Here is a rare and unique looking Patek Philippe watch from a time that feels so long ago – when the economy was optimistic and the future seemed so bright, back in 2003. That was when this Calatrava Travel Time Platinum Ref. 5134P was originally released. Still shaken from the dot com bubble boom, no doubt a few people of the era picked up one of the nice watch. Even the looks of the watch is almost Patek Philippe’s way of being optimistically futuristic. I think I’ll start calling this watch the Time Travel, instead of Travel Time.

As the name implies, this 37mm wide watch case is constructed out of Platinum with a very thin in-house made manually wound Patek Philippe movement with some interesting complications. Still the watch is only 9.8mm thick. Complications aside from the time include a synchronized 24 hour hand (basically to tell you whether it is day or night and to help you figure out the time in those place that use military time on the 24 hour scale), and a second timezone. The pushers on the left side of the case can be uses to advance the Timezone one hour in either direction. It is a simple set of useful features good for the regular traveler, or one that has a problem calculating time differences in their head.

Design of the watch is interesting actually. You have some very modern looks from the sweeping case to the sharp hands and narrow raised hour indexes. Then you have classic elements clearly seen in the subsidiary dials and their hands. To a large degree it is a contradiction, but Patek Philippe does, as is often the case, pull it off. Being a watch constructed out of platinum, the price is, well high. Though right now on JamesList.com, prices are much more manageable that once considered for this watch being not only made from the precious metal, but also a highly collective Patek Philippe – at about 21,000 Euros.

See this Patek Philippe Calatrava Travel Time Platinum Ref 5134P watch on JamesList.com here.