You would be forgiven for thinking that brands like Patek Philippe are past the point of making mistakes. They seem to be in this rarified air of watchmaking where everything they release is met with applause (e.g. the Ref. 5524 was considered controversial when it came out, but now very much accepted and even sought after). I donโt think many of us would be truly offended by the idea of Patek breaking the mould a little bit, either โ making something unlike anything theyโve done before. But deary, deary meโฆ they just shit the bed.
The Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007A โNew Manufacture 2019โ is not outrageously ugly, nor is it an awful colour. It is, however, tremendously dull and uninspired. If thereโs one thing I expect Patek Philippe to nail every single time, itโs a 40mm dress watch. This is their bread and butter โ although in this case, itโs more like their stale tortilla and margarine.
Letโs break this watch down quickly. You have a navy perlon strap that looks like it would cost $30 online. You have the dial of a JLC Memovox Boutique Edition, with the added charm of an embossed carbon pattern-cum-diamond plate in the middle (I like my watches to look like the back of a chippyโs ute); which is meant to replicate the floor of the new manufacture. This dial concept probably shouldโve been left on the very cutting room floor that inspired it, ironically enough. To top it all off, they have the ego to preface the steel case as โa rare material at Patek Philippeโ.
Itโs literally a Memovox only much, much worse. Surely Patek knows enough about their competitors to understand just how close theyโve come to JLC on this. So is this derivative? Or is it simply that they think having โPatek Philippeโ on the dial instantly makes it better and justifies the $40,000 price tag?
As I said before, I expect Patek to nail this type of thing with their eyes closed โ so how theyโve gotten it so catastrophically wrong is totally beyond me. Thank God theyโre only producing 1,000 of these monstrositiesโฆ
Find out more about the Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007A over at patek.com.
