of 1000 pieces. For 2023 the brand decided to bring back this concept with a new movement but this time in white gold. The 2023 edition of the Calatrava 6007G comes in three different flavors that are identical aside from a playful accent color. The options are yellow(6007G-001), red(6007G-010), and light (almost Tiffany) blue(6007G-011).

The 40mm-wide and 9.17mm-thick case breaks one of the traditional “rules” of watchmaking that suggests something along the lines of “the lug width should equal half the case width.” In the case (pun intended) of the new 6007G, the 22mm lug width leads the watches to have a broad appearance on the wrist while still maintaining the svelte and manageable feeling you’d expect from a Calatrava. The watches are fully polished except for the case wrench contact points on the caseback. The smooth sloping curves of the bezel and lugs lead the 6007G to look quite a bit smaller than the dimensions suggest in some lighting. A large coin edge pull-out winding crown flanks the case at 3 o’clock. This is the only interruption in the smooth polished caseband that wraps around the exterior tip of each lug softening the edge. The pull-out crown and dual sapphire crystal case construction leaves this sporty-looking Calatrava with a measly 30m of water resistance.

Beneath the aforementioned sapphire crystal is a dial where Patek Philippe uses an embossed dial pattern found on the 6007A from 2020 to create a carbon fiber weave motif in the center of the dial. That’s right, it is not a hand guilloche dial, it is simply stamped. At this level of watchmaking prestige, I can’t help but be disappointed at this fact even if a handmade dial would increase the price. Despite its construction method, it still looks extremely good in person and under high magnification macro.

This repeating weave texture creates shadows and reflections adding depth to the dial. The woven center is surrounded by interchanging sectors of texture and color to enhance legibility. A white rail track-style minute graduation with colored accent hour markers is thickly painted on a snailed concentric circle sector around the carbon fiber interior design. This results in a roulette-like frame that resides within a polished groove in the dial. The hour hand terminates at the same point firmly retaining the hour reference points at the center of the dial. This also allows for adequate negative space and applied white gold numerals in the next circularly brushed sector of the dial. The applied numerals and hands are filled with luminous material. As we move outward we find another thin polished groove that aligns perfectly with the tip of the minute hand. The outer periphery of the dial contains a racing-style minute track that features colored highlights that interchange each second for accurate timekeeping. These indicators also highlight a new feature of the Calibre 26-330 S C — the LIGA-formed seconds wheel.

Diving into the LIGA parts construction would take an entirely different article and if you would like us to cover these unique production methods please sound off in the comment. LIGA is an acronym derived from the German terms Lithographie, Galvanoformung, and Abformung. It is a high-tech process that creates long fine-toothed gears through an additive molding process instead of cutting the teeth of the gears individually or stamping them from a plate of material like a cookie cutter. Here is a short video that helps visualize this process. The real benefit of a long fine-tooth seconds wheel is the smooth and nearly whiplash-free movement of the second’s hand. Despite the standard operative frequency of 4Hz, the result is a smoother and more satisfying sweep of the second hand. The Caliber 26-330 S C boasts are standard 35-45 hours of power reserve.

The other notable update to the movement is a hacking second function. Some may find it surprising that this wasn’t already a standard feature in the 21st century, but Patek Philippe only made this a requirement recently. Patek’s patented Spiromax balance spring proudly beats away tucked between the côtes de Geneve striped plates and bridges. Topping it off is 21k gold winding rotor that spins freely with Patek Philippe’s logo engraved at its center and can be viewed through the sapphire exhibition caseback.

Each of the new Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007Gs comes mounted on a black calfskin strap embossed is a carbon fiber weave to match the central dial texture and features color-matched stitching. While the strap is of excellent build quality as one would expect, I found it really cheapened the look of the entire package. While the strap follows suit in the sporty-almost-racecar-driver-dress-watch kind of design, I couldn’t help but see it as another horrible carbon fiber style strap from the depths of Amazon or AliExpress. The near fetishization of carbon fiber outside of the automotive industry may have made me especially averse to the pattern, but on a precious metal wristwatch like the Calatrava, it felt extraordinarily out of place. Even taking into account that this Calatrava 6007G is very likely the least formal in the model’s long history it seemed like a last-minute cheap addition to push the sporty design a step further.

It is hard to ignore the direction that Patek Philippe seems to be heading, or at least exploring, with releases like this new Calatrava. After all when Patek does something different, others seem to follow. Do you want to see more prestigious brands stepping away from the traditional designs that paved the way for the whole industry? It is an intriguing and brave move, but when the demand for “Patek Philippe” on the dial is this high, is there really any risk in trying something new? I don’t think so, and I applaud Patek for doing the unexpected even if it alienates a few traditional customers. These new Calatravas aren’t what your grand-daddy wore, nor is it what he may have taken care of for the next generation, but that’s half the fun, right? As always, Patek Philippe comes with a properly punchy price tag of $37,850 USD. You can debate if a stamped dial and strap is worth that price in the comments, and you can learn more about Patek Philippe at the brands website.